A Ballet of Wasps

<p align="justify">This volume consists of four short stories and a play. The first, <em>A Ballet of Wasps</em>, deals with a woodsman who offends a vampire with tales of derring-do. Our second story, <em>Golgotha’s Centurion</em>, focuses on the chiaroscuro and ochre tints in Giotto and Cimabue. It also makes use of the same template as Mel Gibson in his <em>Passion of the Christ</em>, but this time to illustrate <em>Lex talionis</em>. The third piece, <em>Wilderness’ Ape</em>, delves into the world of zombies or the living dead. <em>Sixty Foot Dolls</em> – our fourth javelin – considers the vexed topics of ‘ageism’, eugenesis, regression theory and evolution. The last romance, <em>Stinging Beetles</em>, is a theatrical exercise in daemonic possession which brings together flash backs, dream sequences and other filmic techniques. Its finale again enforces the point of the whole book – namely, that heroic values and aristocratic mores need to take over once again.</p>