Attack of the Swine Flu Zombies

So, the news is that the swine flu cases climbed to 2200 this last week at Washington State University. Two weeks ago it was just five confirmed cases. Some people can't believe it rose that high that quickly. I have two things for them to consider:

1. H1N1 virus is highly contagious
2. It escalated during Greek Rush Week.

Anyone who has any kind of experience with Greek Week will understand what I'm talking about. It consists of fraternity and sorority applicants running from one fraternity or sorority house to another all week, mingling in dense crowds of students in a frenzied rush (hence, "rush week"), trying to network with as many people and Greek houses as possible.

Also, the university Food Services is entirely staffed by students. While there are strict sanitary requirements for the Food Services staff, they nevertheless come in contact with thousands of students every day. A person with the flu is often infectious before he or she shows symptoms. Therefore, easy transmission in a dense population, often by people who don't even know they have the flu--yet.

Of course, as soon as I heard the flu had appeared on campus, I sent a care package to the Alien Child, consisting of hand sanitizing gel, a thermometer, ibuprofen, Tylenol, herbal teas (Traditional Medicinal's Breathe Easy and Organic Echinacea), a bar of homemade soap, and a list of first-aid items all households should have and that he should buy immediately, which I'm pretty sure he does not have, as he is in his 20s and therefore thinks he is invincible. I also enclosed a pair of jeans and homemade kosher pickles, not that including these particular items will keep him from disease, but it can't hurt.

Even if he doesn't get swine flu, perhaps his roommates or his girlfriend might, so it may all come in handy anyway. Also, it's not as if he hasn't intervened in more-than-I-feel-comfortable-with medical emergencies already in the course of his college career, and he should be prepared with some kind of first-aid kit. If he's going to keep going to people's rescue, he needs to have items at hand with which to rescue them.

The Alien Child assures me--with that youthful I-am-immortal attitude--that he's fine, and it's not a big deal, and he has some friends who got that flu (tested and confirmed) and who were sick just three days, max. Besides, he's healthy, eating right, and having a lot of fun working out in his karate class. But, thanks for the jeans and the pickles.

The hubby of course caught the news on the Internet and let me know about this freakish escalation of disease while we were watching a horror movie (anime--I don't recall the name, but it featured robotic sorcerers with humongous cannon-like machine guns against what looked like deformed and disease-ridden demons) on TV. This is not the best time to talk about swine flu, because the inevitable comes to mind:

ATTACK OF THE SWINE FLU ZOMBIES!

"I'm picturing thousands of disease-ridden WSU students, stumbling their way to class, moaning and groaning in the way zombies do--" he said.

"Oh, please," I said, as the anime robot-sorcerer blasted away at a quivering jelly-like demon. But the image stuck, because hey, anime horror movies do have their effect.

"Derek and Amanda, the last surviving healthy humans fleeing for their lives--"

A movie poster started forming in my mind.

"I can see the movie poster already," said the hubby (did I ever mention we have been married long enough to read each others' minds?). "There they are, standing heroically atop College Hill, looking down on the ravaging hordes of zombie students clawing their way up, Derek with his nunchucks in hand, and--"

"Amanda with her submachine gun," I said, casting her into the "kick-ass gal with gun" role. "Ready to level the zombie populace in a last race toward survival."

"Yep, exactly."

We finished watching the anime horror flick, which had a strangely philosophical element to it, strange no doubt only to us, as we started watching it half way through.

"You think we should tell them we have featured them in a zombie movie poster?" I asked.

"Sure, why not?" the hubby said. "They're the heroes in the zombie movie poster. They can't object to that."

I will shortly supply a link to this blog post to my son. (Wicked grin.)

Grousing about research

Why in the world am I delving into another place and time instead of sticking to the Regency era? I know the Regency era pretty danged well. Writing a story in that setting would be relatively simple--simpler than writing a 1798 Irish Rebellion werewolf story. But noooo, I have to start from scratch again, from reading about the era, the economics, the politics, the religion, and last but not least, some Irish Gaelic language so that I can get the fictional village name right. Hell, setting a story in France would even be easier, because at least I know some high school French and more about French history than I do Irish. But nope, I have to build this story from the ground up, from the name of the village (Baile an faolchú; the English would probably pronounce it Ballinfaylku or Ballinfalcoe. It means "home/village of the wolf/wild hound"--and yes, I made it up; so far as I know, there isn't an Irish village by that name, but I want to get it right, so I want the Irish name, not the English), to how and why the curse of the werewolf would manifest, how the heroine knows the curse will soon be in force, how the hero will institute the practice of "tenant right" once he discovers the condition of his estate, and on and on.

