Half a Dozen Star Jumps by Helen J Beal

A woodpecker who creates sculptures for the opera singer he adores, a sculpture that collects the thoughts of the people who touch him, ghosts of owls that portent death in the castle, a secret night-time visitor finding his own way to say goodbye, mobile phones that metamorphosize into fruit on the strike of midnight and help stitch a marriage back together and the last survivors on earth – on the moon. Metaphysical, anthropomorphological, spiritual and fantastical this collection of short stories stretch and bend the imagination, explore the nature and endurance of love across time and across space and see how frictions can create fractures.