The Cricklewood Diet [antikvár]

VorspeiseUnlike the prolegomena of my earlier works, this is no ordinary vorspeise. Hitherto, it has always been my practice to use this doodling-space to explain my title, if only to myself. This time, that function is beyond me: I do not know why this book is called The Cricklewood Diet.All I know is that it is something to do with a great breakthrough in publishing. My publisher tells me that various clues have been scattered through this book, possibly in the form of typographical errors or lousyjokes, which he has himself inserted in the text. If I succeed in identifying all these and working out the complex pattern they can be made to form, they will constitute a solution to the Quest.The Quest is for my royalty cheque, which has been buried somewhere in Southern England. I gather this is something which smart publishers do to get television coverage for otherwise unshiftable piles of books.The title is thus the first of these clues. It does not necessarily mean that the money, such as it is, is buried in Cricklewood. Cricklewood could well be a red herring, tricky though that is to visualize. I tell you all this partly to apologise for a title which is going to embarrass your shelfspace, but mainly to enlist your help: if you get to the clues before I do, give me a ring. The sooner I get the cheque, the sooner I can put an end to this nonsense and bring out a second edition with a sensible title which will leave nobody in any doubt whatever about what they're getting for their money.When the time comes, Moby Twist is going to be really big.AC