An amateur goalkeeper is frozen solid in a moment of ecstasy as he makes his perfect save. A young man finds himself drawn into the auto-erotic asphyxiation fantasies of his deceased uncle. Two men hunt the elusive Scottish wildcat, one of them a cuckold, the other his cuckolder. A photographer navigates the rapids of London s fashion-media elite and struggles to remain afloat in a sea of drugs. From Amsterdam to deepest Devon, from Naples to New York, and from all corners of London to Manchester s Northern Quarter, these stories feature a parade of mad women, male neurotics, lovesick morticians, frustrated pizza waiters and psychotic serial killers. Like a funnier Ian McEwan or a kinder Will Self, Nicholas Royle s tales are skewed vignettes of the way we live now.
Author Biography
Nicholas Royle was born in Manchester in 1963. He is the author of four novels, including Antwerp and The Director's Cut. An assiduous champion of the short story, he has written more than 100 tales, which have appeared in a variety of anthologies and magazines. He has edited eleven anthologies, including A Book of Two Halves and The Time Out Book of New York Short Stories. He lives in Manchester with his wife and two children.
