Nine Lives

Each of the characters in this collection of dark short fiction has a shadow following their every footstep. In the opening story, ‘Not Found Hanging’, a comfortably married man discovers that his ex-lover is terminally ill, a revelation that resurrects his repressed guilt over how he betrayed her and threatens to destroy the life he has now. In ‘Suddenly Autumn’ it is the protagonist who has to confront serious illness, but his reaction to it is both extreme and shocking. The central character in ‘Chameleon in a Coalmine’ is Dr Hans Asperger, and the story examines his controversial relationship to the wartime activities of Nazi medical experimenters. ‘On the Level’ is a twist in the tale psychological thriller set at a level crossing, where an adulterer’s overwhelming guilt forces him to make a split-second confession with unforeseen consequences. In ‘Dresden’ a former World War Two airman is haunted by nightmares of his time on daylight bombing raids in an RAF Lancaster, whilst struggling to care for his incurably ill wife during what should have been their autumn years. ‘No Laughing Matter’ is a fictional account of the life of one of Britain’s best loved entertainers, Norman Wisdom. ‘Imagine Me’ focuses on the strained relationship between a transvestite and his widowed father, and the novel solution they find to cope with a shared loss. ‘Discharge of Duty’ is the story of a conscientious objector and the persecution he suffers at the hands of his own countrymen. Finally, in ‘Strangers at the Door’, an elderly man living alone feels persecuted by his neighbours, abandoned by society and repeatedly misinterprets the motives of professionals sent to help him, with tragic results.