Epic poetry might be considered a prehistoric art form, the stuff of long-dead white authors, such as Homer, Virgil, Dante and Milton, the dread and terror of English A-level students. It is no accident that much of such epic poetry takes place physically in the realms of the dead, with visitations to Hades forming key components of The Odyssey, The Aeneid, The Divine Comedy, and, of course, Paradise Lost. In his new work, Christopher Sparkes seeks to revive the Epic and imbue it with the breath of modern life, much as the 19th French poet Baudelaire exhorted pictorial artists to abandon the customary fêtes galantes, relegate them to the Neiges d'antan of Villon, and focus instead on the rich seam of potential offered by the dynamic vibrancy of modern life. Original, inventive, with linguistic somersaults taking centre stage on every page. Who'd imagine a humble scarecrow being raised to such literary heights? Chris Sparkes has created a heart-felt tour de force in his Life in the Day of Yevich Romanov. Scaretits, hold on tight to your straw hats!