What do you think of when I bring up the subject of a city’s ‘wild life’? Flocks of starlings, perhaps, or pigeons; or the zoo; squirrels, or domestics turned stray; perhaps with a little imagination you think of your own semi-civilised antics on the weekend or in your secret other lives. Well it seems that the writers around you have only one thing on their minds: vermin. Richard Lemmer brings us a rather plausible future scenario, in which urban golf seems to have merged with more dangerous sports, while Thomas Mogford reveals the sympathetic side of Rentokil’s descendents. To round off our flea-ridden collection, we have a creepy tale by Vanessa Woolf, set in an earlier incarnation of our verminous city.

But there is more to life than living in sewers. Chris Smith’s brilliant story ‘Since Charlie Hadn’t Come’ is a disturbing tale of bucolic extra-urban wildness sliding into unexpected degrees of horror. Along with this story, we are lucky also to be able to present the superb line-drawings of illustrator Jess Watson.

This month, too, we underline our commitment to bringing a little art to your journeys around and beyond the city with a few highlights from the celebrated Poems on the Underground series. We couldn’t resist a little punning with the inclusion of a gem by one of our favourite decadent poets… We hope you enjoy the issue.

Sophie Lewis
& Dena Ziari