The Joker has Landed

Dear Community,

In my line of work and geographical location, books are not the sort of thing that gets talked about. Really, they're the things you place beneath a table leg to stop it from wobbling. People who read them are regarded as homosexuals, witches, mental patients, shamans etc. I'm careful to keep my love for books tightly under wraps.

My favourite books from childhood were by Alan Garner, Tolkien, Mervyn Peake and E R Eddison. As a practising grown-up, I like eighteenth- and nineteenth-century German philosophy, the ancient Greeks and poetry by John Berryman and T S Eliot. I think Dickens rules and Golding sucks. At the risk of making myself unpopular, I think Orwell should have stuck to pamphlets. I'm keen to get into some ancient Persian literature and philosophy, if such a thing exists. I like manga. There, I said it.

I'm also a writer. I used to write poetry but am now writing novels. It pains me to admit it. Most of my life is spent trying to have out words, those calcium deposits, from the bone of my brain.

I hope you'll welcome me into the bosom of your community. I am a lonely wanderer, seeking sanctuary.

Yours, etc.

The Joker

Welcome, Joker! It's always nice having practising grownups around. I've worked at jobs where it is safest not to admit any writing or reading interests.

You should be right at home.

Howdy !

Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor STATELY