Michael Ayrton

Taking as their theme the power of two English institutions--the monarchy and the justice system--two stories demonstrate with delectable wit how individuals can become so bound to the institutions they serve that they cease to exist. Hoosh-Mi, Queen Elizabeth II contracts rabies from a corgi; and Bathpool Park, focuses on the trial of Donald Neilson, the so-called "Black Panther," who after a series of post office robberies involving three murders kidnapped seventeen-year-old Lesley Whittle of whose murder he was also convicted.

The myth of Daedalus, a craftsman and inventor who built the Labyrinth for the Minotaur in Crete in this very short novella by Michael Ayrton. Very lyrical and with a modern slant on the story, Daedalus narrates the tale of how King Minos imprisoned both Daedalus and his son Icarus within the Labyrinth, and of how they escaped from it. With a pair of crude wings both father and son took flight from Crete - literally. Daedalus warned his son not to fly too close to the sun, but Icarus ignored his words. As a result, his wings melted, and Icarus fell from a great height into the sea. Lavishly illustrated by the author with his own line, wash and brush drawings and photographic plates.