Contents

High Adventure • derek robinson

Vane Hopes • victoria neumark

A Lot of Bottle • henry jeffreys

Something for the Weekend • sarah crowden

Bibliography

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Ian Stephens, ‘Winter Field’

Our bookshop can obtain any of the books mentioned in this issue.

Slightly Foxed on Gloucester Road, 123 Gloucester Road, London sw7 4te, e-mail: enquiries@foxedbooks.com, tel: 020 7370 3503

4 From the Editors

We’re sitting here in the office today, looking out at the leaden sky and wondering what next year’s going to be like. It’s rather a ruminative time we find, these last dark months before Christmas. One thing we do know, and that is that we’re extremely fortunate to have such a loyal body of subscribers. Some of you have been with us from the very beginning and have stuck with us ‘through thin and thin’ as the late publisher Anthony Blond once succinctly put it. We’d like you to know how grateful we are for your support – for your enthusiastic letters, encouraging phone calls, for spreading the word about Slightly Foxed – and of course for your renewed subscriptions.

Someone asked us the other day just what we thought it was that readers particularly liked about Slightly Foxed. Though sometimes pressed to do so, we’ve never gone in for market research or reader profiles – SF readers seem to us to be a rather unusual and uncategorizable group of people – but it did make us ponder a bit. If you’ve never directly been in touch with us and have time to drop us a line we’d love to know what it is about Slightly Foxed that appeals – or indeed any other thoughts you may have on the subject.

So, Christmas is nearly here and we do hope you’ll enjoy this winter issue, which comes to you with our very best wishes. Slipped into it you’ll find another of our literary crosswords, designed for those inevitable moments during the festive season when you really can’t think what else to do, and if you can, you’re too exhausted to get up and do it. Entries should reach us no later than 14 January and the first correct one to be drawn out of a hat will receive a free subscription.

And since it’s the season of giving, may we draw your attention to a

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