Equinox is the fourth part of a
crazy collection of short stories on a seasonal theme.
It all started many years ago
when a colleague of mine with the astonishing moniker of Piero Bohoslawec, of the
Bath Evening Chronicle as it was then, challenged me to write a Christmas ghost
story.
Prevarication descended
and I never got round to it.
Last year, I suddenly realised I
would have preferred a Winter Solstice theme. So, off I went and wrote A Walk
in the Park, scaring myself rigid into the process.
Last Spring was the vernal
offering, a crazed tale of deranged fairies set in 1920s Warwickshire, which I
followed up with Midsummer Glen, a mad mythological mystery, moving to 1930s
Scotland.
So, what to do for autumn to
round off the quartet?
Each story was historical and I
seemed to be moving forwards, so I ended up in 1950s Russia. Omsk, to be
precise. Time for some paranoid Cold War sci-fi!
Actually, my husband Rob should
have more credit for this one. It’s set in a secret Soviet institute, with
strange goings-on in the basement. I can hear the 1950s soundtrack in my head.
Equinox introduces the anxious
Arkady and his stoically mysterious comrade Yakov, a quirky caretaker with a
past.
The tag line ‘First we drink,
then we save the world!’ was inspired by my former boss Barry, who did a bit of
skydiving in his day, often in the Ukraine.
I know! Bonkers, or wot.
By Pamela Kelt
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