The Spoons That Are My Ears!

I've just finished my 490th story. As well as being about coulrophobia it's also an attempt to work out the ramifications of the Genie Paradox (wishing for more wishes, wishing to be omnipotent, wishing to be a genie, etc). It's not my first attempt at dealing with this paradox (see 'Niddala' in The Less Lonely Planet) but it's my most comprehensive so far. I've always been fascinated by the idea of asking a genie to grant a logically impossible wish. According to the old stories you are allowed to wish for anything, so what happens if you wish for N≠N or for the square root of minus one to be a normal integer?

Having got that out of the way, I'm now working on my 491st story, a spoof of Hemingway called 'The Sun Trap'. Hemingway is one of my least favourite writers. When I was 18 I decided to read some 'proper' mainstream literature instead of science fiction and fantasy, just to see what the fuss was about. I chose Steinbeck, Dos Passos and Hemingway. The first two matched my hopes but I felt badly let down by Hemingway, by his style, opinions and smugness, and I've been refining a savage parody in my head ever since. I don't know why I've waited so long to set it down in written words...

So only 10 more stories to the magic 500 mark -- the exact midpoint of my writing career!