'Imagine it's pitch dark. Now:
hit it where it shines.'
                                  — from 'Pot Black'

The Word For Yes contains stories selected from Dance the Dance (Faber and Faber, 1970), The Harper's Turn (Gallery Books, 1982) as well as a number of more recent stories.

'From the innocence and ebullience of early work like 'Stallions' and 'Boarding', through the flawless concision of 'The Mankeeper', to the densely imagistic treatments of Irish folklore and mythology, it shows off the author's mastery of many styles — lyrical, fantastic, words placed with all the precision of stones in a country wall. The dialogue ricochets off the page.'
                                                 — Seán Dunne, The Cork Examiner