Challenges through changes in the environment or sheer luck can bring about new forms of life.This first story is built about such organisms which either lived on this earth or came from outer space. Many of you may have had difficulty in looking after certain pets. These demands can be great, but not as much as keeping a dinosaur with the biggest claws in the world as in the second story. Sometimes we get termites in the UK but this is very unlikely in your case. There may be more to this than meets the eye, especially when a genetic mistake forms a mutant the human termite in story three. Pigeons have been labeled pests, vermin and eradicated in cities. In story four it is time for retribution which starts in central London causing chaos and disaster. The 'Glass Anemone'Aiptasia means beautiful, but for all its beauty it is an aggressive survivor and pest that can take over an aquarium. In this fifth story these glass anemones move into fresh water and venture onto land with serious consequences and loss of human life. Creatures from the past, if they existed today, could cause chaos. This sixth story is such a case where man's endeavour to search for minerals in new environments releases creatures from the past. The seventh story is based on an experiment where urchin genes are transferred to humans. This has devastating consequences for one child who is compelled to prey on people who have dined and wined. A huge blast of radiation from the sun had sterilized everything on earth. Humans knew how to create new beings from dividing egg cells but they were clones. In this eighth story a man returns to a small hut he used to play in as a child. Is he safe inside the hut? Will he leave the same person as before or has he lost or gained something unimaginable? You've probably seen films on pest control where hundreds of mice are found living in a barn. Well this ninth story is about mice, more than one could ever imagine or count that take over a village and cause chaos. During Napoleonic times there were many garrisons placed around the English Channel to prevent invasion by the French.During this time a situation occurred which is commemorated today by naming an alley close to the gun emplacement, 'Screaming Alley.' the title of the tenth story. The eleventh story is about a small boy who sees a horse's face outlined in the trunk of a rotten tree and witnesses a transformation which echoes from the past. This twelfth story is based around Dead Man's island.This is a living graveyard which was used for victims of plague ships and English and French prisoners of war on hulks. Many bones have been exposed on the shore. What happened to the souls of all these people? Are they trapped in this lost human refuse tip, unknown and inaccessible to relatives and friends? Richard, a shepherd and smuggler who knew this island and must return one day to perform an unknown task. Every day a man brought his donkeys down a small lane to the beach. This lane became known as Donkey Lane until finally, as the years went by it was given the name Dead Donkey Lane for reasons that will be found in this next fictional thirteenth story. Many people especially if travelling to other countries experience events such as brief encounters with insects. Others may be ridiculed by their surnames or even being polite to other people which is what this next fourteenth story shows. Plaster of Paris bandages have helped bones heal for many centuries. This final fifteenth story is of a master plasterer whose daily job in 'The Plaster Room' in the local hospital extends into a new obsession which has serious consequences for those involved. This volume presents a wide spectrum of different horror stories and experiences many of which stem from local tales. Can such horrific things happen? Who knows often events occur beyond our imagination. Enjoy
About the Author: Dr Mike Pearce is a scientist interested in behaviour. He also was a lecturer in human biology and health at a college in Canterbury, Kent