In Between Talking About the Football

‘a cult classic’ – The New York Times

‘as sweet a relief as finding a fiver in the street when you are out of money and fags’ – The Herald

‘a straight Scottish version of Armistead Maupin’ – The Independent

‘an ear for dialogue like a recording angel’ – The Scotsman

When Gordon Legge’s first collection of short stories first appeared in 1991, it was hailed as in instant classic. This punchy and comic dissection of small-town life won a Scottish Arts Council Award the following year. Now back in print, the collection features such characters as Carmel the nymphomaniac, the Tank, Wee Harry, English Edwin, and a cat called Napalm Death.

Legge chronicles life on the dole, football, records, dope, sex and more football with his unique brand of laconic humour. Gentler than Irvine Welsh, but no less funny, he delivers slices of life in all its diversity and unpredictability. 

Gordon Legge was brought up in Grangemouth and now lives and works in Edinburgh. His first novel, The Shoe, was published in 1990 and shortlisted for the Scotsman/Saltire First Book of the Year. He won a Scottish Arts Council Award for his collection of short stories, In Between Talking about the Football, in 1992. He has featured in the Children of Albion Rovers, and the Rovers Return short-story anthologies.