Dear Lushies,

I have just finished re-editing my novel Alison Goes to London. In case you didn't know, Alison is my Lush raison d'être - indeed, arguably my chef d'oeuvre. It is a love story - a romantic-comedy-cum-dystopian-satire inspired, inter alia, by Jane Austen, George Orwell and C. S. Lewis. An exploration of love and lust, youthful idealism and disillusionment, the transcendent and the temporal, freedom and societal control - oh, and, er, filthy anal fucking, those who have read it in its entirety assess it thus:

ChrisM: "This saga goes beyond being just good. It is IMHO great... Your writing style was unique and faultless... I love the slow progress from utter filth to a just and moral conclusion. Brilliant..."

VioletVixen: "By the second half, I found myself unable to put it down... You put beauty in filth and filth in beauty. You're also not afraid to NOT be filthy or to offend because you have a purpose, reason for telling all your stories."

CarltonStJames: "I kinda feel like I did when I finished Parks and Recreation or Friends. This entire series was a masterpiece from top to bottom. The evolution was brilliant, the world-building intricate, and I felt well rewarded as a reader travelling this road."

StarBelliedBoy: "Brilliant... wonderfully constructed story... managing to keep that wide a narrative arc up and the whole tone of filthy dystopia over 19 chapters is quite a feat... Alison will stand the test of time."

KimmiBeGood: "When I started reading, I was shocked... However, the more I read, the more I realized this was absolute brilliance. The series needs to be read in its entirety to see what it is really about... You never write just to be filthy... you always have a much deeper storyline... a one-of-a-kind series."

naughtyannie: "1984 with anal sex... filthy, funny, and thought-provoking"

el_henke: "incredible series... excellent author!"

However, one Lush luminary who has not read the novel in its entirety said: "In my opinion, his writing tends to be hyperbolic... It comes across as insecure, like he needs to throw in a bunch of swear words (and also push situations to the extreme) in order to emphasize his point."

In my recent re-editing process, I have, sadly, not removed any swear words, regarding them as essential to the satire, the setting and the character development. (How insecure is that?) But I have put a "the story so far" note at the top of each chapter, to make it easier for those of you who started but never finished - or even who might like to dip in somewhere in the middle for a taster...

Hope you enjoy it!

xxx Grusha

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