A collection of Kipling's strangest tales with almost every one accompanied by a linked poem. As an SF fan I am of course delighted that the very first tale in the collection is science fiction "As Easy as A.B.C." the sequel to his "With the Night Mail" It also includes a depiction of hatred on the home front in "Mary Postgate" and contrasting humour in an extended revenge prank aimed at a whole town "The Village that Voted the Earth was Flat". One exceedingly mad tale made no sense the first three times I read it but became much (but not entirely) clearer when I discovered that the key unwritten word was witchcraft. However I will not give the title of that story so I don't entirely spoil it (Peter Dunn)

In this comic masterpiece from the writer of The Jungle Book, Rudyard Kippling. The book tells of four friends who team up with a carnival master to exact revenge on a quibbling bureaucrat, accidentally creating an international obsession spiraling beyond their control. Surreal, hilarious, and quintessentially English, it is one of Kipling's least-known works that indeed deserve much attention.

"Introduces the reader to a wealth of extraordinary life forms"-- P. [4] of cover.

"With vivid, prismatic photos, zoologist Piper offers encounters with dozens of improbable-looking but beautiful organisms you've never heard of." --Entertainment Weekly

Regulus, a Roman general, defeated the Carthaginians 256 B.C., but was next year defeated and taken prisoner by the Carthaginians, who sent him to Rome with an embassy to ask for peace or an exchange of prisoners. Regulus strongly advised the Roman Senate to make no terms with the enemy. He then returned to Carthage and was put to death. The Fifth Form had been dragged several times in its collective life, from one end of the school Horace to the other. Those were the years when Army examiners gave thousands of marks for Latin, and it was Mr. King's hated business to defeat them. Hear him, then, on a raw November morning at second lesson. 'Aha!' he began, rubbing his hands. 'Cras ingens iterabimus aequor. Our portion to-day is the Fifth Ode of the Third Book, I believe--concerning one Regulus, a gentleman. And how often have we been through it?'

First published by Etana Editions, Helsinki, 2016.