A virus inflames a woman with mortal desire; a colonial naturalist seeks an impossible specimen; invisible violence stalks a safari; and a child's bullying summons archaic armies. Ranging from taut human drama to phantasmagoria, these scenes make rich and strange connections - between ancient and new, human and animal, Africa and Europe, reality and dream. Includes prize-winning stories as well as previously unpublished works from one of South Africa's foremost novelists.