Dear Sy,
With regards to changing the title from “That Very Special Romance” to “A Romance” I must raise the following objections and make the following suggestions. 1. My title has a certain acerbic irony not present in the truncated (emasculated?) form. The fact is there was nothing particularly romantic about my relationship with the little trollop. 2. I had hoped to parody, with my title, the titles of those supermarket Gothic romances such as “Sweet Savage Lies” or “Sweet and Sour Pork” (the romantic tear jerking epic about an Aussie clan who introduce bores to New Zealand). 3. Obviously I have not succeeded in making my intention evident, so, in the spirit of fair play I will provide the following short list of alternative titles from which you shall have complete freedom of selection. If none of them seem any good to you, please feel free to use “A Romance” as it is not really that important a matter to me.
1. “Passion in the Spanish Moss.” (Feel free to substitute “Entanglement” for “Passion.”)
2. “Love.” (Reprinted by special permission of Disease Digest, Sept. 1977)
3. “This is the only way I could think of getting back at you Carla, you unforgivable little harlot with perhaps several cavities.”
Jim Thornton
The cartoon in this selection is available as a PDF only. Click here to download.
