I'd say I'm mildly appalled

Wow, Umbrella is so self-indulgent.

I suppose the realisation comes after encountering a book of similar "flavour" to Umbrella. I might have thought it deep while writing it, but really any sense of "depth" is negated by my shameless partiality towards the segments I enjoyed writing, not all of much significance to the work as a whole. I guess that's where those 315,000 words sprang from.

I'm sorry to anyone who (quite foolishly, I'd think) banked any hopes upon the eventual release of this story, but I will not be letting anyone read it in full until I can iron it straight and clean it up so it doesn't look like the hangover of my delirious imaginings. I grant that there is some material I judge to be almost worthy of the eyes of others; the less meaty (spoilery) bits of it go here.

Meanwhile, I will be hard at work at it--after the 'A' levels.