GARY FRY

The Enigma of the Flat Policeman (Little Green Book of Grins and Gravity) by Ramsey Campbell Review by Gary Fry I was recently honoured to have a book dedicated to me by my favourite artist (it’s neck and neck between him and Martin Amis, but for sheer volume of quality, Campbell has the edge). The author described me as an “excellent exegete”, and now, while reviewing the tome in question, I have the rather daunting task of living up to that description. Except that, in the case of this book, the true exegete is the author himself. The Enigma of the Flat Policeman is a short multi-character, murder mystery novel set in an old house, written and subsequently aborted by Campbell when he was just 14 years old. The justification for publishing such juvenilia is, to my mind, twofold: first, as a fascinating glimpse into the nascent psyche of one of our finest living writers; and second, to allow Campbell to annotate the manuscript, speculatively identifying events and psych...

TIME AND TIME AGAIN Gary Fry If the clouds moved that day it was with the inexorable stealth of time curling around the face of a clock. I’d driven three hours straight. The cold air, rushing in through the roadster’s open top, lessened the weight of ruthless sunshine. Ellen seated beside me wore a dress as green as the fields of wheat we passed during the last leg of our journey. Whenever she spoke, I leaned her way and only replied if I needed to. On such a fine day it was as well to enjoy the companionable silence while we could, absorbing a world freshly minted by our recent marriage. I’d booked the weekend stay in a rural cottage in lieu of a proper honeymoon abroad. Both employed by demanding companies, we’d struggled to find the same lengthy gap in our careers, but such pleasures, including children and the like, would come later. Just then we were so wrapped up in each other that remaining in our London flat wouldn’t have been unappealing. But Ellen, I’d learned du...