• Location: Tyrrhena Patera
• Mood: okay
• Music: How to Destroy Angels, "Fur Lined"

"It's the looking back in anger, at every second slipping by."

Today and tomorrow are promising to be very, very hot here in Providence. On top of that, there are carpenters repairing our leaky gutters, and they're using some sealant that's stinking up the place. I hate to think what we're breathing. Anyway, the instinct is to flee the heat and fumes, go someplace cool for the day. But I am so near the end of the new story, and Spooky has work to do. So, likely we'll stay right here and tough it out.

Yesterday, I wrote 1,259 words on "Tidal Forces" for Sirenia Digest. This is one of those stories that I thought would be a two-thousand-word vignette, but it's grown into a five- or six-thousand-word short story. Which is one reason that Sirenia Digest is such a great bargain, and why you should subscribe if you have not already. I almost always give more than what I promise.

Please have a look at the current eBay auctions. We have a copy of The Black Alphabet chapbook, along with Letter N of the lettered edition of Frog Toes and Tentacles and a copy of Trilobite: The Writing of Threshold. The latter is getting especially scarce.

A couple of anthology updates. Swords and Dark Magic: The New Sword and Sorcery (Eos, edited by Jonathan Strahan and Lou Anders) is now on sale. It includes my story "The Sea Troll's Daughter," along with work by Michael Moorcock, Garth Nix, C.J. Cherryh, Gene Wolfe, Michael Shea, Tanith Lee, and quite a few others. Check it out. Also, ellen_datlow has sent me the cover of Haunted Legends (Tor, edited by Ellen Datlow and Nick Mamatas), which includes my story "As Red As Red," along with tales by the likes of Catherynne M. Valente, Pat Cadigan, Ramsey Campbell, Jeffrey Ford, and, of course, many others. It'll be out the first week of September. I'm posting the covers for both behind a cut (you may recall I posted the cover for the Subterranean Press limited edition of Swords and Dark Magic a while back):









And now I should go write...