Mortality

An amateur goalkeeper is frozen solid in a moment of ecstasy as he makes his perfect save. A young man finds himself drawn into the autoerotic asphyxiation fantasies of his deceased uncle. A photographer navigates the rapids of London’s fashion-media elite and struggles to remain afloat in a sea of drugs. These stories feature a parade of mad women, male neurotics, lovesick morticians, frustrated pizza waiters, and psychotic serial killers. Nicholas Royle’s tales are skewed vignettes of the way we live now.

Royle was born in Manchester in 1963. He is the author of four novels, including Antwerp and The Director's Cut. He has written more than 100 tales, which have appeared in a variety of anthologies and magazines. He has edited eleven anthologies, including A Book of Two Halves.