search for something...

search for something you might like...

Wandering Around with Grélon Grélon is a new novella and accompanying soundtrack from Tobias Ryan

Wandering Around with Grélon

Grélon is a new novella and accompanying soundtrack from Tobias Ryan

by Meave Haughey, Contributing Editor
first published: April, 2021

approximate reading time: minutes

The presence of music, particularly sacred music, is a constant -- an intriguing counterpoint to the atmosphere of slow decay which pervades much of the rest of the story.

Grélon by Tobias Ryan
Short Story / Soundtrack

What does it mean to love and survive in a city where the river smells of tar and iodine and where something unnamed is causing friends and neighbors to vanish -- their empty houses and shops daubed with signs? This week saw the release of writer Tobias Ryan’s new novella and accompanying music tracks. Reading Grélon, I am reminded of Daniel Defoe’s A Journal of the Plague Year in which Defoe, a shopkeeper, has to stay in London to try and survive while the aristocracy and anyone else who can afford it flees to the countryside to escape the Plague. 

But Grélon, the protagonist, is less a character than you empathise with than that you feel. You experience the world through the heaviness of his body and of his isolation. You hear the noise and the smells and you hear the rot and the arguments and accusations of other voices. 

Most simply, Grélon is a rent collector spends his days walking the city to chase rents -- part mob boss, part flaneur. Walking, watching, noticing people vanishing. There is a sense of fear, of rot, of the crush of an impending certainty. And yet Grélon remains calm throughout -- keeping a kind of emotional distance from those around him as he passes through their  lives. 

People move around Grélon; Grélon moves slowly, takes up space. He pays no mind to any of them. If they shoot dirty looks, he doesn’t see them; if they tut, he doesn’t hear. He keeps his head down as he walks; he keeps his hands in the pockets of his mac. He’s walking the route he always takes; following the schedule he always keeps.

But internally, Grélon is going through something else; he finds himself soaked by slicks of black sweat, and somewhere inside his body something is moving. It is hard to say much about this without giving up the plot, but think Daisy Johnson’s ‘Starver’ from the incredible collection Fen-- or other transformation myths. The story turns when Grélon finds ‘the child’ -- a mysterious unspeaking presence whom he takes in. We see Grélon and ‘the child’ seated in his rooms, eyes closed, listening to plainchant. The presence of music, particularly sacred music, is a constant in the story -- an intriguing counterpoint to the atmosphere of slow decay which pervades much of the rest of the story. Indeed, the only sound the child seems to make is, once,  a hum, which coincides with the arrival of the most mysterious presence of all. Grélon tries to reject the child, to send it to live elsewhere -- but even as he tries to put more distance between them, he begins to love it.

The disturbing final scene of the novella has to be read closely for clues in the language: nods toward faith, devotion, and revelation are hidden beneath sackcloth and amongst the ashes.

Grelon


Essential Info:
Read or download the pdf here

The soundtrack is here
You can subscribe to Tobias Ryan’s substack here
Or find the pinned post on: @TobiasvRyan

Meave Haughey
Contributing Editor

Meave Haughey is a short story writer based in Birmingham. Recent stories have been published in Comma Press’s The New Abject, and Forecast: New Writing from Birmingham, Doestoevsky Wannabe’s Love Bites: Fiction Inspired by Pete Shelley and Buzzcocks and in Birmingham, from the Doestoevsky Wannabe Cities series. Meave's story The Reservoir featured in The Best of British Short Stories 2021 compiled by Salt Press.


about Meave Haughey »»

Pete Williams web banner

RECENT STORIES

RANDOM READS

All About and Contributors

HELP OUTSIDELEFT

Outsideleft exists on a precarious no budget budget. We are interested in hearing from deep and deeper pocket types willing to underwrite our cultural vulture activity. We're not so interested in plastering your product all over our stories, but something more subtle and dignified for all parties concerned. Contact us and let's talk. [HELP OUTSIDELEFT]

WRITE FOR OUTSIDELEFT

If Outsideleft had arms they would always be wide open and welcoming to new writers and new ideas. If you've got something to say, something a small dank corner of the world needs to know about, a poem to publish, a book review, a short story, if you love music or the arts or anything else, write something about it and send it along. Of course we don't have anything as conformist as a budget here. But we'd love to see what you can do. Write for Outsideleft, do. [SUBMISSIONS FORM HERE]

WRITERS thru' the Years

Agata Makiela, Alan Devey, Alan Rider, Alex V. Cook, Ancient Champion, Andy Allison, Annemiek, Becca Kelly, Belle Plankton, Bruce Bailey, Caiomhin Millar, Chantal, Cheiron Coelho, Chris Connolly, Christian Present, Damon Hayhurst, Dan Breen, Danny Rose, David Hackney, David O'Byrne, Denni Boyd, Dirty Lillie, DJ Fuzzyfelt, Dr. Rich, Dr. Richard Bennett, Duncan Jones, Erin, Erin Pipes, Erin Scott, Gracey Babs, Graham Baker, Guilaine Arts, H.xx, Hamilton High, Henderson Downing, Holly Martins, J. Charreaux, J.Lee, Jay Lewis, Jaycentee, Jennifer Lynn, Jenny McCann, Jeremy Gluck, Jez Collins, Joe Ambrose, John Robinson, Jonathan Thornton, Julie O, Karl Morgan, Katherine Pargeter, Kelsey Osgood, Kevin McHugh, Kiah Cranston, Kleo Kay, Lake, Lee Paul, Luke Skinner, Malcolm, Marek Pytel, Mark Piggott, Martin Devenney, Meave Haughey, Michelle Williams, Mike Fox, mindy strouse, Neil Campbell, Neil Scott, Ogglypoogly, OL House Writer, Pam, Paul Burns, Paul Hawkins, Paul Mortimer, Paul Quigley, Peter Williams, Pixie McMowat, Pixievic, Rene Williams, Richard John Walker, Rick Casson, Rikki Stein, Ronan Crinion, Rowena Murphy, Ruby Lake, Ryan 'RJO' Stewart, Samantha Charles, Seth Sherwood, Shane O'Reilly, Sheridan Coyle, Sofia Ribeiro Willcox, Sophia Satchell-Baeza, Spanish Pantalones, Speedie John, Spencer Kansa, Steve McCarthy, The Conversation, Tim London, Tim Sparks, Tony Fletcher, Toon Traveller, Trevi, Urs Lerch, Wayne Dean-Richards, and founders, Alarcon & Lamontpaul

OUTSIDELEFT UNIVERSE

Pete Williams, outsideleft night out
OUTSIDELEFT Night Out
weekend

outsideleft content is not for everyone