''Tough, Tough Toys for Tough, Tough Boys'' is a collection of short fiction by English author
Will Self
William Woodard Self (born 26 September 1961) is an English author, journalist, political commentator and broadcaster. He has written 11 novels, five collections of shorter fiction, three novellas and nine collections of non-fiction writing. Sel ...
first published in hard cover in April 1998 and paperback in March 1999. ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
''
Stories
The Rock of Crack as big as the Ritz
Young black brothers Danny and Tembe discover the eponymous rock behind a wall in their basement. They begin chipping off lumps and selling it, slowly amassing wealth.
Flytopia
The story of a man who lives in a small countryside home. One day, while his girlfriend is away working in the city, he develops a communication with the bugs and
insects
Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs of j ...
that live in and around his home. They have an offer to make so that they can live in harmony with their human overlord, but it will require some sacrifice: a sacrifice that the man is only too happy to offer.
A Story for Europe
A two-year-old child begins to display a curious style of gibberish. Meanwhile Herr Doktor Zweijerig, a German businessman, begins to collapse mentally.
Dave Too
The story of a world where everyone is Dave.
Caring Sharing
A four way love story, set in New York City, between Travis and Karin and their giant Emotos Brion and Jane.
Tough, Tough Toys for Tough, Tough Boys
Bill takes a long car journey from the outer reaches of Scotland to London, in one day. Along the route he picks up a hitch-hiker. The title of this story was a slogan for advertising
Tonka Toys
Tonka is an American producer of toy trucks. The company is known for making steel toy models of construction type trucks and machinery. Maisto International, which makes diecast vehicles, acquired the rights to use the Tonka name in a line of ...
, and the story itself won a prestigious Aga Khan Prize.
Design Faults in the Volvo 760 Turbo: A Manual
Bill Bywater recounts the faults of the automobile, all the while failing to live his love life to the full.
The Nonce Prize
The final story returns to Danny and Tembe from the opening story. Danny is framed for child molestation and murder and is sent to HMP Wandsworth. He eventually finds an outlet in the prison English classes. His desire for redemption is entwined with his desire to win the Nonce Prize.
Reception
"Mr. Self's latest book, ''Tough, Tough Toys for Tough, Tough Boys'' represents his most disciplined storytelling yet. The tales in this collection demonstrate a new control and polish, without sacrificing anything in terms of inventiveness or plain weirdness. Like his 1994 novel,
My Idea of Fun
''My Idea of Fun'' is the second novel by Will Self, and was published in 1993.
Plot summary
A lonely boy grows up just outside Brighton in a caravan park with his over-sexual mother and the tenant Mr Broadhurst, who takes the boy on a disturbi ...
it attests to Mr. Self's ability to render even the most bizarre, '' Twilight Zone''-like events with convincing verisimilitude while enthralling – and often horrifying – the reader with his scathing, Swiftean humor." ."
While the ''
Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large na ...
'' considered it in slightly harsher terms...
The dark devices Self relies on still bring gasps of admiration and shock, but for a successful author who has long since navigated the thicket
of pubescent self-loathing there is a risk that they also serve a cynical purpose, providing cover for a failure of sustained imagination.
Two of these stories, "Design Faults in the Volvo 760 Turbo: A Manual" and "A Story for Europe", were also published in a 64-page chapbook, ''Design Faults in the Volvo 760 Turbo'', as part of the 2005
Penguin Books
Penguin Books is a British publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers The Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the following year.Penguin at 70 Collection