Unknown Quantities: Eleven tales of the slightly weird

Eleven stories in a darker mood from Hugh Ashton, the acclaimed author of the Deed Box and Dispatch-box of Sherlock Holmes adventures. Here he explores the theme of the unknown that lurks behind our everyday world, waiting for its chance to escape and wreak havoc.

The settings range from a 16th-century Italian galley, through a 19th century country house, to the author’s home city of Lichfield.

Contains strong language and adult themes.

Bee-bee  - a rag doll who helps her owner cope with life's ups and downs

What you find in a skip - it can be surprising

Babysitter - something nasty in the Coopers' woodshed

Time thieves - they steal time and dreams and energy

Ships in the night - “as night turned to day, he started to understand the truth”

Carnacki at Bunscombe Abbey - a sincere tribute to William Hope Hodgson's classic ghost-finder

The story that wrote itself - sometimes an author gets help from an unexpected source

Gianni Two-Pricks - be careful what you take from others – even when they're dead

Lady of the Dance - movement as message

Me and my Shadow - or is it really my shadow?

What Happens Afterwards? – when you die on the operating table, what's next?