It's two fifteen a.m., you're in bed alone and you're woken by the phone.
Your eyes are wide and your body tense before it has completed so much as a single ring. And as you wake, in the tiny moment between sleep and consciousness, you know already that something is wrong.
Only someone bad would call at such an hour. Or someone good, but with bad news, which would probably be worse.
You lie there in the darkness and wait for the answer machine to kick in. Your own voice sounds strange as it tells you that nobody is there but that a message can be left.
You feel your heart beat. You listen. And then you hear the one voice in the world you least expect . . . your very own Blast From the Past.
Ben Elton is one of Britain's most provocative and entertaining writers. From celebrity to climate change, from the First World War to the end of the world, his books give his unique perspective on some of the most controversial topics of our time.
He has written fourteen major bestsellers, including Stark, Popcorn, Inconceivable, Dead Famous, High Society, The First Casualty and Two Brothers.
He has also written some of television's most popular and incisive comedy, including The Young Ones and Blackadder.
He is married with three children and lives in Western Australia.