01 - The Shop at Gwair-on-Wye

Seismic events have brought Malvolio Claxendell to the shops of Hay-on-Wye. Few things can take his mind off the recent unpleasantness as effectively as browsing along meandering shelves. Yet he will not easily escape the problems that drove him here. Already, as he trudges around looking for a copy of Torsvik’s recent volume on Tectonic Instability, the Urim and Thummim guide his feet to unwritten pages. At the far end of the main street, he reaches a lesser-known quarter known as Gwair-on-Wye. Here the future awaits him. A dusty shop catches his attention, and he is called inside by the owner, who it transpires is a transvestite taxidermist called Alphonse.