Dewfall

Dewfall posits a situation in which the lives of a group of people, with no history, education, culture or social structure, unfold. To some degree their behaviour is dictated by circumstance. Those with ample resources lack drive; those without become more combative. But beyond circumstance, do we have the ability to choose, to do good or not? Or are we destined for perpetual discontent and conflict? The story asks the question, Do humans have an identifiable character and, if so, where is it taking us? Is there such a thing as free will? Or are we the victims of our unavoidable natures? This story, set in an alien environment, is humanised by internalised echoes from the Bible, Shakespeare, and other familiar sources of ideas about the human condition from the world of our actual culture.
Philip Chatting won the 2014 Proverse Prize with his collection of short stories, The Snow Bridge and Other Stories (2015), described as "A unique collection reflecting the author's varied history and his interests in the countries and cultures of the people among whom he has lived and travelled" (Mike Rowse, 'Preface'). His first Proverse-published novel, As Leaves Blow (2019) - a black comedy set in Hong Kong - is "about an extraordinary collection of characters... the sort of people you find behaving outrageously under the veil of respectability in the next apartment or on the corner of a street near you" (Giles Matthews, Review on Amazon USA). In Dewfall, Chatting takes another new direction - but bonded to his earlier publications by a recognisable style - with insights surely gained from his three decades of experience as Vice President of Human Resources for an outwardly-facing company.