When I See Gurgling Retarded Children (that's

I'll Tell You Something,' She Said. 'i'm Not Sure I Ever Really Liked Him.' Adam?' I Said. 'i Don't Blame You.' 'not Adam,' She Said, Struggling To Swallow A Greedily Chomped Chunk. 'god.

She Understood The Genre Constraints, The Decencies Were Supposed To Be Observing. The Morally Cosy Vision Allows The Embrace Of Monstrosity Only As A Reaction To Suffering Or As An Act Of Rage Against The Almighty. Vampire Interviewee Louis Is In Despair At His Brother’s Death When He Accepts Lestat’s Offer. Frankenstein’s Creature Is Driven To Violence By The Violence Done To Him. Even Lucifer’s Rebellion Emerges From The Agony Of Injured Price. The Message Is Clear: By All Means Become An Abomination—but Only While Unhinged By Grief Or Wrath.

Grace Only Exists To Be Fallen From.

There’s A Reason Humans Peg-out Around Eighty: Prose Fatigue. It Looks Like Organ Failure Or Cancer Or Stroke But It’s Really Just The Inability To Carry On Clambering Through The Assault Course Of Mundane Cause And Effect. If We Ask Sheila Then We Can’t Ask Ron. If I Have The Kippers Now Then It’s Quiche For Tea. Four Score Years Is About All The Ifs And Thens You Can Take. Dementia’s The Sane Realisation You Just Can’t Be Doing With All That Anymore.

One Develops An Instinct For Letting Silence Do The Heavy Lifting. In The Three, Four, Five Seconds That Passed Without Either Of Us Speaking, The Many Ways The Conversation Could Go Came And Went Like Time-lapse Film Of Flowers Blooming And Dying.