Ageing Disgracefully: Short Stories About Atrocious Old People

by Colin Cotterill

This delightful collection of short stories takes a humorous look at the lives of people who have passed the age of sixty and are still behaving very, very naughtily. The collection takes us from England to Asia with stops in Australia and the United States and it proves the point that disgusting old people are to be found just about everywhere. We enter the troubled minds of murderers, bank robbers, practical jokers, serial killers, perverts and just regular old liars all of whom are old enough to know better. You'll doubtless recognize people you know and be forced to admit to a few wiles of your own.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Humor

175 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2009

About the author

Colin Cotterill was born in London and trained as a teacher and set off on a world tour that didn't ever come to an end. He worked as a Physical Education instructor in Israel, a primary school teacher in Australia, a counselor for educationally handicapped adults in the US, and a university lecturer in Japan. But the greater part of his latter years has been spent in Southeast Asia. Colin has taught and trained teachers in Thailand and on the Burmese border. He spent several years in Laos, initially with UNESCO and wrote and produced a forty-programme language teaching series; English By Accident, for Thai national television.

Ten years ago, Colin became involved in child protection in the region and set up an NGO in Phuket which he ran for the first two years. After two more years of study in child abuse issues, and one more stint in Phuket, he moved on to ECPAT, an international organization combating child prostitution and pornography. He established their training program for caregivers.

All the while, Colin continued with his two other passions; cartooning and writing. He contributed regular columns for the Bangkok Post but had little time to write. It wasn't until his work with trafficked children that he found himself sufficiently stimulated to put together his first novel, The Night Bastard (Suk's Editions. 2000).

The reaction to that first attempt was so positive that Colin decided to take time off and write full-time. Since October 2001 he has written nine more novels. Two of these are child-protection based: Evil in the Land Without (Asia Books December 03), and Pool and Its Role in Asian Communism (Asia Books, Dec 05). These were followed by The Coroner’s Lunch (Soho Press. Dec 04), Thirty Three Teeth (Aug 05), Disco for the Departed (Aug 06), Anarchy and Old Dogs (Aug 07), and Curse of the Pogo Stick (Aug 08), The Merry Misogynist (Aug 09), Love Songs from a Shallow Grave (Aug 10) these last seven are set in Laos in the 1970’s.

On June 15, 2009 Colin Cotterill received the Crime Writers' Association Dagger in the Library award for being "the author of crime fiction whose work is currently giving the greatest enjoyment to library users".

When the Lao books gained in popularity, Cotterill set up a project to send books to Lao children and sponsor trainee teachers. The Books for Laos programme elicits support from fans of the books and is administered purely on a voluntary basis.

Since 1990, Colin has been a regular cartoonist for national publications. A Thai language translation of his cartoon scrapbook, Ethel and Joan Go to Phuket (Matichon May 04) and weekly social cartoons in the Nation newspaper, set him back onto the cartoon trail in 2004. On 4 April 2004, an illustrated bilingual column ‘cycle logical’ was launched in Matichon’s popular weekly news magazine. These have been published in book form.

Colin is married and lives in a fishing community on the Gulf of Siam with his wife, Kyoko, and ever-expanding pack of very annoying dogs.

Reviews

[Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I often treat collections of short stories in the same way people eat a bag of sweets. Before I'd even finished a sweet I would be unwrapping another. But not this time.
Now Colin Cotterill's short stories are so well crafted that I would pause after each story ends and contemplate the story flow and the characters for some time.



This delightful collection of short stories takes a humorous look at the lives of people who have passed the age of sixty and are still behaving very, very naughtily. The collection takes us from England to Asia with stops in Australia and the United States and it proves the point that disgusting old people are to be found just about everywhere.



We enter the troubled minds of murderers, bank robbers, practical jokers, serial killers, perverts and just regular old liars all of whom are old enough to know better. You'll doubtless recognize people you know and be forced to admit to a few wiles of your own.

There are no superheros, car chases, or edge of the seat rescues to save the world here. Instead they mostly feature old people dealing with their own lives, which seem to have gone off track. And each story is told in the most entertaining way.

