Running on Empty by Robert Knox (Peninus Press, £6.99)

This original unusual collection of short prose goes under the surface of its characters and their lives, exposing a darkness in day to day life which only emerges as the layers are slowly pulled back. The first story is one of optimism and hope. A man is saved from jumping off a high building by a guardian angel in the guise of a caretaker, however, not all of these stories have happy endings. In Modern Girl a funeral spirals into mayhem and fighting as the old flame and the sister of the deceased end up brawling in a pub, in an exposure of modern ladette culture gone too far. In On The Beach we see the brutalisation of a quiet senstive boy. Although we are not told what has happened to the boy to make him violent, the story is more powerful for what is not said than for what is - 'She said he would have to go back to school in the next couple of weeks. She assured him this time it would be different.' We are not told what will be different but this adds to the sense of menace which overshadows not only this story but the whole grim collection.

The story Frankie and Johnny takes the name of a popular song, although the story is about brothers and is a moralistic fable about the perils of greed, To help his brother start a video piracy firm Frankie becomes a medical guinea pig only to see his life in ruins by the end of the story. Watching Porn With My Dad offers a pessimistic view of humanity with none of the characters being portrayed sympathetically, however the action was fascinating and the final twist amusing and unexpected in spite of the title.

However I think my favourite story in this collection is the final story. Ambiguous and Surreal Dead Man Walking is an otherworldly tale of loss, love, guilt and redemption, told through the point of view of three different characters; a dead son, a mother in mourning, and a talent agent feeling guilty about the death. The end however seems as though the character may not be dead after all, almost as though death, like everything else in this book is merely a fiction. This is one way to think of things and to cope with life.


Hope Estella Whitmore

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