With over thirty tales in this collection I agonised over which of them should be the cover story. However, the bleak solitude of those storm-tossed light-towers, often built off some wild and windswept, rocky coast, has always fascinated me, and so I chose the drama of the sea, with: ‘Wreckers.’Even the most elevated families seem to have a black sheep who does not conform, and in ‘Twice Loved’ a wayward young son is to be disowned and banished forever.In the ‘Curse of Khartoum’ a despised mis-fit goes off at a tangent, with surprising results for everyone concerned.Things are rarely as black and white or as straightforward as they seem, and I hope these little tales will show that nothing in life should be taken for granted, or at face value.I leave you to decide if you think I am right. H.R.