How does a drive of grovelling ermine grab you?
And a front door in the shape of two nubile walrusettes
holding the midnight sun aloft and laughing haha?
And a hall heavier than an ice-floe featuring
wallpaper made out of polar bears, crossed fulmar and
a chandelier of a hundred and sixty decapitated caribou?

from 'Rich'

The Book with Twelve Tales is a gallimaufry of stories: comic, frightening, exotic and magical. Here, in John Gallas's richly imagined narrative worlds, are the American gothic of Morten Mortenssen, the pig who eats his owners; the sexual folktale of a comedy of Mongolian marriage; a fable of the power of the imagination as a poet is interrogated by a president. Then there is the terrifying Arctic potentate Zigismund Walrus in his nightmare palace of ice, and the true adventure of the author and Turkish rabies. Gallas's exuberant language draws the reader into twists of plot and dialogue, through tales of evil and violence, love and generosity that reaffirm the power of humour and the value of shared wisdoms.


Cover image Albrecht Durer, Head of a Walrus, 1521 (copyright the British Museum). Cover design by www.StephenRaw.com.

Contents

Morten Mortenssen the Fat Pig

The Mongolian Economy

Rich

The Ballad of Lucky Razek

The Suspicious Llama

The Tale of Tales

The Monkey’s Dilemma

President Kala and Imi the Poet

Ao the Kiwi

The Tale of Lawrence of Arabia post mortem

The Ferret of Shalott

Rabies!