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MIND GAMES Grey Area: Playing With The Grey Matter By Will Self Bloomsbury Press, London, 1994 Reviewed by Rick McGrath In this collection, perhaps even more than in his first book, The Quantity Theory of Insanity, edgy Brit badboy writer Will Self edges closer to the oft-repeated criticism of being a “loony” or “goofy” writer. Hey, it’s pretty strange stuff. But is it just too wacky to take seriously? I’d say no. I’d say Self’s style and imagination simply tends to take him out on the edge... and if he pulls it off, great.. if not... well, it’s only a short story. It’s tougher when he writes a novel on a conceit that would be best served by a short story -- My Idea Of Fun springs to mind -- but Self loves mind games, and Grey Area, using your grey matter, takes you on a trip with lots of intellectual fun and games... and often, very little action. You can see how Self’s technique unfolds: get an idea and write it out. Sounds simple, but this approach tends to rely heavily on Self's muse and energy and, as we are often reminded, by the drugs he uses to haul himself over the finish line. Or is it snort the finish lines? Is he England's answer to Hunter S. Thompson? The stories bear me out.  “Between The Conceits” features a narrator who would have you believe he is one of eight bizarre people who actually run London... ”The Indian Mutiny” is about an adult’s recollection of driving a teacher mad while a schoolboy... ”A Short History Of the English Novel” is like an episode of Candid Camera -- a publisher whines to a writer over lunch that there are no writers left in England writing novels, and is predictably inundated with zany scripts from the next five people he meets.... ”Incubis, Or The Impossibility Of Self-Determination As To Desire” is about a professor of philosophy who seduces his new assistant in his house with wife and kids around. Trick is, the seduction takes place in a room originally designed to be the altar for a sex-worshipping Christian cult... ”Kettle” is about a morphine addict who has a vision of what the M20 would be like 20,000 years hence... obviously, a place of Ballardian car worship... ”Chest” chronicles the life and death of a man in the not-too-distant future who lives in a society overcome by a deadly atmosphere... ”Grey Area” is about an anal retentive secretary who slowly realizes the Board meeting she faithfully records every quarter is the same meeting over and over... ”Inclusion” is a great yarn about a new drug that “cures” depressives by making everything seem interesting -- with unfortunate results... ”The End Of The Realtionship” chronicles a day in the life of an unfortunate young woman who is booted out of the house by her lover. Everyone she visits, including her shrink, is also in the process of splitting up with someone. You get the picture. Cool ideas. With an interesting sprinkling of Speculative Fiction tropes in his more dystopian fantasies of the future. And the skill to, generally speaking, pull the stories off. One could complain that the stories need more editing, that there’s a lot of Self asides in the pieces, but hey, that’s Self’s style, and if you don’t like fast & loose, then you might as well read someone else. Summation time on Grey Area? Not much really new. A little less emphasis on drugs and psychiatrists, but still the same smug satire of the Brit condition, a melancholic, yet funny view of mistakes, confusion, angst and insanity. They're like Ballardian characters without their obsessive pathologies. Neither black nor white, hot nor cool, Self's imagination sifts through a soft zone of inconsequential activity and psychologically sensitive characters. © Rick McGrath 8/2000 MORE REVIEWS Movies: Jack Hill - Pit Stop Jack Hill - Spider Baby Sam Fuller - Shock Corridor Curtis Harrington - Night Tide Jack Hill - Switchblade Sisters Jack Hill - The Swinging Cheerleaders Sam Fuller - Meanest Men In The West Robert Frank - Rolling Stones' Cocksucker Blues Maysles Brothers - Rolling Stones' Gimme Shelter Various Shorts - Franz Kafka's It's A Wonderful Life Jason and Brett Butler - Alive & Lubricated and Bums Robert Fantinatto - Echoes of Forgotten Places Television: Patrick McGoohan - The Prisoner Features: Bohren und der Club of Gore - Drilling For Doom. And Finding It. Bohren und der Club of Gore - Geisterfaust. Not Your Average Ghost Story These Boots Were Made For Burnin' - The Bootleg Collector's Obsession Music Concert DVD: Sheryl Crow - Rockin The Globe Live Steely Dan - Two Against Nature Music CD: Sade - Lovers Live Sade - Lovers Rock Sade - The Best Of Sade Phil Manzanera - Vozero Roger Waters - In The Flesh Steely Dan - Two Against Nature Lamya - Learning From Falling Shania Twain - Up! Books: Will Self - Grey Area Will Self - My Idea of Fun Will Self - Great Apes Will Self - Junk Mail JG Ballard - High-Rise Gregory Benford - Cosm Douglas Coupland - Girlfriend in a Coma Will Self - The Quantity Theory of Insanity Will Self - Tough Tough Toys For Tough Tough Boys