A story that is written down is a re-telling of an event that may or may not have happened. If the event did happen then the story is merely a representation. If, as it seems more likely, the event did not happen, then the story is a lie. Mendacities by Alec Beattie. Short stories suffused with untruths - dead foxes, malicious cats, and lost ghosts. Featuring deceptive people too - the extraordinary, the everyday, and the ill-fated. Mendacities is an diverse mix of tales that takes an indirect look at life and people, with a sense that any attempt at closure is an illusion.