Niall Griffiths was born in 1966 in Liverpool of Welsh and Irish heritage and has now lived in mid Wales for a quarter of a century. He has written eight novels and volumes of memoir, poetry, and travelogue. Niall has given readings of his work on every continent on earth except Antarctica. The film of his third novel, Kelly+Victor (2002), won a BAFTA. He is a professor of creative writing and a Fellow of the RSL. Niall's novel Stump (2003) is published in Georgian by Georgian Academic Publishing. Translator - Nodar Manchkhashvili.

Stump

(excerpt)

I gulped water and watched the mist tendril in to refill the hole made by his absence. Me skin dried, me heartbeat slowed back to normal. Me stump stopped itching or, rather, the void at the end of it did. The hole. Thee emptiness. The sick an warty shapes of me nightmare just dissolved like salt in water an I could feel me sanity, me hard-won fuckin sanity, me sanity gained at the cost of a fuckin limb, bein painlessly restored. That wild fox in me garden. Little red one- eyed wolf come down off the mountain into my living space to eat the scraps I'd left out for him an pee on me strugglin cabbages. Bein visited by that wild thing.

How I fucking love this.

Drank me water, smoked me fag, went back to me still-warm bed. Checked on Charlie, wee white fluffy slumberin bundle in the shadows beneath me mattress an I climbed on to that mattress an slept for another three hours. Nightmareless, whimperless sleep. Unusual an needed. Would've slept longer but Charlie woke me up by sniffin at me face. Little big-eared lettuce- breathin hoppin bastard.

Fox.