Around you the world is swirling. You pass through a submerged town, its steeples and trees barely visible through the thick water . . . In the distance the wreck of the gunship HMS Elizabeth lolls on a sandbank. Oil slicks the canals of the capital and even now the old men still tell tales of mermen in the shallows . . . A pool empty of water save for a brackish puddle and bones and hanks of fur on the floor - the remains of mice or possums that have tumbled in, lured perhaps by the moisture. Or perhaps by something else . . . In bestselling author Chris Womersley's first short fiction collection, twenty watery, macabre and deliciously enjoyable tales will keep you spellbound until their final, unexpected and unsettling twist. PRAISE FOR CHRIS WOMERSLEY 'By interweaving the trivial, the humorous and the grisliest of the grisly, Chris Womersley straps us in for a shivery ride.' New York Times 'Unrepentantly daring.' The Age 'Poetic and original.' The Monthly 'Brilliantly compelling.' Australian Women's Weekly 'A master storyteller.' Australian Book Review