If you are looking for something a little different for seasonal gifts, how about a book of modern folk tales?
Knock Twice is a collection published by the co-operative think tank, the New Weather Institute and the Real Press. The book brings together short tales from earth scientists, experts on climate change and finance, archaeologists, writers, economists and, as a first foray into fiction, me.
As Andrew Simms, who edited the collection (and an earlier one called There was a Knock at the Door) explains. “After years of campaigning on the assumption that rational arguments would win, we need to try a different tack. Even with all the evidence in the world, it is our imagination that we need to exercise, if we are to find a new path and a sustainable economy,”
Try this introduction from ‘The Days of the Wolf Trial’ by Hamish Fyfe:
“The wooden shaft of the axe burnt in the woodcutter’s hand as he sliced it down towards the wolf’s head. Doing so their eyes met, locked in loathing and wonder. Just then, the woodcutter landed his axe with terrifying force inches away from the wolf’s head, splitting the wood on which the animal lay entirely in two. The wolf and the man held their steady gaze with the force of centuries of mutual distrust and animus between their species. Neither flinched.
“‘I will spare you’ said the woodcutter, ‘but only that human justice can be done and your fate decided by the laws of men.’ The heart of the wolf sank at this…”
Read on, or give on, by ordering your copy from Real Press, £8.99 here
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