Cannon Fodder

David L. Hayles's debut collection of stories, "The Suicide Kit", drew comparisons with Roald Dahl, Ian McEwan and Iain Banks. In "Cannon Fodder", Hayles gives us a world of demented misfits, sleazy sex tourists, killer inmates, has-beens and never-weres. In 'The Process', a desperate man signs up to rid himself of his debts but at a terrible cost; in 'Savage Incidents at the College Reunion', an alumni fancy dress disco descends into a bloodbath thanks to an inopportune choice of costume; and in 'Death Row Diary', a brutish warden's censoring of letters has grim results. Elsewhere there are excursions into the variously doomed and sordid worlds of failed western actors, homicidal would-be writers and the suburban dogging scene. Stories so black they should come with a torch, Cannon Fodder takes you to a place where life isn't just cheap, they're giving it away.

ISBN 0436205475   Pages 208 ISBN13 9780436205477 (What's this?)   Weight (grammes) 225 Publisher Vintage   Published in London Imprint Martin Secker & Warburg Ltd   Height (mm) 214 Format Paperback   Width (mm) 134 Publication date 07 Jul 2005   Spine width (mm) 15 DEWEY 823.92   Academic level General DEWEY edition DC22

		The process		1
		You can be a writer!		18
		Savage incidents at the college reunion		27
		Death row diary		39
		The expedition		44
		Happy days		49
		Dogging		67
		To hell with Hollywood		73
		Shandoman redux		110
		Hollywood by sundown		128
		The lever		135
		Piccadilly hustle		143
		The islander		153
		Orson Beadle, cinema manager		181
		Mitch		191

"'Beautifully drawn characters... Hayles writes with such cold-blooded precision' Guardian 'A very funny book... in the best traditions of the last few decades of British comedy... I can't recommend this enough' Time Out 'By turns hilarious, terrifying, ludicrous and thought-provoking - David L Hayles is a writer of great range and promise' Toby Litt"

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