
In The Garden of Sleeping Machines
by Waleed Arif

Drunk, entitled and divorced, Nicholas Beckworth is left with nothing but his ruinously expensive superyacht, The Folly of Empire. Named as a spiteful jab at his billionaire ex-wife. Only the first mate, Cordelia, remains, on condition she is made captain. Nicholas eagerly complies, but his romantic fantasies and financial delusions quickly unravel. When Cordelia engineers the illegal extraction of a young Russian stewardess on the run, Nicholas’ Mediterranean midlife crisis becomes visceral.