The Elderly Gentleman is a spoken novel by William E. Drummond.
The Elderly Gentleman is the unseen but eponymous protagonist in this novel.
The Elderly Gentleman is a character in The Penkiln Burn Universe.
The Penkiln Burn Universe exists inside Bill Drummond’s head.
The Elderly Gentleman novel takes the form of 154 letters written by The Elderly Gentleman and posted to an anonymous individual*. between the dates of the 10th of January 2022 and the 30th of December 2022.
*This is not always the case. A very few of the letters have been posted to named individuals.
These letters might reflect the conflicted and troubled mind of a man approaching his three score years and ten.
The Elderly Gentleman is one of three novels by William E. Drummond. The other two novels are titled Tenzing Scott Brown and The Life Model. The three novels are collectively titled MEN START WAR – KILL ALL MEN – NO MORE WAR*. All three novels in MEN START WAR – KILL ALL MEN – NO MORE WAR were never published as hardback books, in editions of 400, on the same day in 2023, as previously announced – or not. But might exist as a series of handwritten letters posted to the Penkiln Burn Artic Library. As of now, The Elderly Gentleman exists in its purest form as a spoken novel...**
And contains the words...
In late 2020, I started to imagine a film. The imagined film was a period drama set in the very real Liverpool of the early 1980s. In the past few days, I have started to re-imagine this film, and this time it is set in the very near future in a very unreal Galloway. This re-imagined film exists somewhere between Alice in Wonderland and The Handmaid’s Tale.
And the words...
WE ARE THE 25 PAINTINGS
WE ARE NOT THE VOICE OF
THE EGO OF AN AGEING MALE
IN WHATEVER LANGUAGE AND CULTURE
HE IS PATRONISING THIS YEAR
WE HAVE OUR OWN VOICE
FOR WE ARE THE 25 PAINTINGS
Each of the individual letters have their own title.
Each of the individual letters contained within this novel will be published in their spoken and written word form, for no more than 24 hours, each year, on the same date, as they were originally written and posted in 2022.
To know if one of those letters has been published in their spoken and written word form today, thus available to consume now, click HERE.
To know when each of these 154 titled letters will be posted on the Penkiln Burn website for 24 hours click HERE.
That said...
The first ever letter written by The Elderly Gentleman (Tenzing Dead) will remain on the Penkiln Burn site for each day of the year until the Penkiln Burn website no longer exists. To read and listen to Tenzing Dead click HERE.
There may have been other letters written and posted by The Elderly Gentleman, but they are either lost. Or just stranded in one of the other novels by William E. Drummond.
Anyway...
The Elderly Gentleman has been...
Edited by Helen Coyle
Proofread by Penny Kiley
Spoken by Bill Drummond
Photographed by Tracey Moberly
Recorded by Kenny Atkin
Consulted by Cally Callomon
Made to Work by Gavin Bush
The Elderly Gentleman is Penkiln Burn Novel Two
Penkiln Burn Novels celebrate loss in all its forms.
