A tale with a twist...

I wrote this when exploring the battlefields on the 85th anniversary of The Somme.

This was inspired by a painting and a castle with an unusual story in Portugal.  For Cláudia.

This story of the frustrations of a new writer won the "most promising newcomer award" in the Viewpoint Portfolio 2001 short story competition.  (In case my publishers are reading - this is fiction, not autobiography!)

Cycling across Brittany for the Festival Interceltique in 2000, I met an old woman in a cafe on a crossroads who told me a strange and illuminating story.  Later that week, one of the Festival processions was delayed following a bomb threat from Breton nationalists.  These two, obliquely related events inspired me to write this.