Directory of Lost Causes (By Quentin S. Crisp)

But I Digress...

Well, it seems that the first review of Rule Dementia! has hit the net. You may read it here. I can't say that it's what I was hoping for. In fact, it's quite possibly the worst review I've ever had. Just to clarify a few points, the stories in Rule Dementia! were not generally written before those in Morbid Tales. Due to the vagaries of the publishing world, I was unable to put the pieces together in the kind of collections I'd originally envisaged, and so the stories, chronologically, are simply jumbled. However, Rule Dementia! features work that is generally more recent. I would also like to say that the stories feature, in many ways, the direction I am taking, in which plot takes a backseat. The reviewer mentions the many digressions in 'The Haunted Bicycle', for instance. For me, the digressions were the entire point of the whole piece.

Well, I always feel that my work is balanced on a razor edge between rubbish and... er... rubbish, anyway, but so far I've been happily surprised that others disagree. In this case I'm rather saddened that someone seems to agree with me about my own work, at least in the broad, general sense of it being shoddy. The strange thing is, I really don't think there's much of a quality gap between Morbid Tales and Rule Dementia!, if any. In fact, 'The Haunted Bicycle' is one of the few stories that I am close to feeling proud of.

Anyway, such is my insignificant response to this review. I am sorry to have disappointed the reviewer.