The Master of Chaos (Sandstone Press), a new collection of short fiction by Guyana-born, UK-based Pauline Melville, is described by Salman Rushdie as “a virtuoso performance.” Diverse in subject and setting — ranging from Guyana to Russia, Syria to Argentina — the stories are linked by Melville’s characteristic dark humour, and her interest in how ordinary and extraordinary people contend with histories of catastrophe and upheaval.