In his book A Night in Buganda, Tales from Post-Colonial Africa (2014), consisting of one hundred and forty-four tales, the author struggled to make sense of the years he spent in Uganda in the nineteen-sixties. Democracy in that newly independent country was moving inexorably towards dictatorship. You could feel it happening. He and his fellow aid workers were told they were doing a good job but doubts assailed him. Things were falling apart. Was the effort invested about to be wasted?
Writing the first book helped him to put some of the pieces of the...

The object of desire at the heart of 'The Jaguar Men of Kiziba' is the last King of Rwanda's Jaguar Mk5 coupE. Based on a true story, it includes Princess Margaret's state visit to Uganda. The main character's weakness, envy, leads to a dramatic ending.
'The Lungfish Man of Mbazi' has a relatively happy dEnouement. It involves a research programme at Bat Valley linked to space exploration that almost ends in disaster for the researcher.
'The Mount Elgon Waiter' culminates, in a Fawlty Towers-like scene in a tourist hotel, in a reference to witchcraft.
'The Moth Lady of...