Once more a collection of 70 narrative poems, with disparate themes, something, in fact, for everybody. This is my fifteenth collection, beginning with Timepieces, which was largely Gothic, to the present collection which are rather less bloodthirsty than those early volumes. I like to think of most of the subject material as bizarre these days, more subtle perhaps, but just as interesting in their wayward themes. The fact that most of them are written at night, in a dim, quiet room, probably adds to the flavour. There are ghost stories, weird stories, strange characters who inhabit eerie buildings and live lives of quiet desperation, and who may only be found between the pages of this book. There is the odd bit of humour as well, to lighten the atmosphere if one is getting over tense. You can read it in the study, in bed, even take it into the bathroom with you if you don’t want to break the thread of a good tale. But keep it away from the neighbours, or you’ll lose it for good.