A fossil has been discovered and they're saying it could prove Dr Durant's heretical theory of evolution - but no-one's allowed to see it. When Adam, who can remember nothing before his twelfth birthday, breaks into the cave, he discovers something that could literally change the world. It might be evolution in action but only if it's being run by someone who doesn't understand it properly. Meanwhile, a mutilated corpse sets Sergeant Hammett on the trail of a victim who may never have existed. At least, not until people noticed. Oh, and there's the strange burglar who breaks in to mend people's clocks. And far across the Empire, a mysterious catlike beast has been killing the sheep. And has started working its way through the people. The answers are in the monastery library but some of the books are very disturbing. It's a tale of greenfly, witch-finders, silly wigs and were-rabbits. Just don't ask about the bellybutton fluff.
About the Author: Stuart Farquhar was born at an early age and isn't dead yet, which he considers something of a bonus. He studied psychology at Stirling University (whose students may recognise many of the details of Phelan's University of Archebus) before working as, variously, a kitchen porter, a youth worker, an autism practitioner and sometime trainer. He was never sacked from any of those jobs and presumes they must just have been desperate for staff. He later studied acting at Fife College where, through a combination of genuine hard work and being so much older than everyone else, he got lots of good parts including Banquo, Judge Hathorne, Sir Mulberry Hawk, child murderer Hans Beckert and anything involving sword fights. After completing the course, he and some mates formed The Imaginary Frends, which laughingly calls itself a professional theatre company on the basis that they split any money they make. They still regard their greatest triumph as being the time they were paid £500 not to perform at the Edinburgh Fringe. As well as acting and writing, Stuart directs, does the music, the artwork and the misprints that lead to the company name being "humorously" misspelled. His one-act play Death Us Do Part was shortlisted in the SCDA's Play On Words competition and he also wrote a stage adaptation of The Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll and Mr Hyde before co-writing the Imaginary Frends revue shows Faking History and Episode II: Attack of the Clowns with Phil Scary. The latter was written for a comedy festival, which got cancelled when the organisers realised what they were in for. The Ultimate Dreamer is Stuart's first novel and was mostly written in the evenings after work during a year when his house fell down, a lot of people he knew died and the computer crashed leaving a garbled mess of half-finished paragraphs scattered randomly throughout each other, which he had to meticulously piece back together, although some would say that you can't tell the difference. It's not an editorial method he would recommend to anyone but he certainly knows every flaming word by heart. It may not be the book he originally wrote but it's certainly A book he wrote. Hopefully it's a better one.