'Rock Black', M. G. Sanchez's critically acclaimed short story sequence, takes us back to the late 80s and early 90s - a time when large quantities of tobacco were being smuggled from Gibraltar into Spain, the British government was threatening the colony with direct rule, and the Spanish authorities were subjecting the Gibraltarians to a concerted campaign of political harassment. Within its pages we find an almost anthropological gallery of types': reluctant tobacco smugglers, drunken English squaddies, small-town hedonists, Costa del Sol prostitutes, passing hippie travellers, as well as the constantly resurfacing figure of the jobless Gibraltarian teenager Peter Rodriguez. Described by Dr Rob Stanton (South University, Savannah, Georgia) as a necessary corrective after a prolonged period of silence, ' 'Rock Black' remains a powerful and original piece of fiction.