James Hamilton-Paterson's first collection of stories was published in 1986: in a prefatory note the author claims inspiration from the 'putative memory' of a Cynic philosopher whose 'brilliant crabbiness' saw him exiled to the foothills of the titular Mount Dog. The collection that follows is a disquietingly humorous volume which tilts the reader's perception of the world just sufficiently as to make the bizarre seem ordinary and the mundane utterly extraordinary.What is happening in a world where a 41-year-old scriptwriter who despises sport becomes the greatest athlete who ever lived, and the Virgin Mary tangles with the Peace Corps? From England to the Philippines, from the Middle East to South America, the stories contained herein portray a world far stranger and less governed than we might care to admit.