Already bad things grow worse, these days, seems the domain of Kurt Vonnegut.

Surely the from "bad to worse" novel is endemic. Poe, Vonnegut and Hardy are hardly the progenitors. Imagine, Homer, Virgil and Aeschylus. Worse (perhaps) "the lay of Gilgamesh" then The Arthurian legends and the Icelandic sagas. Tragedy was well established before the days of Shakespeare never mind Vonnegut.

I enjoy dipping into these depths of misery. My favourite being "Gormenghast" by Mervyn Peake, though Stella Gemmell's dystopian hell "The City" is worth a mention and drawing you further into the pits of hell "The Crow Girl" by Erick axl Sund. I love a dank and dire dystopia.

But then read a history of "Alexander the Great", "Genghis Khan" or "Gaius Julius" revered and famous historical figures who each killed millions to further their ambitions. Hannibal Lecter, Dexter and Moriarty are only fictional and very little daemons. True daemons are all real and human.