To say more is to say less. - Harlan Ellison

And we passed through the cavern of rats.

And we passed through the path of boiling steam.

And we passed through the country of the blind.

And we passed through the slough of despond.

And we passed through the vale of tears.

And we came, finally, to the ice caverns.

They ask the dumbest questions you can imagine, and they make assumptions about me you wouldn’t believe. They do not perceive that I am not a misogynist, that I am a misanthrope…I treat male and female with equal monstrousness in this work. They also seem blissfully unaware of history (well, duh) and what happens after a decimating war in which food, weapons, shelter and women become valuable chattel. Clearly, I am showing in these stories that it’s a brutal, amoral way of living; not a Good Thing. But the nitwits are products of the American Educational System, and looking beyond the surface of a work of fiction seems anathema to them since it requires ratiocination and cannot be abetted by binge-drinking.

"Repent, Harlequin," said the Ticktock Man. "Get stuffed," the Harlequin replied.