Afterword by Jeremy Bibaud

​There are dead-end jobs in dead-end industries. And then there are jobs that merely become obsolete with times, fall by the wayside of the relentless march of progress. In fact, the very progress of civilization can be bookmarked by those vanished professions.
This is a collection of twelve stories about those jobs, from medieval times to relatively recent ones. And they are terrific. Not the jobs, mind you, some of the jobs are absolutely disgusting and some, like the flatulist, are disgustingly hilarious. But the stories about these jobs are terrific.
I always loved a themed anthology, and this is such a clever and original theme and each tale in this collection does its theme justice. Lovely, lovely stories in a variety of genres from historical fiction to comedy to magic realism and more.
This was a completely random Kindle freebie find that came up in a search for something more along the more horrific lines (something this collection merely grazes upon), and definitely one of the more auspicious ones I’ve come across in a long time. Clever, original, very well-written, professionally edited, and hugely entertaining.
At just 150 pages, it’s short and an absolute delight to read. Recommended.