In Passing

Betrayal, violence, and death in a blood-soaked land…

Enclosed by a garland of shorter stories, the novella Cutting Edge is the centrepiece of this collection. It’s a poignant and dramatic story that tells of the tragic demise of a mission hospital in the depths of the African bush.

The mission chief is beset with problems. The hospital is in mourning due to the tragic death on the operating table of one of the nurses. Independence is just round the corner, the monsoon rains are on their way and a newly recruited surgeon from England has turned out to be a misogynist predator.

As if that were not enough, a brutal tribal chief has given notice he’ll be seeking treatment … for haemorrhoids.

The medical personnel, already under severe stress, must now deal with him, his armed enforcers… and his witchdoctor.

Death, in one form or another, haunts all of these tales. Two are horror stories with rather unexpected twists. One is the poignant and erotic tale of a haunting by a murdered concubine in Hong Kong. There are stories of tragedies in the world of extreme climbing and caving. An Inuit legend springs to life from the snow and ice. And last but not least, a piece of Sci-Fi which documents the discovery of a weapon that can sink an aircraft carrier in seconds... and the disastrous consequences, both for the world and for its creator.

A brief breakdown of the other stories is given at the start of the collection proper.