• Location: Pavonis Sulci
• Mood: really not so bad
• Music: Radiohead, "Where I End and You Begin"

"My...water..."

Here it is already Halloween the first once again. And I think that I shall celebrate by having a Very Good Day, even though I had to take two Ambien last night to jumpstart sleep, and then there were nightmares I cannot quite forget, and I only slept six and a half hours, and am still not truly awake.

Yesterday, I proofed all of Sirenia Digest #22 again, then did the layout, and by the time I sent the file away to thingunderthest to be PDFed, it must have been six o'clock in the pee-em. I am very pleased with this issue, and I hope others are as well. Comments welcome, of course. Don't be shy. The platypus is a curious being. So am I. Oh, and if you are a subscriber and have not yet received your copy of #22, just email Spooky at crk_books(at)yahoo(dot)com and she'll make it right.

Also, I might draw your attention to Last Drink Bird Head, edited by Jeff and Ann Vandermeer, to be released late in 2008. I did a piece for it (linking "The Road of Pins" and "Houses Under the Sea"), as did many other people, including Michael Bishop, Gene Wolfe, Tanith Lee, Peter Straub, Stephen R. Donaldson, Michael Swanwick, Henry Kaiser, Bruce Holland Rogers, Conrad Williams, Daniel Abraham, Ellen Kushner, Holly Phillips, Jay Lake, K.J. Bishop, Jon Courtney Grimwood, Sonya Taaffe, Tim Pratt, Sarah Monette, Rikki Ducornet, Nick Mamatas, Nicholas Royle, Marly Youmans, Liz Williams, Brian Evenson, Steve Aylett, Cat Rambo, and Richard Butner. All proceeds will go to a literacy charity, I believe. I'll keep you posted.

Today, it's back to "Salammbô Redux" and South County, Rhode Island.

We had a good walk yesterday, around the eastern end of Freedom Park. I had some exceptionally good Second Life, and Spooky put the finishing touches on Ogdred Weary House in New Babbage. I stopped by long enough to officially change the name of that plot of land from "Abney Park Blockhouse Laboratory" to "Ogdred Weary House." Later, we ate oatmeal cookies with raisins, and Spooky read aloud another chapter of Dune.

By the way, if you have not yet read "The Ape's Wife" in Clarkesworld Magazine #12, here's the link. And I'll remind you again that Beowulf is now officially in bookshops. The first printing on this book was truly gigantic, so I'm glad to see it selling well.

Okay. I think that's all for now. Must make words.