Changes

|title=The Grotesque

|sort=Grotesque

|date=January 1997

|isbn=0679776214

}}

Our Modern Gothic Hero, Sir Hugo Coal, is confined to a wheelchair. He had a "cerebral accident" a while ago, and this chair is where he ended up. It is thought that he is catatonic: that he can't feel, or see, or hear, or think. But of course, he can, it wouldn't be very Gothic otherwise, would it? He sits in his chair, facing the intricately carved, oak-panelled walls of his family home, Crook, placed there by his butler, Fledge. He passes his time ruminating on his fall from grace and considering the evil that felled him. He also considers himself and his condition - "The Grotesque", he calls himself.