We apologise, in advance, for the brief Interruption …

… but it is necessary at this moment in the novella (henceforth referred to as I Am Sovereign) to warn the reader that Nicola Barker (henceforth referred to as The Author) has been granted absolutely no access to the thoughts and feelings of the character Gyasi ‘Chance’ Ebo (henceforth referred to as The Subject). At his inception, The Subject seemed not only a willing, but an actively enthusiastic participant in the project, yet after several weeks of engagement became increasingly cynical and uncooperative, to the point of threatening to withdraw from the enterprise altogether if The Author deigned to encroach, unduly, upon his ‘interior life’.

For this reason, where possible, The Author has attempted (with The Subject’s permission) to side-step his wanton opacity by ‘calmly theorising’ on The Subject’s possible feelings/thoughts/motivations and then transcribing these ideas into the text using an entirely different font (the standard font is Baskerville. The Subject has requested AMERICAN TYPEWRITER as an alternative for the chapters in which he is to be heavily featured. AMERICAN TYPEWRITER was agreed upon after lengthy consultations with The Subject. The Author should make it plain that AMERICAN TYPEWRITER is a font that does not permit the use of italicisation, something that she worries – in the light of her ebullient ‘style’ – may ultimately be inhibiting to the feel and flow of I Am Sovereign. If this is indeed the case, The Author apologises – again – unreservedly).

It would be difficult – nay foolish – for The Author to speculate at this juncture on the whys and the wherefores of The Subject’s taciturnity. The Author is both saddened and frustrated by The Subject’s seeming unwillingness to place his trust/confidence in her (The Author’s) natural sense of balance and fair play in relation to this/her text(s). The Author has informed The Subject – via telepathy and WhatsApp – that she is merely trying to tell the simple – almost trite – story of a twenty-odd-minute house viewing in Llandudno during which The Subject makes a brief, relatively inconsequential appearance, but The Subject – while accepting that he was conceived of as ‘present’ during said viewing – is determined to remain abstruse, impenetrable and enigmatic. The Subject also disagrees with the idea that his appearance is merely ‘inconsequential’, but rather describes his role as ‘climactic’, even ‘seminal’ (The Author is unconvinced that The Subject understands the real meaning of the word ‘seminal’).

The Author wishes The Reader to understand that she thought – long and hard – about cutting The Subject from I Am Sovereign altogether, but ultimately felt that to do so would involve a profound compromise of her febrile and unconstrained imagination (The Subject is unconvinced that The Author understands the real meaning of the word ‘febrile’).

The Author sincerely hopes that The Reader will extend a measure of compassion and understanding towards herself/the text during the following three chapters and do their best to work with The Author in imagining the extraordinary richness and diversity of The Subject’s potential role – as it was originally conceived – in I Am Sovereign.

(The Subject also sincerely hopes that The Reader will extend a measure of compassion and understanding towards himself/his right to self-determination during the following three chapters and do their best to work with him in imagining the extraordinary richness and diversity of his actual role – as opposed to the role he is to be patronisingly ‘gifted’ by The Author – in I Am Sovereign.)

The Author wishes to make it clear (and she feels that this actually ‘goes without saying’ – although she is saying it) that it has been necessary to make certain – very subtle – adjustments to I Am Sovereign in order to try and counterbalance the problems engendered by The Subject’s unexpected reticence. Novels are finely honed and delicate organisms. The character of Wang Shu (for example) has been greatly reduced and simplified as a consequence of these necessary adjustments. In the original version Wang Shu spent only a fraction of her time on the phone talking in Chinese. Several pages in which Wang Shu spoke – most touchingly and evocatively – about her skill in playing the ‘erhu’, a traditional two (‘er’ in Chinese) stringed instrument with its horsetail and bamboo bow and box-like body featuring – among other exotica: python skin – were summarily eradicated. These included the moving story of Wang Shu’s unsuccessful (nay, borderline tragic), audition for the Guangzhou Symphony Youth Orchestra as a teenager, her shows of extraordinary bravery and persistence in bouncing back from this terrible disappointment, and her eventual – joyous/life-affirming – acceptance into the National Youth Orchestra of China.

In some senses these scenes represented an exquisite (and all the more so for being both utterly unexpected and immensely well-judged) ‘opening up’ of Wang Shu, and The Author sincerely considered them to be among some of the finest work she has ever produced.

(The Subject would not agree with this particular ‘value-judgement’.)

The character of Morpheus was added to I Am Sovereign in the final draft. In the earlier version a kitten called Sindy featured, but this kitten was a tortoiseshell longhair and The Subject became irritated by the way her fur kept marking his white jeans and compromising his ‘look’ (even though Charles kindly supplied him with a selection of lint rollers throughout the writing of I Am Sovereign’s first draft).

(The Subject would like it to be known that The Author insisted on his wearing white jeans when in fact he had preferred to wear grey, moleskin jodhpurs.)

Finally, it should be noted that in the original version of I Am Sovereign the character of Avigail at no point vacates the property on Ty Isa Road. Due to her high levels of professionalism, the character, Avigail, would never willingly leave clients in the lurch while showing a vendor’s home. To do so would run counter to her very nature.

(The Subject finds it ‘frankly laughable’ that Avigail’s professionalism should be mentioned in this context. He has no idea what relevance Avigail’s professionalism – or want of professionalism – has to do with the issue at hand.)

In some senses The Author considers it ‘little short of a tragedy’ that The Subject’s decisions have impacted so heavily on I Am Sovereign as a whole, but strenuously maintains that she respects his choices and – ultimately – bears The Subject no lasting ill will.

(The Subject calls this final statement by The Author ‘sentimental, sententious poppycock’.)