Elephant Law And Other Stories

Elephant Law and Other Stories (1969) by Robert Standish
Peter Davies | ISBN: 432157182
Condition: Good
As sold by Crappy Old Books

Some books arrive with a title that politely clears its throat. Others stride in wearing a pith helmet, slam a dossier on the table, and announce: “Right. We need to discuss elephant law.” And honestly, once you’ve heard those two words together, you can’t unhear them. You lean in. You become a juror. You accept that your afternoon plans are now cancelled.

Elephant Law and Other Stories is a glorious little collection from Robert Standish — a writer who understands that short fiction is at its best when it’s sharp, slightly unpredictable, and carrying at least one odd detail that makes you feel you’ve stepped into a world with its own rules. In this case, possibly rules involving very large mammals and the kind of logic that only makes sense once you stop insisting life be sensible.

Standish doesn’t do bland. These are stories with a twinkle and a bite: compact narratives that can be wry, sly, occasionally dark at the edges, and usually a touch off-centre in the way that makes you read the next one “just to see where he’s going with this.” You’ll get people behaving badly, people behaving oddly, people behaving as if they’ve just realised consequences are real — plus the quiet, delicious pleasure of an author who can turn a situation with a simple premise into something that lands with a thud, a smirk, or both.

And that title story… whether “elephant law” is literal, metaphorical, or the sort of phrase that starts as a joke and ends as a warning, it sets the tone perfectly. It suggests a world where the normal legal codes don’t quite cover what’s about to happen. It hints at misunderstandings, cultural collisions, and the peculiar human urge to impose neat systems on untidy reality — only for reality to trample the paperwork and wander off.

If you like your short stories tidy and comforting, this may not be your cup of tea. (It might, however, be your cup of something stronger, taken with a raised eyebrow.) But if you like fiction that has character — stories that feel like overheard anecdotes from a smoky bar, tales told by someone who’s seen a bit too much and finds it faintly funny — then you’re in the right place.

The 1969 publication date is part of the charm too: that era where fiction could be brisk and unapologetic, untroubled by the need to explain itself, happy to be morally ambiguous and slightly mischievous. No hand-holding. No ten-page backstory. Just straight into the situation, and good luck.

This copy is Good — which in Crappy Old Books terms means it’s had a life, but it’s still perfectly ready to entertain you, bemuse you, and possibly leave you wondering why modern life contains so little elephant-related legislation.

A quirky, sharp-edged collection with a title that deserves its own plaque.

From Crappy Old Books: because sometimes the only thing standing between civilisation and chaos is a rulebook nobody’s read — and an elephant with its own interpretation.

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