Three more stories from A. C. Tillyer’s ‘An A-Z of Possible Worlds’ for the last three days.

28th Feb – C is for Casino

Echoes of a Roald Dahl tale of the unexpected here. This is the first story in the collection to use dialogue and again a lengthy intro sets the scene while breaking lots of those pesky rules of contemporary short fiction writing. Great take on the theme of unenlightened self-interest.

1st March – D is for Dormitory

Less a narrative this one, more a piece of descriptive writing. Detailed and very, very charming at the same time as presenting some very repellent, yet sleeping, figures of importance in the fictional community.

2nd March – E is for Excavation

The most conventional story thus far in the collection featuring as it does a clear and distinct, though un-named, main character. The setting is a similarly un-named dictatorship with echoes of various real world regimes. The excavation of the title refers to the over-turning of something deep inside the main character as it does the potentially damaging discoveries found deep in the earth. Definitely one of my favourites of the collection so far.