"It is possible, sir. Anything is possible."
(Citizen Moertin Honners, age 31, occupation verbalizer. A slim, languid man with an earnest, boyish face and smooth, corn-blond hair.)
"You are a verbalizer, Citizen Honners?"
"I am, sir. Though perhaps 'author' would be a better word, if you don't mind."
"Of course. Citizen Honners, are you presently engaged in writing for any of the periodicals I see on the dissemination stands?"
"Certainly not! These are written by incompetent hacks for the dubious delectation of the lower middle class. The stories, in case you didn't know, are taken line by line from the works of various popular writers of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The people who do the work merely substitute adjectives and adverbs. Occasionally, I'm told, a more daring hack will substitute a verb, or even a noun. But that is rare. The editors of such periodicals frown upon sweeping innovations."
"And you are not engaged in such work?"
"Absolutely not! My work is noncommercial. I am a Creative Conrad Specialist."
"Would you mind telling me what that means, Citizen Honners?"