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Jennifer Maiden has stated that this essay was created to be discursive and explorative, to help widen perspective on both sides of the political spectrum. The work discusses some of the vast history of conservative influences in art, from medieval Europe to contemporary America, Europe, Asia and Australia. The warm, enjoyable, astute and witty tone humanises political forces, institutions and players. It can also be complex, whilst always lucid. Where she feels it necessary, Maiden includes autobiographical elements to further humanise the discourse. This work is designed to be accessible, not exclusive to readers from any particular political viewpoint. One of its aims is to expand the Overton window of political acceptability to make conservative influence on art an explicit topic, including for conservatives. The refrain is 'it is a lethal business': perilous for left-wing or conservative, whenever over-focus on immediate situation leaves someone unaware of the surrounding macrocosm. Maiden observes: 'My focus is on the wider causes of damage and the nature of power in art'. The title reflects this. It is partly inspired by a letter Márquez wrote to his friend, editor of avant-garde Mundo Nuevo. Realising the publication a CIA project, Márquez withdrew his work, feeling like a 'cuckold'. Maiden has said she considered this in writing the poem, What if all the village were vampires, and considered, too, Márquez's belief his work was influenced by his grandmother's stories. In Maiden's poem, unwariness in far-ranging macrocosms is mirrored by a story the imagined Márquez tells: 'the traditional one that a visitor suspects someone of being a vampire and eventually realises that all the villagers are vampires.' The essay describes the microcosm as a fragmented, conflicted artistic persona created by covert conservatism, as exploited addiction, or as confected conflict designed to undermine the status of art. The essay acts as a platform giving an artistic overview, deconstructing microcosmal, interpersonal powerplay and rejection. In spite of any labyrinth or lure, here neither art nor artist are lessened by the impact of political manipulation. Candid respect for art is at one with the artist's survival.