Punch and Judy World

If you can't see Mr Punch, that means he's right behind you. Now. Don't you dare look around.

Elements of fantasy and mild horror, dark comedy and perverse optimism, mingle in these bizarre stories. Make sense of them at your peril. They are linked by such surreal figures as Tommy Flyblow, a philosophical tramp, and Mr Punch, a grinning psychopath who breaks into the 'real' world from childhood nightmares and the English seaside.

Transgender bohemians, a Paraguayan giant anteater, Pepper's ghost, Jenny Greenteeth and a raving postmodernist street preacher could also turn up. Even bird-headed men seem at home in this warped but recognisable view of our appalling times.

This book is for anyone not afraid to wonder what lies beyond the spectacle of normality. If you have a clue what's happening, you can explain it to such baffled observers as Tommy Flyblow, Cute Max and, of course, Caroline the dustbin man. Why not try your luck with it now?