Gifts of War : ‘We’re closer to the gods, we have finer feeling, that’s why they give us victory…’ Ancient tales and modern dilemmas, in this beguiling account of the aftermath of the Battle of Troy. The Retreating World: ‘ I remember, I remember…everything we say these days begins with I remember… .’ An ex-Iraqi soldier pauses to share his humour, passion and wisdom on conflict - and pigeons!

This volume also contains Fraser Grace’s two-hander Butterfly Fingers, about a young Englishwoman applying for a job at an American airbase, and Naomi Wallace’s short play A State of Innocence’ in which an Israeli soldier and a Palestinian mother mysteriously meet at a run-down zoo.