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Tales from the Shale with Swindon’s Writer in Residence, Graham Cooke.
Heat three of Tales from the Shale is entitled
“Concrete For Breakfast'
When I was asked to pen words for a “Writer in Residence” slot with Swindon Speedway the first person I turned to for advice was the prolific speedway author Jeff Scott.
Jeff’s books on speedway (“Showered in Shale”, “Shale Britannia”, “Where Eagles Dared” and “Shifting Shale”) have been the most innovative and enlightened additions to the library of speedway related books.
Whilst many speedway books have been historical, autobiographical or biographical (and anything penned by Rob Bamford is to be commended here) Jeff Scott managed to capture the essence of the sport through observation and wit.
As “Writer in Residence” with Eastbourne last year and Reading this year, he has revolutionised speedway writing. His latest tome, “Concrete for Breakfast” is published this week and is his best one so far.
Jeff will be at the Abbey Stadium on Thursday 19th June to launch “Concrete for Breakfast” and it is appropriate that the launch should be at Swindon because a massive 9 chapters feature Swindon and life at the Abbey.
Below is the official review that I have written for the book, but believe me, it’s a great read – one that will bring a smile to any fan of the sport and which is guaranteed to fill those long and dark closed season nights.
“The best yet!”
‘Concrete for Breakfast’, Jeff Scott’s 5th part of a trilogy that “went wrong”, is addictive, funny, full of insight and much more relaxed and assured than the previous four parts of that trilogy.
All that is missing from Scott’s account of his travels around speedway tracks in 2007 is a “scratch and sniff patch” on the cover with that heady speedway methanol aroma that no fan of the sport can resist – everything else is there.
Building on “Showered in Shale” and “Shifting Shale”, Jeff Scott continues his examination not only of British Speedway in the 21st century, but also of British life, painting a beautifully descriptive picture of working and middle class Britain at rest and at play.
Witty, sharp and with a keen eye for detail, he describes the essential elements of the sport – the riders, administrators, volunteers and fans – and sets them against a backdrop of a sport that clings to the coat tails of major sports in this country
If you’re a regular speedway fan you’ll: know the riders; heard the interviews; read the comic; and watched the Sky coverage, but this books fills in all the gaps – it goes some way to capturing the very essence of the sport.
If you’ve never been to a speedway meeting you’ll still be entertained as Scott captures the characters, the artisans and the enthusiasts behind a sport that survives in spite of the odds.
The style is more fluent, more relaxed and more assured – this is Scott at his witty and descriptive best.”
If you can’t get along to visit Jeff at Swindon on Thursday, the book can be purchased on line at http://www.methanolpress.com/ .
Jeff will also be doing a book signing at Cardiff on the day of the British Grand Prix, probably in the Collectors’ Fayre adjacent to the Millennium Stadium.
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