The Lion Of Babaji

Here's the start of the covering letter Dan Clements first sent to Galley Beggar Press: «My name is Dan Clements. I am a former Royal Marines Commando and intelligence specialist; I am now a geopolitical analyst by day, a writer by night, and a carer of two hyperactive kittens with every spare minute left to me. I am writing to introduce my short story collection, entitled 'Time is On My Side', in which I have sought to capture something of my experiences of the frontline in Afghanistan.» Time Is On My Side turned out to be one of the best things we've been sent. It's raw, it's fascinating, it's angry, and it's also beautifully written. The Lion Of Babaji is the first (and hopefully far from the last) piece we've extracted from the collection. It's an account of dealing with an Afghan warlord. Do you even need to know more? Okay. It's frank, it's unsettling, it's brutal and yet compassionate. The first line is: «Haji Musa Khan was a crook and a murderer and a mean-looking old bastard and I couldn't help but like him» – and you have to read it.