In 1990, a group of 20-something slackers lived in a rental—one half of a duplex—in Boston, Massachusetts. There was a recession on, George Bush was in the White House, and we were gearing up for a war on Iraq. Many of us were out of work, and our house had no heat. So to cheer ourselves up (and in an attempt to keep warm) we played elaborate role-playing games and wrote round-robin serials. This was one of them.

In 2000, many of us still lived together, or at least close to one another, now all the way across the country in Portland, Oregon. We'd lost Beth and Steven, but we'd gained Becca and Jake. There was a recession on its way, another George Bush was about to go to the White House, and after ten years of crippling sanctions, we were gearing up for yet another war on Iraq. So to cheer ourselves up (and in an attempt to stave off despair) we revived the old Herschberg round-robin and batted it around for a while until, like a cat with an exhausted mouse, we wandered away to other things.

In 2003, a group of people who had met on FictionPress were having an involved discussion of the dynamics of round-robin story-telling. Elkins used the old Herschberg serial to illustrate a number of her points, and as it happened, a few people really enjoyed it. So in 2004, she put it on-line.

So here it is, in all its trashy glory: desperate ret-cons, gratuitous character abuse, gaping plot holes and all.

And lots of T.S. Eliot, of course.

We mustn't forget the T.S. Eliot.