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Ten Sorry Tales: Little-known facts
- When Jackson was a boy, a rumour went round his classroom that daleks had landed in the playground in the park beside the school and when the bell finally rang everyone went haring round there and were a little disappointed to find a definite lack of daleks. Quite recently, Mick was talking to a friend and learnt that when he was a boy a rumour went round his school that zombies were on the loose. The author began to look into other cases of childhood collective hysteria and read a report of an incident in which the children of one school got so caught up in their shared nightmare-fantasy that the head teacher called an assembly and announced that various superheroes had been brought in to deal with the threat. This odd collection of anecdotes formed the basis of 'Alien abduction'.
- Some of the characters' names in Alien Abduction are those of classmates from Mick's junior school days. Also, Miss Bowen, the music teacher, is based on Lorraine Bowen, a musician-friend of Mick's, who also happens to be a part-time music teacher.
- The original version of 'Crossing the river' featured a car ferry run by two characters called Big Dave and Little Dave. The story concerned one particular day when a hearse turned up with a coffin in the back and how the other passengers responded to sharing a ferry with it. For some (perhaps obvious) reason the story never really worked, so Mick decided to completely rewrite it - a decision he does not regret.
- The author began 'The girl who collected bones' on a trip to the Gower Peninsula in South Wales in 2002. Gwyneth Jenkins, the story's main character, lives near a village which is situated somewhere near Rhossili, which the author recommends you visit (if you haven't already been there), if only to cast your eyes (then your feet) along the staggeringly beautiful beach of Rhossili Bay.
- Jackson isn't kidding when he begins 'The girl who collected bones' with the line about 'Everyone likes digging a hole...' When he was about six or seven (and at the school which features in Alien Abduction) some workmen dug a hole in the pavement outside the school gates and the author had to be physically dragged away from gawping at all the pipes and suchlike that they were revealing. He also remembers talking about that hole in the ground over lunch for so long and with such excitement that eventually other members of his family (who shall remain nameless) told him to talk about something else.
- The idea for 'A row-boat in the cellar' resulted from a visit to a friend's house in Oxford. The author's friend - let us call him Mr Dewhurst - is a keen kayaker and canoeist who has actually built his own boats in his cellar as a means of relaxation. When the local river flooded, Mr Dewhurst went down into his basement and found his newly-built boat floating about the place, which struck the author as a wonderful image. Unlike Mister Morris, however, Mister Dewhurst had had the foresight to make sure that he'd be able to get his boat out of the cellar once he'd finished building it.
- Mick has had numerous traumatic experiences involving horses, in which he selflessly strokes them over a paddock fence or offers them a mouthful of grass only for things to suddenly turn quite nasty and the horse trying to get its teeth around the buttons on his jacket. Most of these experiences occurred when he was in his thirties, which the author insists is still quite an impressionable age. 'The button thief' is his catharsis. But before hundreds of horse-lovers write in to say how upset the story made them and generally accuse Mr Jackson of being anti-horse, the author would like to publicly concede that there are probably any number of well-adjusted, loveable horses out there. But also some mean old nags as well.
- When the author was about six or seven his older sister had an argument with their parents and told him that she planned to run away from home. As this sounded quite novel Mick proposed that he accompany her. The author hurried to his room, took down a tiny suitcase and quickly filled it with several pairs of socks (which seemed like quite a sensible thing to do). But by the time the author next saw his sister she'd made up with their mother and father and abandoned all plans of running-away - something which has baffled the author ever since. (This is where the suitcase o' socks comes from in 'Neither hide nor hair'.)
- The real Mick Jackson actually looks nothing like the author picture David Roberts knocked-up for the jacket. The author would like it to be known that in real life he has a fine head of hair (well, some hair) and is hardly hunchbacked at all...although the worried expression does sort of ring a bell.
- Having said that, the author is generally delighted with David's illustrations. Jackson doesn't often collaborate on projects but found the experience so painless that he is almost tempted to do it again someday. His favourite illustration is probably the one for 'The girl who collected bones' - because it's so strange and stark.
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