Book description
The Book with Twelve Tales is a gallimaufry of stories: comic,
frightening, exotic and magical. Here, in John Gallas's richly
imagined narrative worlds, are the American gothic of Morten
Mortenssen, the pig who eats his owners; the sexual folktale of a
comedy of Mongolian marriage; a fable of the power of the imagination
as a poet is interrogated by a president. Then there is the terrifying
Arctic potentate Zigismund Walrus in his nightmare palace of ice, and
the true adventure of the author and Turkish rabies. Gallas's
exuberant language draws the reader into twists of plot and dialogue,
through tales of evil and violence, love and generosity that reaffirm
the power of humour and the value of shared wisdoms.
John Gallas was born in 1950 in Wellington, New Zealand. He came to
England to study Old Icelandic in 1972, and stayed. He has been a
teacher of children with special needs for twenty years, most recently
with the Leicestershire Student Support Service. John Gallas has
published six earlier collections of poetry with Carcanet and edited the
anthology of world poetry The Song Atlas (2002). Visit John Gallas'
website at www. johngallaspoetry. co. uk
