• Location: Hebrus Vallis
• Mood: nerdy
• Music: The Decemberists, "Sons and Daughters"

"Truth is the bottom of a bottomless well."

Yesterday, I did 1,130 words on Chapter Six of The Red Tree. Afterwards, we read over the pages. Any day that "the rushes" manage to give Spooky the creeps is a day I know I've written well (that is, of course, provided I meant to evoke creepiness that day). Looking at my schedule, deadlines, short stories, Sirenia Digest, and so forth...it's a damned good thing I had those 1,500+ word days, because, otherwise, I'd be unspeakably behind.

As for the remainder of yesterday, I read through a couple of papers in the June Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology —— "A reassessment of some poorly known turtles from the Middle Jurassic of China, with comments on the antiquity of extant turtles" and "A rare Danian (Early Paleocene) Chlamydoselachus (Chondrichthyes: Elasmobranchi) from the Takatika Grit, Chatham Islands, New Zealand." Spooky got Chinese takeaway for dinner, and then there was far, far, far too much World of Warcraft ("elf crack"). By the way, it's not just me, so there's no danger of Spooky becoming a "WoW widow." She also has a night-elf character, a druid named Syllahr. As for Merricat, she reached Level 14 and almost made it to Level 15, but quests seemed to be running short, and so I fear it's away to Darkshore for me. I also attended to some SL business, some notices regarding the Howards End sim. And late, watched (for the umpteenth time) Joseph L. Mankiewicz's adaptation of Tennessee Williams' brilliant and horrifying play, "Suddenly, Last Summer" (which I recently summed up as The Golden Bough meets Lovecraft by way of the Southern Gothic). I am endlessly fascinated by Violet Venable tending dead Sebastian's primordial jungle. Anyway, that was yesterday.

Please have a look at the current eBay auctions, and note that not only is there a copy of The Five of Cups, but there's the first copy of Tales from the Woeful Platypus that we have ever offered for auction. Oh, have I mentioned that subpress will be doing my third "weird erotica" collection, Confessions of a Five-Chambered Heart, next year? I must have...

Also, remember that subpress is now taking pre-orders for my first sf collection, A is for Alien, and that the new mass-market paperback of Daughter of Hounds is now available..

Okay. The words are waiting. But here are a few photographs from our drive down to Harbor of Refuge on Monday evening:





A very bold juvenile Herring Gull (Larus argentatus), seen through the car's windshield.



A gorgeous little wolf spider (Lycosidae) skittering across a granite boulder. I love this shot.



I really annoyed Spooky when I pointed out that her "rockscape" is making a frowny face.



Shattered lobster pots, washed up on the shingle.



A sea-smoothed boulder still bearing scars from the construction of Fort Greene in 1941.

All photographs Copyright © 2008 by Kathryn A. Pollnac.