This is the funniest skewering of creative writing programmes I have ever read. But then it is so much more – an over-the-top combo of satire, horror and literary fiction. It’s weird and sharp, sexy and creepy – you may be frustrated in places but it’s a wild ride if you give in to it.
On my way over I’d envisioned various nightmare scenarios of what awaited me. I feared they might be naked, reclined on whimsical furniture out of Alice in Wonderland. Or else in pastel lingerie, using Anais Nin erotica as fans. Massaging each other to the music of Stereolab. Obscure yet erudite porn projected on some massive screen. Reading sex manifestos from the seventies using pastel dildos as mics. A tiered tray of erotically themed cupcakes, I had no idea. Instead, they’re just sitting in a circle like it’s Workshop, in their ordinary clothes, notebooks clutched in their laps like purses.
