"Rogers's pacing is impeccable and his cinematographer's sense of where to zoom in and where to fade out is little short of miraculous. [He] writes with the skill and precision of a brain surgeon wielding a scalpel. That is all you need to know; go read his short story collection, The Mayfly, and find out for yourself. Score: 10 out of 10." - The BookLife Prize
The life of a mayfly can be harrowing or hilarious, but it is always short.
So, too, the short story.
Fans of the genre will love the inventive specimens on display in this rollicking debut collection. A group of aging engineering professors take the weekend off for some fun and felony. A pro cyclist learns the cost of greatness in a Pushcart-nominated ride. A member of the Manhattan Project sees the world's first nuclear reaction through resentful eyes. A Hollywood editor discovers what belongs on his cutting room floor. And in 1869, an aspiring writer pens a series of letters during his doomed homecoming to Virginia City, Nevada.

Benedict Rogers is a British human rights activist and journalist based in London. His work focuses on Asia, specialising particularly on Burma, North Korea and Indonesia. He is a regular contributor to The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and The Huffington Post and has appeared on BBC, CNN, Al Jazeera and other many others.Rogers is the co-founder and deputy chairman of the Conservative Party's human rights commission and the co-founder of the International Coalition to Stop Crimes Against Humanity in North Korea. He is also the East Asia Team Leader at Christian Solidarity Worldwide and the founder of Hong Kong Watch and a member of the advisory group of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) and an advisor to the World Uyghur Congress.