Set in a university managed by Kafkaesque bureaucracy The Stone Ship follows the adventures, misalliances and misdeeds of the suicidal Shipton and the ghost who saved his life; and who demands a favour in return. As Shipton's experiences within the university are played out on the fringes of an administration that destroys lives with paperwork, rioting librarians hunt for students and academics dwell in the half-light of scholarly delusions. Lurking under these crumbling halls of esoteric learning is a creature whose monstrous malevolence is fed by the corpses of the unworthy. Ultimately, Shipton's salvation lies in the choice between assimilation or rejection of his surroundings. In this fantastic work of fairy tales turned sour and grown malevolent with age, the monsters have become less dangerous than the humans that feed them. (Publisher's blurb on back cover).
