Steal Away Golden Calf

Hammer is a kleptomaniac but the world outside his mind is strict and enforces public amputation for minor/major offenses. The State insists on it and - besides Hammer's unfortunate familiarity with the town pillory - crime hasn't been lower. There's a prosthetic black market that Hammer proudly boycotts and a union of prostitutes which he proudly doesn't. There's a license that requires winning a lottery and passing a multiple choice test to have children (our anti-hero tries to steal a test in order to raise a child soldier, who will hopefully kill a corrupt cop...) There's tribal warfare, eggs raining down on people and whole families hidden beneath the floorboards where a baby winds up to sneeze... Sardonic and comic; bleak, absurd and unnatural: this is Ben Wannamaker's first novel.

Published by One of One Copy House. 165 pages