“You need to write about what you know. You need to write about what you’ve experienced.”

Charlie Blanning on how his father’s and grandfather’s Greyhound breeding inspired elements of his new novel

Greyhound author and historian Charlie Blanning has released his second work of Greyhound fiction — Electric Rabbit. His latest novel picks up many of the dangling narrative threads from his first novel, Rags to Riches. His latest work stands alone, but he recommends reading both novels to get the most of recurring characters and full historical context of the story.

Speaking of that historical context, Electric Rabbit reads very much like historical fiction. The narrative continues Charlie’s incorporation of elements factual Greyhound sport — Greyhound racing and coursing in Great Britain. This new novel is set in the mid-1920s and focuses on the first Greyhound racing activities in the country.

Without giving too much of the plot away, host John Parker and Charlie sit down to talk about the novel and its Greyhound sport underpinnings. Charlie shares how his family’s background in racing and coursing Greyhound breeding informed Electric Rabbit’s narrative. As always, he brings to bear his considerable corpus of historic Greyhound sport knowledge to paint a vivid and engaging portrait of the Greyhound in early 20th century Great Britain.

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• Owen Patrick Smith, Greyhound Hall of Fame inductee (Website)