Marenghi: 'Look, you've got a group of uneducated working whores having fun together in a Bedford Van-come-brothel, boozing and banging their way up the M60, and then suddenly they're confronted by an 18-wheeler with a mind of its own. [
] I wanted to write a book about the triumph of the female spirit over a gigantic lorry. Of course, looking back, I realise the truck actually represents AIDS.'
Dead Centre
Quote: 'Oh Christ. It's me bleedin' face
'
This near-legendary collection of short stories includes 'The Streaming Face' (about a boy whose face is turned into a river by a magical elk because he spat on a gnome); 'The Ague' (a lyrical piece in which First World War Tommy's cough out their eyes); 'Face Bottom' (a haunting allegory of the Biafra conflict); and, of course, the widely-anthologised 'Mindgrid'.