The Sea Beast takes a Lover

A lovesick kraken slowly drags the object of its desire - a ship of sailers - into the sea; a group of cantankerous saints materialize in a well-appointed parlour, and must unravel the mystery of how they got there; ageing fathers are sunk to the bottom of the ocean in pressure-sealed crates in a time-honoured ritual.

Michael Andreasen's stories romp through the lunatic and surreal with a tender generous ease; there is a joyous absurdity to each premise. Just because a sister is born without a head doesn't mean her brother won't love and protect her; just because an adulterous tryst ends in alien abduction doesn't mean the man doesn't miss his wife.

An extremely funny, very weird, brilliantly constructed set of stories, from an exciting young writer.