Greetings from the edge,
Well, shit… it never rains, but you make lemonade, and then it gets worse… or something like that.
Real life took a big shit in my backyard, and clearing it up meant taking a temporary break from my usual writing. I’ll spare you the details. But I’m back, the keyboard’s getting some attention again, and there are things to share.
I’m aiming to get back to an article a week, starting with More Than Pea Soup: Why The Exorcist Still Works—a look at why, more than fifty years on, it’s still so bloody effective. Next in the pipeline is an article for Crying Is a Free Action, which I’m hoping to have ready next week.
I’m also working on Rare, a short story about a vegetarian chef developing some deeply unwelcome appetites during the opening days of a zombie outbreak. It’s going well, and I’m hoping to have something to show you soon. Probably best not to read it over dinner—especially if, like me, you like your steak… well, rare.
While I’m at it, I’m giving the articles a bit of a spruce-up: pull quotes, links to related pieces, that kind of thing. A little more breathing room on the page and a few more rabbit holes to disappear down if something takes your fancy.
On the reading pile (well, ‘heap’ would be a better word), I’m getting stuck into Isaac Asimov’s Foundation series, and it’s a belter. I love what he does with dialogue. Pages and pages can pass in a smoky room without the story dragging, because you can see why each person believes they’re right. Sometimes I catch myself wanting to butt in. Getting me to argue with people who don’t exist strikes me as a fairly impressive bit of writing.
The other book I’m working through is R. A. Salvatore’s Homeland, the beginning of Drizzt Do’Urden’s story. So far, I’m enjoying it, and the world-building is giving the GM part of my brain something to chew on. Apparently, even my recreational reading comes with campaign notes.
I’ve also signed up for the Hachette D&D novel partwork, which means I will eventually be the proud owner of around a hundred D&D novels. So that’s my reading sorted. Shelf space remains somebody else’s problem. Unfortunately, that somebody is also me. If anyone knows of an IKEA on Gallifrey that delivers, I’d really like some of those TARDIS shelves.
Welp, I’d better get back to slaving over a hot keyboard.
See you in the margins,
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