The author of fictionalised memoir How Much for a Little Screw? and regular DIY Week contributor Graham Higson has launched a short 'equel' called All Mod Cons.

The equel – a new literary term meaning that the storyline runs alongside the narrative of the existing story, in this case between chapters 13 and 14 of How Much for a Little Screw – depicts the story of a gang of roaming conmen and women who target the shopkeepers of Little Sniffingham.

Said Mr Higson, “With How Much for a Little Screw? I was conscious of not putting all the available stories in one book, which I think would have made it too long and would have effectively diluted its main theme, so I thought that writing another 'episode' might work. Such stories can take place at various points alongside the full length book.”

On the plot-line of conmen, he added, “There were so many different cons going on that I don't remember all of them. But each trick is an attack on the victim's honesty, their sense of decency and fair play.

“I see it as a form of mental abuse, leaving them stunned, desolated, with a sense of disbelief that they've been taken advantage of. Describing the events in this light-hearted style does something to lessen the impact, which at the time was only possible because we were a reasonably happy bunch of people who could bounce off each other.”

Graham Higson has been writing professionally for more than 25 years. His fictionalised memoir How Much for a Little Screw? was based on many years working as a hardware man, as detailed in his monthly 'Stepping Back in Time' instalments published in DIY Week. Watch out for his next instalment in our March 24 issue.