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Kirsty Logan

Hello! I’m Kirsty Logan, a writer of novels and short stories. My latest book is Now She is Witch, a medieval witch revenge quest. My other books are Things We Say In The Dark, The Gloaming, The Gracekeepers, A Portable Shelter, and The Rental Heart & Other Fairytales.

Latest News

Kirsty Logan

Hello! I’m Kirsty Logan, a writer of novels and short stories. My latest book is Now She is Witch, a medieval witch revenge quest. My other books are Things We Say In The Dark, The Gloaming, The Gracekeepers, A Portable Shelter, and The Rental Heart & Other Fairytales.

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Thievery: Francis Observes How Babies Are Made

26th Jan 2012 in Thievery, Writing

Thievery is a series of blog posts about my story inspirations.

The Story:

‘Francis Observes How Babies Are Made’ is published in New Writing Scotland #29.

An extract:

Francis is watching the moon. It is white like a bowl of milk and it makes the plain outside the window look black and silver like it’s on television. Francis hopes that if he stays very still then maybe he will see the moon move. Kulowali says that a beautiful woman lives in the moon because she flew there to get away from a man she did not love. The man knows that she is in the moon but although he spends all day looking for her, he can never find her. Francis thinks that the man sounds silly, and is glad that he is clever enough to look at things in the nighttime as well as the daytime. He likes the story of the beautiful woman in the moon but he is not sure that that is Science. A thing is only Science if it is observable and repeatable.

The Inspiration:

Dad is the wee blonde boy at the back.

Dad is the wee blonde boy at the back.

My dad spent a few years of his childhood in Nigeria with his two brothers. It was the years of the Empire and my granddad had a job that was something to do with the British government, though I don’t really know what.

Lately I’ve been thinking about my parents and grandparents a lot. This is largely because my dad recently died, and of course that brings up all sorts of memories and thoughts about opportunities missed.

My gran, Margot Logan.

My gran, Margot Logan.

 

I’m 27, and that seems to be the age when you finally realise that the older generation are actually humans with lives and desires and opinions, rather than just grumpy creatures who exist to make your dinner and pay your rent when you’ve spent it all on Jaegarbombs and sushi. Okay, I haven’t actually done that last thing, but you get the point. My grandmother was a Proper Lady, the type who wore skirt-suits and powdered her nose. I know I can never be a lady like that because I have tattooed wrists and a tendency to mumble. But she raised three boys and had perfect pitch and ate dinner with the Queen (though she wasn’t the Queen at the time) and taught me to play the piano even though I was utterly rubbish. And I’m sad that I didn’t get a chance to really know her as a fellow adult, rather than just as my granny.

My dad, however, I knew very well. Like all families we had our differences, but I’d meet him for lunch at least once a fortnight, and we talked on the phone every week.

Dad is in the middle.

Dad is in the middle.

So although the story is about Frances (or rather, about the child version of my dad, Ewan), it’s really about my grandparents and the life they created for my dad – and for me, too.

NOTE: My dad was always a science nerd. I don’t know if he asked for a calculator for Christmas, but I like to think that he did.

2 responses to “Thievery: Francis Observes How Babies Are Made”

  1. Your family photos are great- exotic setting but simple universal pleasures like getting a backie! Like you, I really miss my dad but having happy memories does help cope with the loss.

  2. David Wilson says:

    I would love to read the story – any chance there is a download available?
    Your post made my heart ache.

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