The book commences with a problem that we all face at one time or another. The task of placing a name, can be niggling, but what if this task becomes an obsession and the person behind the name a dark specter? The second story, is called “Snatched”. Surely a parent's worst nightmare is when their cherished infant goes missing, when it is the fault of the father, it can never be forgiven, but does the blame really lie with him? The third story is “Opium”. Oscar Wilde said “The only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it... I can resist everything but temptation” in this story a righteous man is driven down this bumpy road. The next story is “Bugeyes”. We live in a world of body image stereo types, are perpetuated by the media. Those unfortunate beings, born with abnormalities, could face a lifetime of cruel jokes, and in this story's case rejection. Other stories deal with subjects like insanity, sibling jealousy, how money corrupts the soul. The last story, the final on the journey is “Cast from Hell” a reject from Hell returns in the form of a beautiful young woman to wreak havoc. One of the common denominators in my stories is that the oppressed always rise up and by quirk or other succeed in the end, often with some kind of poignant revenge enacted. The stories are characterized by some loathsome characters, for example Maggot the circus owner, despicably tries to sell his daughter to an equally slimy tyrant. There is Little Mite, a young girl whose evil act brings ruin to her family. The Duke who faces a death sentence with nonchalance and executes a heinous act to save his skin. There is a woman serial killer, whose killer instinct is often triggered by the words “I love you”. A book that I must have read while at school, that still sticks in my mind to this day was “Kiss kiss” by Roald Dahl. I would like my stories to have a Dahl like quality, with twists at the end but with a more modern edge. I don’t want my short stories to be deemed “horror stories”, they are more than this, there is humor, moral statements, social criticism interwoven into them. The Flight of Destiny is like a book of fairy stories for adults. It may explore the dark human psyche but be prepared to have a few laughs along the way.
