In april 2003, Manchester's City Life magazine commissioned a short piece from Richard as part of a series asking key authors and arts figures which fictional characters they would most like to meet. Richard selected The Dice Man by Luke Rhinehart and the column is reprinted below, by kind permission of City Life.

“There must be some other secret, some other…magic potion that would permit certain men to change their lives… I must obey the power of the dice. Lead where they will, I must follow. All power to the die!” Thus spoke Luke Rhinehart in his seminal novel The Dice Man, first published in 1971. As a result, chaos reigned when Dice-iples everywhere sought to explore their own psyches by assigning decisions great and small to each number of a simple cube.

Naturally, my own encounter with the Dice Man is a chance affair – a two leads me into a non-descript coffee house where another roll of the die, a three this time, tells me that I should order nothing, but merely stare at the assistant instead. She grows confused and a little disturbed. After a minute, I turn away and notice Luke sitting idly by a window. Should I approach him - tell him of the myriad paths explored, the promises broken, the crimes committed, the pleasures indulged - all at the toss of a die? I roll again; it is a five.

“Mr Rhinehart?” I call over to the figure by the window.

I had my first meeting with the Dice Man in 1988 – it’s good to renew the acquaintance.