The Race Glass

The Race Glass by Remy DeanPaul, Mark and Nancy have finished school and are facing a British summer of uncertainty while they consider how to move on... three ’average’ teenagers who learn the meaning of growing up and letting go. ’Snail Racing’ tells the story of three friends attempting to take control of their futures, dealing with the subtle and complex issues of gender, belonging, connection, and alienation - a short story that is both poignant and told with an underlying wry wit... and, yes, they do race snails. College student Mac, lonely though surrounded by friends, is obsessed with his guitar - the only thing he can really relate to and express himself through. ’Guitar Hero’ picks up on the themes of ’Snail Racing’ and ups the ante in a world of free sex, cheap drink and expensive amplifiers - the second short story presented in this retrospective is delineated with a gentle humanity and reminds those who may have forgotten that the folly of youth is often a brave front.In a future world of virtual warfare, those with the fastest synaptic responses become heroes. In ’Homunculus’, we meet Gurt, a ’Top Tester’ for a bio-tech conglomerate that develops new kinds of weapons - but he is being changed by his experiences just as any real soldier is. Has he been contaminated? Is he losing part of himself or discovering himself anew? What secret is Gabby hinting at? Something strange is happening... and soldiers must have their orders. Mixing elements from SF, zombie horror and romance, the third short story in this collection remains highly relevant in a time when we are gradually losing-and-finding ourselves in the digital world... ’The Race Glass’ is a retrospective, novelette-length, collection of short stories from the author of ’Scraps’ and is presented here with an insightful introduction by Remy Dean.

Remy Dean was born in Newport, Gwent, 1965, and now lives with his wife, daughter and dog in Snowdonia, where he teaches in the Arts department of a local college. He has hosted occasional workshops and short courses for Creative Writing, and is the author of more than ten published books. He graduated with honours, from North Staffs Polytechnic in 1987 with a BA in Audio-visual Design, starting out by making a few short films, including No Way - a music video for his band, ’BrainDeath’ - before directing his creative energies toward writing. Previous employment has included working as an international freight driver, sheet metal worker, studio photographer, press officer and magazine editor, before finding success as a journalist. Both his writing and his photography have appeared in several national newspapers and magazines, including The Guardian, The Independent, New Woman and Outlook. He has written on a wide range of topics such as true crime, jazz, mainstream pop, alternative rock, science fiction, health and film theory. Published works of non-fiction by Dean include biographies and critiques of Nick Cave, Henry Rollins, Nine Inch Nails, Nirvana, Suede, Lydia Lunch, Celine Dion(!) and more recently the web-active history of art ’textbook’, Evolution of Western Art. His works of fiction include Scraps, a novel, and Final Bough, a novelette. Both are currently available from questing beast books.