You know what? I believe him!

Lucian of Samosata's Storia Vera/ True Story/ Vera Historia/ True History

2AD Science-Fantasy Parody Disstrack Story

Honestly, more books should open with direct call outs of their contemporaries.

The first science fiction. First science fantasy.

Does it come across like the ramblings of someone with untreated ADHD and a trough of edibles and mushrooms?
Absolutely.

Is it more interesting and inspired than a whole lot of science fiction and fantasy between when it was published between them and now?
Absolutely.

It's not the most beautiful prose, but the man has the imagination and library card of a drag queen of the John Waters variety. RuPaul aint got a fracking thing on this sassy, gassy, salt deposit.

Lucian truly said of Homer and his contemporaries, They Not Like Us.

https://youtu.be/GZRiLYOM7-k?si=D8dyUbbADNBQYa3Z

CN. Illustration of Spiders on WikiPage
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_True_Story