The Spoons That Are My Ears!

I have just resumed the writing of my novel The Young Dictator. I wrote the first chapter in the summer of 2010 and now I've started chapter two. The first chapter, 'Jenny Khan', tells the story of what happens when a 12 year old girl becomes the absolute ruler of Britain; the second chapter, 'Genghis Kan't', will chart her progress into outer space as she attempts to conquer the galaxy... The subsequent chapters will get wilder and more improbable as they go along. There will be six chapters in total. It's going to be a satire against power, but an irresponsible one.

Irresponsibility gets a bad press. An irresponsible action can be just as much a gesture of defiance against authority as any rational and controlled opposition. Furthermore, too many satires are moral and that's why I intend to make mine an amoral one. I also want to attempt the sort of thing Roald Dahl was a master at: entertaining fiction for young people that has not only a disturbing undercurrent but authentic ambiguity in its apparent 'messages'. There are too many wise people, sages and gurus with the 'answers' to life. There are no answers to life. Why the hell should there be?