My Pain Is Greater Than Your Pain; My Laughter Greater Than Your Laughter

<p>I had just finished writing my coming-of-age debut novel entitled <em>Leaving Home</em>-that highly imaginative and inspired attempt to infuse new life into an old literary form. And now that I had finally finished it I wanted to write a sequel to it. Only... I didn't just want to write a conventional sequel. I wanted to write an unorthodox one. Something different. Something off of the beaten path. Basically what I wanted to do was to describe what my life had been like on The Earth after it had finally begun to sink in that I was permanently <em>stuck</em> here-that I was permanently <em>marooned</em> here-on this only very thinly veiled lunatic asylum.</p><p> </p><p>After giving the matter a great deal of thought I finally decided that I would try to accomplish this lofty Olympian goal of mine-not by writing a <em>single</em> piece-but rather by compiling a <em>number</em> of pieces-stories poetry reflections and journal entries-into one all-embracing comprehensive volume. In addition the collection would have a kind of loose semi-autobiographical progression to it-starting at the point where <em>Leaving Home</em> leaves off....</p><p> </p><p>Here then is the collection.</p>