Back in October of 1992, The British Fantasy Society published the short story entitled ' Birthday 'by the British author Mark Morris. The publication was the eighteenth in a series of BFS booklets to be released. The text for the story is crammed onto each one of its fifteen pages, presented with illustrative cover artwork by Jim Pitts and first appeared in this publication.

The tale begins on the morning of Mark Price ' s tenth birthday. Mark is a football mad young boy who is given a pair of football boots and a brand new football for his birthday. The lad soon goes off to meet his friend Matthew at the local park, where they plan to play a little football together.

When Mark arrives at the park he discovers a strange glass wardrobe like structure that is sitting in the middle of the grass area. After studying the bizarre object for a while, he notices a small coin sitting at the back of the glass wardrobe. Once Mark enters the strange glass structure, the door swings shut and he finds himself trapped within the strange glass enclosure.

Soon enough his friend Matthew arrives, but to Mark ' s horror, it emerges that the glass prison appears invisible to everyone else ' s eyes, leaving his trapped within the box without any hope of help. What Mark doesn ' t yet know is that a much more horrifying reality awaits.

' Birthday 'is an intriguing and slightly surreal short with an eerie undertone that builds throughout the tale. Morris has managed to create a mountain of suspense within these few pages, which spirals towards an unforeseen and creepy conclusion.

The story is gripping from the start with a good pace throughout. The simple plot keeps a clever area of mystifying confusion around it until the last page is finished. A highly imaginative read that is recommended for all fans of horror fiction.

The short later appeared in Mark Morris ' s 1995 book of short stories entitled ' Close To The Bone ' , which featured ten other similarly creepy tales.