Bad to Worse
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15c. The Publisher advises that terms and conditions of reading the Work defined for ‘Counterparty’ and ‘Claimant’ apply with equal force to Critic, where ‘Critic’ is a person engaged (whether professionally or not) in the practice of literary criticism. In particular, the Publisher makes clear that the Notice of Paragraph 15b (including any hypothetical therein up to and including the event of reversionary homicide) applies to Critics.
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Furthermore (DISCLAIMER):
18. Readers seeking to place reliance on information contained in the Work for the purpose of afterlife planning do so at their own risk.
19. Advice regarding escape from the underworld is of a general nature only and readers should consider this in the context of their individual circumstances, personal post-retirement goals, competency in probabilistic calculation, and lifelong spiritual purity. 19a. In particular, the reader should be aware that the strategy for effecting mathematical deliverance might, in the event, require analytic tools (for example, Diabolo group theory) more advanced than those elementary methods offered within the Work.
19b. In respect of this, the reader is cautioned that (a) the precise value of the salvation probability defined in the exercise Random Walk of Chapter 24 (Appendix A) is unknown and may vary unpredictably over time; (b) the effects on human reasoning of a geometry parametrized by Satanic π are not fully understood but potentially include a complete breakdown of mathematical techniques that may be relied upon (Paragraph 19a); and (c) all historical attempts to distract, bribe, intoxicate, proselytize, hypnotize, seduce, flatter, poison or otherwise influence the Counting Owl have proved counterproductive and any such approach is strongly discouraged.
20. No responsibility will be accepted by the Publisher in the case that immortality is either denied or dispensed where the outcome is contrary to an expressed wish of a reader (irrespective of whether methods outlined in the Work have been exactly applied or not). If uncertain, the concerned reader should omit study of the note to Chapter 24 (Appendix A), specifically that section headed Escape from the Underworld. Caution is also advised in respect of Appendix D.
21. The Author and the Publisher categorically reject (a) a duty of care, and (b) a duty of disclosure, toward the reader in relation to facts presented (or not, as the case may be) regarding the Inferno. Furthermore, neither Author nor Publisher gives assurance that such facts as are presented will obtain for a particular reader at a future time. (This uncertainty applies more particularly where the reader is also a Critic.)
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It is a condition of reading the Work or any part* thereof that the terms outlined in these Paragraphs are read and accepted, and any person reading the Work will be treated in law as having so done. In making this Declaration and providing the Notice, Warning and Disclaimer contained therein, UITA Press has discharged fully its responsibility as Publisher, and advises that no other warranty or endorsement regarding the Work or the Author is intended or implied.
* By virtue of the direction to Clause 22 appearing within the Work (Appendix A: note to Chapter 24), Clause 22 shall be deemed part of the Work.
FROM THE AUTHOR OF BAD TO WORSE
Flesh-eating fish that strip to the living bone; sacred birds whose blood contains gold.
And a man in a balloon who vanishes in pursuit of a giant vengeful condor.
Like the glass statue of the weaver fish in the centre of the city of Madregalo, the many strands of this tale are woven together ingeniously and unexpectedly.
A novel about friendship and morality, epigenetics, mathematics, linguistics, aviation, condors, gloomy lift shafts, the tornado-proof Reckles® Texan hat, and more.
Winner of the T.A.G. Hungerford Award for fiction.
‘The Weaver Fish is fiendishly clever … a novel unlike anything you’ve read before.’ Books+Publishing
‘An indispensable compendium of conscience, calculus and crime.’ Magdalena Letterby
‘In a regime of impossible truths, fiction is stranger than fiction.’ Simon Vestry
‘Sigmund, we are ruined.’ C Jung
FROM FREMANTLEPRESS.COM.AU
ALSO AVAILABLE
AS EBOOKS
FROM FREMANTLEPRESS.COM.AU
AND AT ALL GOOD BOOKSTORES
First published 2017 by
FREMANTLE PRESS
25 Quarry Street, Fremantle WA 6160
(PO Box 158, North Fremantle WA 6159)
www.fremantlepress.com.au
Copyright © Robert Edeson, 2017
The moral rights of the author have been asserted.
This
book is copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any process without written permission. Enquiries should be made to the publisher.
Consultant editor Georgia Richter
Cover design Nada Backovic
Cover image: detail from Christophe-Paulin de la Poix, Chevalier de Freminville; ‘Portunus quadriguttatus, the Swimming Crab (La cérique à quatre taches) and Ocypoda uca, the Fiddler Crab (L’uca de Marcgrave).’; ca. 1822-1839; Watercolor, ink, and graphite on paper; Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas. 1983.160.
Additional cover images: Istockphotos and Shutterstock.
Printed by McPherson’s Printing, Australia
National Library of Australia
Cataloguing-in-Publication entry:
Edeson, Robert, author
Bad to Worse / Robert Edeson
Families—Fiction
Australian Fiction
Fremantle Press is supported by the State Government through the Department of Culture and the Arts.
Publication of this title was assisted by the Commonwealth Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.