At the Age of 37

Catamite heaven, Blue sky cancer, Wheelchair fascism and Process controller memory leak are amongst the intriguing titles within this collection, though one can’t help but wonder whether this eclectic assortment of shorts was written to be published? At times the level of whispered confessional seems all too raw, as if but for a close friend’s eyes - though the emotion expressed is loud and clear and universal.

‘So you are the other spastic, said the voice behind the door.’

Self-mockery pulls the author back from the edge-of-life in the homosexual closet as well as from the trauma and embarrassment of unrequited love. Readers may sense that certain of these tales are an autobiographical version of Twelve O’clock Feet.

Talking socks and feisty answer-machines add humour whilst far-flung locations … the Okavango, Frankfurt, Aberdeenshire and Tokyo … mix travelogue with acerbic wit and family crisis. On occasion autobiography (Poisonous toe) and fiction (Shut up) do criss-cross (Bread) for greater effect.