One of the most impressive aspects of Westall's work as a whole and of this collection in particular is the variety both of story type and character.

Early in his career, Westall was often thought to be primarily a realist because of the success of his World War II realistic novel The Machine-Gunners.

If anything, however, Westall has made an even greater impact in the world of fantasy writing. He returned to World War II as a setting regularly over the years, but even those stories have not always been realistic. The Promise, for instance, uses the World War II setting as the backdrop for a ghostly love story. Even within fantasy, however, Westall's work is amazingly varied.

The stories in this collection, as do his novels, explore the realms of time travel, science fiction, ghost stories, horror, political satire, and a spoof on Count Dracula...