Cover Art By Mike Fyles

 

My cat gets inside the TV and kills people. I know it does, I’ve seen it. But you just cannot argue with nature.

Killer cats. Just one of the extraordinary ideas spun into story by Mat Coward, a writer whose fiction is underpinned by an oblique sense of humour and infused with his wry take on life. Time travel, flying saucers, and little green men are often SF’s starting points, but rarely have they been given the affectionate twists that Coward bestows on them. If you believe science fiction is the fiction of ideas then this unique collection is for you.

Journey through these sixteen stories and unravel the mystery of dead ghosts, discover why fresh air is so clean, and understand why the Joke Squad is one of the busiest in the police force, whilst Coward’s characters deal with infestations of horses, witches running call centres, and ponder the eternal question: if time travel is possible then where are all the time travellers?

 

So Far, So Near. Worlds that are but a side step away from our reality.

 

I was thrilled to find 'We All Saw It' in this collection. It had stuck in my mind ever since I first read it. All the stories here have that distinctive tang, of the intrusion of the alien or fantastic on the ordinary, that we remember from some classic SF and are delighted to find again. Better yet, we find it fresh, and with a sharp philosophical and political mind behind observant eyes. Humanist SF with Martian cool!   - Ken MacLeod

 

Even with extremely humorous booby-traps lurking for anyone with the ability to laugh, Mat Coward cannot disguise his basic humanity – nor can he hide his consummate skills at writing, damn fine story-telling, and dialogue to kill for.  Read this book – Jon George, author of Zootsuit Black (Tor UK)

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