By Ross Antony Barnard

I love a gritty novel with more twists and turns than a twisty-turny thing. But I'm also pretty impatient when it comes to getting to the pinnacle of a story, which is perhaps why I enjoyed volume one of Twisted Dark: a collection of short stories, each with no shortage of 'I-can't-put-it-down' moments.

Deep, dark and twisted – every story builds in a way that gives you a rich, character-building context; yet you're still left with no idea of what's to come in those final pages. And fortunately for impatient moi, you're not left wondering for long. Quite an art, if you ask me.

By Ross Antony Barnard

This evening I stood on the platform of Finsbury Park Tube station, as I always do, with one part of me quietly chuckling away every time I hear the word Cockfosters. And the other focusing on the strategic positioning of my legs. You know, *just* in case someone happens to speed down the platform all elbows, causing me to topple into the path of an oncoming train. It could easily happen – accident or not – couldn’t it?

Then I came home to Neil Gibson's So Easy, an extract from volume five of Twisted Dark. And it made me think that my oh-so-cautious mindset isn't as absurd as I once might've thought.