Alex Barr read Mars as the Abode of Life and wanted to be an astonomer, but Schrödinger's equation foxed him. His birth marked a turning point in the Battle of Britain and he wanted to be a pilot, but the RAF lost patience with him. After seven years as a journalist (reaching the zenith of his career as wire editor of The Wichita Beacon) he read The Pleasures of Architecture by Clough Williams-Ellis, gained a Dip. Arch. with Dictinction from Portsmouth Polytechnic, and for seventeen years taught architecture at Manchester Met. In 1996 he and his wife Rosemarie (a ceramic artist) moved to a smallholding in North Pembrokeshire. His haphazard career has included work as a bus conductor, ice-cream vendor, kitchen porter, and garden labourer. He has won prizes for poems and short fiction, but none for sport. The stories in this collection span the period from 1980 to the present.