 This story functions as the "ars poetica" of the series.In the ninth tale of the series (a novel in itself), a fatal sexually related disease breaks out in Nevèrÿon — one that is particularly prevalent among homosexuals.In this story (“The Tale of Plagues and Carnivals” [1984]), the parallels between the way Nevèrÿon handles its situation and the way current day New York City in the second year of the AIDS epidemic handled it become explicit, and the full flexibility of the story series is exploited