Gary Couzens is one of the foremost writers of slipstream fiction currently being published within the British independent press. In this, his first short story collection, he further nudges the boundaries of genre conventions, deftly exploring the fringes of experience to create nineteen startling stories which burrow deeply amidst our heartfelt fascinations and fears.

Dissecting the relationships between time and identity, perception and misconception, longing and alienation, Couzens' often cinematic prose evokes realities just below the surface of common experience. For each story there will be a connection with someone, somewhere.

On the title story: Set slightly in the future during a total eclipse, Gary Couzens' outstanding 'Second Contact' qualifies vaguely as SF but is fundamentally a series of well-drawn character studies, focussing mostly on the growing friendship between a young American woman and a gay Englishman as they anticipate this once-in-a-lifetime cosmic spectacle. (Murray C. Steward, Zene #16)

On Eskimo Friends: (This) is an excellent introduction to his way of continually rubbing his characters' brittle edges against one another. We see events from first one character's viewpoint and then that is balanced against another's. As the events are a 'rape' and a suicide the dialogue and emotions are charged. Seemingly a patch of darkness has entered these people's lives, and the story is about how the darkness unfolds in each one. (David Kendall, Zene#17)

Second Contact contains 16 short stories, 2 novelettes and 1 novella and is 280pp approx. £8.00 inc. p&p. Purchase direct from the publisher at 85 Gertrude Road, Norwich NR3 4SG. Cheques/postal orders to be made payable to "Elastic Press" or buy online.

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