Inspired by His Hometown of Newstead Village, Author Jim Gibson Lifts the Lid on His Short Story Collection, The Bygones

‘When I met the devil I was twelve years old’, opens Jim Gibson's new book The Bygones - the short story collection set in a fictional village inspired by the author’s own. Combining the supernatural with the mundane, it’s a place you’ll find a boy meeting the devil, a whole host of disillusioned young people and a small town market on the verge of collapse. Published by Tangerine Press, who champion authors on the fringes of society, it aims to tell the stories of working-class protagonists, particularly those who have often been demonised by society at large. 

“It’s a story where place is a character,” author Jim Gibson says, the book reminiscent of his own hometown, Newstead Village. “I have always loved works where the location is a living, breathing place, and that was on the forefront of my mind, to make setting a major driver.” Because when you know a place intimately, when you know all its back alleys and corners, it can’t help but be a personality. “That’s why I picked the name Bygones, because it describes a place that has had its time and has been left to be forgotten.” It’s a sentiment that’s shared by a lot of residents in rural villages.

“It didn’t necessarily start out that way. They were mostly just short stories that had been written over a period of time but it quickly became obvious which ones fit together and that then became the concept. When you enter The Bygones you are entering into a rural, working-class community,” Jim says, “and though it’s not really kitchen sink realism, it does aim to capture the eccentricity and strangeness of living in a small village,” something that Jim achieves by intertwining the short tales with supernatural touches, adding that “here, strangeness is an everyday thing, and though it might not be the devil walking around, you do see odd things and the supernatural reflects the rural life in that way.”

Made up of over twenty tales, The Bygones is a collection that succeeds in capturing small town mannerisms, personalities and worries. Whether through familiar characters like the house proud mother in The Devil or the metaphorical changing and disorientating landscape present in The Pond, it paints an image of a kind of place that is rooted in tradition but that feels currently displaced - a story that feels all too familiar among many of Nottingham’s small ex-industrial and mining villages. 

“I really wanted to treat everyone like a person and to challenge expectations to a certain extent,” Jim says when asked about his host of working class protagonists who populate the stories. “I hate the idea that working class stories are always full of violence, for example, because they take away the humanity of the people. Whereas in reality everyone is different and it’s important to show that.” A particularly important task when so many working class communities are painted as ignorant or lazy, these stories offer a counter-perspective. Writing about working class characters with kindness, showing the world through their perspective, the collection refuses to reduce people to stereotypes. 

Though the stories do undoubtedly have a ‘morose’ element, as Jim describes it, found in the sadness of the characters, they also double as stories of celebration. They highlight the community and the relationships between all who live in the Bygones, who treat each other with a wary kindness. This makes it a collection of stories about normal people trying to be their best for each other even during hardship, whether this be a period of unemployment or hard financial times, both of which are discussed in the collection. Ultimately a project that encourages its readers not to judge, no story exemplifies this better than the final piece, simply titled God, in which the speaker meets a higher power while sitting on the bus one day. Slightly eccentric and drinking a warm beer, he is the last person you’d expect as the all-knowing - but, like the rest of the stories, we’re encouraged to look past our initial perceptions. 

Talking to Jim over Zoom, he still seems surprised that the stories have received so much publicity already, commenting that “I never imagined this would go anywhere, because it’s just a short story collection.” Yet already the body of work has garnered attention from a former Booker winner. 

Another great win for the Nottingham literary community, it’s fantastic to see writing representation not just coming from Newstead Abbey, but also from the small, often forgotten village just down the road. So, with all that said, The Bygones are waiting for you to enter them. Here you will find sharpness, laughter, community, sadness and understanding - all through the perspective of those so often considered misfits.

You can purchase The Bygones through Tangerine Press or at Waterstones