In 'Auto-da-fé', a man's car defines him. Until the Rep of the Year, in his smart blue BMW, goes head-to- head in a showdown with V-man in his smug black Volvo saloon. But who is the real loser in this game?

In 'Free Spirit', a wanderer, a party animal, goes wherever the wind blows, going home to bed with one person after another, old or young, healthy or corrupt, male or female. And then moves on, without regrets, without ever looking back...

In 'Fule's Gold', Mr Fisher has taught at St Swithin's for over forty years, but is resigned to the total lack of imagination of the boys in his creative writing class. Until the day he opens one exercise book and discovers the Holy Grail of literature: an essay of total freshness and originality. But is it just too good to have been written by a mere schoolboy?

Part of the Storycuts series, these three stories were previously published in the collection Jigs & Reels.