And for Dr Siri fans there is little gem of a tale about this lovable coroner-detective!



I do hope that Colin Cotterill will write more delightful tales.

Enjoy!

[Maggie · Rating 5 out of 5]

The brilliance of this author always shines through. Still, the kindle edition - on sale one day - failed in one important way: It was NOT copy edited.

Come on, Colin, your archrival Alexander McCall Smith ALWAYS hires a kindle copy editor, too. And I swear nothing can dump me out of a good yarn faster than the number "50" being changed to "so". Don't let the publisher of your ebook skate like that. You have magic and I love your writing! Insist on that extra step!!!!

As a set of short stories, disregarding spelling and syntax errors - all apparently computer-generated - this is primo stuff. Just wish the spelling were checked. Just once.

[Brenda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cotterill's mystery series set in Laos and featuring an ageing coroner is one of my favorite mystery series around these days. These stories of naughty old people do not disappoint. Mr. Cotterill obviously knows (and likes) old people well and respects their right to be just as interesting as young ones. And, by the way, the Dr. Siri series is nothing like Alexander McCall's books.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

A variety of short stories, some experimental with others treading the more familiar territory of Southeast Asia. There's even a Dr Siri story, which pleased me no end.

[Peggy Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love short stories and I love old people - which made this one seem like a perfect fit for me. It was. I think my favorite story was the one where the little old lady robs banks, but really they were all pretty good. I also really enjoyed that after each story the author gives a brief overview of how the story came to be - what inspired him to write it. I don't know that I've ever seen that before, and I like it.

My one complaint was that it doesn't seem like the book was edited. There were mistakes all over the place - which was a little distracting.

[Judy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I expected this to be a humorous, entertaining book of stories about quirky and eccentric old people. And it was. It was also a book of sharp, biting humor that I didn't always like. But I suspect some of the stories are the kind that grow better with repeated reading and in fact require repeated reading in order to fully appreciate them. A collection of stories to dip into now and then and then to absorb them individually, rather than to read them one after another with no time for them to settle.

This isn't exactly what I want to say about this book but it'll have to do for now.

[Carol · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of shorts by one of my favourite authors. Most of the stories are poignant rather than funny. This book didn't migrate very well to an e-book format. Couldn't read the cartoons and the dialogue was often scrambled.

[Annie Shaw · Rating 5 out of 5]

hahaha ... stories of older people growing, well, older. funny. I work with older adults and I'm also aging. loved these stories.

[Maribeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely love Colin Cotterill's writing and his view on life, aging, and just about everything. He is definitely something special and I hope he writes a lot of books in the future!

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some fun short stories from one of my favorite mystery writers. Includes one story with Dr. Siri.

[Debbie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some good stories here (some not so good)

[Jc · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a special treat for those who are already fans of Cotterill’s fabulous oeuvre of novels and other works, though it would probably be a confused mess for readers who are yet to encounter Dr Siri, Dtui, Jim Juree, Mr Geung, or the myriad of other great characters. But if you have – these stories, focusing mostly on geriatric (or at least older adult) main characters are wonderful, tasty biscuits of Cotterill fun. [Instead, start with “The Coroner's Lunch” or “Killed at the Whim of a Hat,” and you will find yourself quickly becoming a fan.] But, these short works are certainly meant for those who are already Cotterill fans, rather than an introduction to his novels. I think most of it is just CC entertaining himself, exercising his story telling muscles. Each story is accompanied by a short background description.

[Patrick C Donahue · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sort Stories about & for Old People

Yeah! We are still here and still alive - or at least that’s what I see as the unifying theme. I LOVE Dr. Siri - so I’m willing to read anything by Mr. Cotterill, in hopes that he can maintain that level of writing and enchantment. Several of these stories are damn close! Good Job, Colin.

[Cynthia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful wry humour.

[Terri Stewart · Rating 4 out of 5]

Different!

What a change of pace for my reading adventures! This guy has one active imagination when it comes to storytelling.

[Jean Walton · Rating 1 out of 5]

Oh Dear!!