Mostly sunny today. Our high was 86F. I slept annoyingly late and wasn't up until almost seven. I read until 8 a.m., then got to work on Sirenia Digest 206, which has now gone out to subscribers. I do hope you like "The Moment Under the Moment." I think it's got a certain something. At dinner last night, I had a good idea for a SF story, and that almost never happens to me. But it will be sort of dangerous to write. I have to admit that. At best, it can only say half of what I want it to say, then imply the rest. But I could live with that. So, I may do that for Sirenia Digest 207 (which will have me almost caught up), before going back to work on The Night Watchers . I can write the story in a week. The terrible hollowness is still with me. “Readers of good books, particularly books of biography and history, are preparing themselves for leadership. Not all readers become leaders. But all leaders must be readers.” ~ Harry S. Truman Oh, what else. I'm making this one short, because I have something else to which I should attend. Have I ever said Jeff VanderMeer is, by far, the most important living science-fiction writer? Well, he is. I was reading part of Dead Astronauts over again, and it just amazes me. So, here's the flipside to diversity. Not all stories should have characters who look and/or act like you. Empathy and sympathy with those who are different are at the heart of understanding fiction, and if a child has only been taught fiction is good if they can see themselves literally portrayed within it, well...their teachers or parents or whoever have failed. Mike Polcyn called again, and we talked about halisaurines, the post-Middle Campanian mosasaurs of the Mississippi Embayment, the taxonomic mess of Clidates, and the limit to what I can agree to take on. Maurice Sendak would have been 93 today. "Children do live in fantasy and reality; they move back and forth very easily in a way we no longer remember how to do." ~ Maurice Sendak Please have a look at the Dreaming Squid thingy . Thank you. And ALSO at Kathryn's Amazon wishlist. Her birthday is impending, and she keeps me alive. Later Tater Beans, Aunt Beast 12:12 p.m.