Walking on Glass

by Iain Banks

Each part of Walking on Glass, apart from the last, is divided into three sections, which appear at first sight to be independent stories. Two of the stories are set in and around Islington in North London, the other is set in the far distant future.

*Graham Park is a young man in love with a girl he met at a party, Sara ffitch. Richard Slater is his friend. Bob Stock, a "macho black-leathered never-properly-seen image of Nemesis" seems all that stands in the way of Graham's happiness.

*Steven Grout is a paranoid roadmender who believes himself to be an admiral from a galactic war imprisoned in the body of an Earthman. He believes he is under constant threat from the Microwave Gun, and reads much science fiction, since "he had long ago realised that if he was going to find any clues to the whereabouts of the Way Out, the location or identity of the Key, there was a good chance he might get some ideas from that type of writing." *Quiss is one of a pair of war criminals (the other is Ajayi) from opposing sides in a galactic war, who are imprisoned in the 'Castle of Bequest' (also 'Castle Doors') and forced to play impossible games until they can solve the riddle: "What happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object?" Eventually, links between the three storylines become apparent.