I don't think this will be much of an entry. I slept about seven and a half hours last night, still catching up. There were ominous dreams I cannot now recall.

Yesterday, I wrote the introduction for Joshi's Arthur Machen collection (to be releasing by Bloodletting Press). It still needs some tweaking here and there. I have three people I intend to ask to read it before I send it away to the publisher. Mostly, I hate writing these things. I'm a fiction writer, not a scholar or a commentator. Anyway, that was 2,269 words written yesterday, which would have, ordinarily, been a very good writing day.

Now, I need to get back to the ms. for The Red Tree, which is languishing in this box by my desk. However, first, today, we have to go down to Spooky's parents' place in Saunderstown to check on things. They're away in Montana, visiting her brother, and we agreed to keep an eye on the farm until they return. Make sure deer have not gotten in and eaten the vegetable garden. Water the cat. Stuff like that. We may spend tonight there. But I will take advantage of this distraction to get a good walk in the woods, in preparation for the next scene in the book. I do fear that people may find that The Red Tree lacks the "immediacy" of much of my writing, as the nature of this thing requires that the events which transpire are being written about by my fictive narrator, Sarah Crowe, after the fact (though usually on the same day they occur, or the next day). Instead of my usual present tense, third person, this novel presents a mix of past and present tense, first person.

Yesterday, I began a new round of antibiotics –– just penicillin —— and with luck, it'll help whatever's happening with that screwed up tooth, or at least buy me another month or two before I have to have the blasted thing pulled. There was a fairly bad seizure last night after I went to bed, and a small absence seizure two days back. I expect the country air will do me good.

Please have a look at the current eBay auctions. Spooky just relisted the limited edition of Frog Toes and Tentacles. Also, if you are so able, do please preorder the mass-market paperback of Daughter of Hounds. Editors who see good sales figures are happy editors, and happy editors mean less nervous authors. And yes, it's also available for the Kindle, and no I do not approve of the Kindle (for a host of reasons), but if that's really how you prefer to read, the sale is still appreciated. It's the "used" copies that aren't helpful. Finally, subpress is taking preorders for A is for Alien, which is probably the project I'm most excited about right now.

And the silence flies on its brief flight ——
A razor-sharp, crap-shoot affair.
And we light up our lives....

Lots of wonderful comments the last few days. Thank you for those. I'd still love to hear thoughts regarding "Derma Sutra (1891)" from Sirenia Digest #32, and I am quite pleased at the people who've told me it's one of my best pieces of erotica yet. I had no idea what to expect from that story. It's always the quiet ones....