In an ideal world an author would have no claims to ownership of a work once it has been created. In this ideal world, each artifact of the imagination would exist on its own merits and would be expected to earn its unique destiny apart from its creator's artistic or personal attributes. In an ideal world we would judge a literary work solely upon the collection of words contained within its covers and would not concern ourselves with the role of its author as if it were somehow germane to that judgment. Novels and other creative works would be free to be themselves, while carefully crafted author biographies would be recognized for what they aspire to be. In an ideal world, we would read books, not authors; we would value the word itself, rather than the words about the word; and in all things, the artist would be secondary - subservient - to the artistry that has been produced.

A. J. Perry is an author of fictions. He is an idealist.