Four tales - Claire F. Smith

This entertaining and intriguing anthology offers everything a reader could want in a short story - narrative verve, a gift for characterisation, an often dark sense of humour and more than a hint of the fantastical- while the variety of situations and approaches displayed across the four stories showcases the author's impressive versatility.Frisbee: As innocent as he looks, Thomas already has blood on his hands by the age of seven. Who will he choose as his next victim, and will he find any redemption?Taste the Rain: A little lonely but otherwise content with her life on the farm, our heroine isn't looking forward to the long coach ride to London for some relative's wedding. An unfortunate event lands her somewhere far worse than the capital, though, and it looks unlikely she will ever get home, let alone find love.Lifechoice: Accomplished cross-country runner Karen has no interest in the new sports implant that guarantees to improve performance. But some of her fellow runners, including her new boyfriend Pete, rush to sign up. At first the implant delivers impressive results, but do these come, as Karen begins to believe, with some sinister side-effects?Monster in the Wood: Having recently spent good money on a difficult horse, Sadie reluctantly relocates to Leeds. Enduring the monstrous behaviour of the girls who work in her new livery yard, she wonders whether to believe the locals' talk of a real monster in the neighbourhood