Basilisk - II
Frankly, I think ever reuniting you with the text would be hazardous to your health and those around you.
Originally posted on Vintage Books and Games: They Don’t Make ‘Em Like This Anymore! discussion board of the DenOfDungeoneers.com forum by user [REDACTED], 10/28/2005 22:09:04 UTC
Hey, everyone.
I truly wasn’t expecting this to blow up like it did. I really appreciate your enthusiasm and interest, especially when pretty much everywhere else I’ve posted this has received nothing but a bunch of I don’t knows or crickets. I had a good time reading through all of your comments and theories, and really value all of your input.
I also told you that I’d come back with an update if anything changed. I wasn’t expecting that to happen either, honestly, but here we are.
A week ago, not long after I made the original post, I got this email. Obviously, I’m not going to share the email address it came from, but I will copy and paste the text exactly as it appears.
Hello.
An acquaintance of mine saw a post that you made online and brought it to my attention. When they told me it pertained to Basilisk, I was skeptical at first. It is, as you appear to have surmised, not a widely published or circulated text. Only a small handful of copies were ever printed, and I distributed them all to an equally small handful of individuals.
Discreetly. Personally.
Basilisk was not a piece that I ever intended to have widely distributed. Outside of the individuals I shared it with, I did not intend for it to be seen at all. The same is true of all of my works.
Laurel Wreath Press is a boutique publishing house which prints only bespoke works for an exclusive audience of select individuals. Our titles are carefully, meticulously, and laboriously crafted to create a uniquely immersive and deeply personal experience that, in a sense, transport our readers to another world entirely. They are not and have never been intended for consumption by the broader public. They would not be properly appreciated or understood by the masses, nor do we believe that they are prepared in any way to read them. Thus, we keep our works circulating solely among an elite few with a capacity to enjoy them as they were meant to be enjoyed. It is of the utmost priority to us that the artistic integrity of our works be maintained and not diluted among those who cannot and will not value them as they deserve to be.
From the post that was forwarded to me, I first thought that you may were of a type that could, potentially, be a future customer. But your obsessive search for Basilisk and your extreme preoccupation with the text suggests to me that, currently, you are not, and unfortunately, I suspect, most likely never will be. Frankly, I think ever reuniting you with the text would be hazardous to your health and the well-being those around you.
However, I do appreciate your interest in Basilisk and my other work, if only selfishly and perhaps unwisely. While I’m rather confident you will not be able to track down another copy, I still must make the polite request that you cease your search for a copy of Basilisk and desist. I will also ask that you kindly delete all posts pertaining to Basilisk on whichever sites you may have posted them at your soonest possible convenience, and refrain from discussing the work any further, in any capacity, with anyone or anywhere.
Sincerely yours,
- G. Gray
When I saw this in my inbox, I couldn’t believe it. Hell, I’ve read it at least a hundred times and I still can’t believe it. My first thought was that this is someone who saw one of my posts and decided to fuck with me. Even the email address it came from looks like it was probably a burner. And the thing is that this came to my personal email. The one I use for work and things like that. Not the one I use to make accounts of forums or for games, or whatever. This isn’t an email that anyone should have been able to get from anywhere I’ve been posting about Basilisk.
Naturally, I sent a reply. I sent several, actually, days apart, with this being the last.
Hello again Miss Gray,
I understand that your very proud of your work. Having read it, you have everything to be proud of. That’s why I don’t understand why you won’t share your work with the world. You’re a brilliant writer. Beyond brilliant. And I’m not just saying that to flatter you. I mean it. I can’t even articulate how much I mean it. It’s a bit embarrassing to admit, but I lose sleep at night thinking about what I might be missing when it comes to Basilisk. I dream that I have the book. They’re so vivid that I forget that I don’t and I wake up disappointed when I remember that I haven’t had it in years. That’s how much on an impact Basilisk made on me. Doesn’t that count for something?
Maybe I’m biased, but I think you might be one of the best unknown talents of the twentieth century. It’s not just unfair to you to remain in obscurity, it’s unfair to everyone to be deprived of what you have to offer. If you release Basilisk, I genuinely believe it’s of a quality that could change the world. It would certainly revolutionize the entire concept of the gamebook and what could be done with the art form. It could inspire movies, television shows, video game, table-top games, all sorts of things. You stand to gain so much. And so does everyone who reads what you’ve written. At the very least, I know you could change lives with that book. You changed mine.
This one did get a reply. Within minutes of being sent, too. Again, I’m only copy and pasting exactly what I received.
And that’s precisely why you never should have read it.
I suppose I should offer you the gratitude you are due for dispelling any and all ambiguity of whether or not you are of the mettle to ever be a customer of Laurel Wreath Press, but I no longer feel the compunction to conduct myself kindly. I have made an attempt to be cordial with you, but I will no longer humor your prostrations. Let me make this abundantly clear to you - I am no longer making polite requests. Consider this a demand to be disregarded at your own peril; remove any and all mention of Basilisk you’ve made. Say no more of it. Be done with the matter. My patience has been thoroughly depleted and you will be granted no further opportunities.
Failure to comply will result in consequences.
Sincerely yours,
G. Gray
Personally, I see three different possibilities. One of which is only a real possibility for you guys, and not me, and one I think some of you are already thinking about.
The first possibility is that this is just someone messing with me. I used my personal email to reach out to some people in the publishing industry. Maybe one of them is having a laugh at my expense.
The second possibility is that one of my emails or posts did end up getting to someone who knows Gretchen Gray, and this really came from her.
And the last possibility is that this is all some timely Halloween hoax I’m playing on all of you. I swear, that’s not the case, but I’m sure more than one person has seen these posts about some weird book I lost that just conveniently doesn’t seem to exist and I’ve been obsessed with finding since.
Like I said, that’s a possibility for you reading this. But not for me.
I sent multiple follow-ups, trying to instigate conversation again. I purposefully waited a week before making this post in case a got a response. There’s a good chance that I wouldn’t be making this post if I had gotten a reply.
There’s a fifty-fifty chance this email either came from Gretchen Gray, or it didn’t.
I’m going to assume that it is. I really have nothing to lose by assuming that. That’s why I complied with the demand to remove all the posts I’d made about Basilisk. Except for this one. I’m also assuming that she’s monitoring this thread. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that this email landed in my inbox only a few days after I made that first post on this site. If she’s really as invested as she sounds about making sure I don’t talk about this anymore, she’ll be watching.
So, Miss Gray, if you’re reading this, I’m not trying to make you angry by keeping this thread up. I’m only trying to communicate with you in the only way that I can. I’ve sent you another email. Please, read it.
I eagerly await your response.
Some people just can’t take no for an answer, can they?
Curiouser and curiouser…