Why can't I just do things the easy way? Or I should say, why can't my MUSE just give me an easy story to write instead of a difficult one? Grrr.

I suppose I could just drop this and write something else...but dang it, I know that way leads to doom, doom, I say! Whenever I go against the Muse's urging, it simply goes wrong. I either go dry or whatever I write is totally bleah.

Well. All I can say is that the Muse had better deliver on this.

Beginning a new story

All right, I'm starting the new story--the Irish werewolf one--for sure now. I've done some general history research on the Irish Rebellion of 1798, and re-familiarizing myself with Jonathan Swift's satire, "A Modest Proposal." The satire was published in the 1720's, but I plan to have it in a priest's library and in the villain's hands at one point. I'm going to start it just at the death of Wolfe Tone, leader of the United Irish. The fact that there is a prominent "wolf" in the Irish Rebellion is a nice piece of synchronicity; my idea of a werewolf in Ireland came to me years before I had done any kind of research into the Irish Rebellion.

(Sigh) It's a complex, very complex period. The English at the time did a good job of using sectarian animosity between the Irish Catholics and Protestants against the whole country, but it seems to me that underneath it all, they didn't really care what sect the Irish were; they'd do what they could to keep them from having a voice and owning land. Terrible things happened then. Terrible. But, as has been the case from the days when cities were first built to the present, the issues were still the same: absentee urban landlords who have the majority vote (if not the only ones able to vote) squeezing everything they can in the form of taxes and goods from the land and the rural people who live and work on it. And the land and the rural people usually lose. It got so bad that it culminated in the Potato Famine of the 1840s, where the English kept on exporting food cattle from Ireland while the Irish starved to death as the blight hit their potato crops. There was plenty of food in Ireland. Just not for the Irish.

One of the most touching things I read about the Irish Famine of the 1840s was the Choctaw Indian contribution of around $700 to the Irish when they heard of their plight. The Choctaw had suffered the Trail of Tears a good 16 years prior to that, and they knew what suffering and hunger was about at the hands of oppressive government. I understand there are Irish who travel to walk the Trail of Tears to this day in remembrance of that gift.

However, the great Irish famine is a good 40 years or so after my story begins. My heroine's family is going to be relatively poor, but not as poor as the rest of the village. Her family's very old Irish nobility and still holds some land, but barely. The hero is English, and has just inherited the land next to hers, and so he's coming out to inspect it, as he thinks his rent collector is cheating him (the rent collector is cheating both the tenants and the hero). So, there will be a lot of hard feelings and conflict up front that the hero will have to overcome--which will be near impossible without the heroine's help. I think I mentioned already that she's a knitter and spinner, things I have a lot of experience with, so can write with some authority on that. And what I don't know, I can get from friends who are even more expert than I.

I expect I'll shed a few tears as I write this story, but as Robert Frost said, "No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader."

But don't worry--this is a romance novel. There will be a happy ending in the book. :-)

Looking for something to read

In the last few years, I haven't read much of anything except perhaps research articles and books--no fiction, can you imagine? When I was a kid, I'd fill a big box full of books every week from the library and read them all in a week. This continued through my high school and college years--my assigned books were not enough; I had to read more. Throughout my 20s I would read tons of books. I think I averaged perhaps three books a week.

But now...except for my critique group's manuscripts, I've averaged reading through maybe one or two fiction books a year. I don't know why that is. It's not expense; I can easily get books from the library.

I think it started with writing. I think the more fiction I wrote, the less I read. Perhaps I grew too analytical; perhaps being able to see the seams in the writing prevented me from trying them on. I know there are books that I'd start to read, and a feeling of irritation would come over me, as if I resented the author for not helping me see the book-movie in my mind and forgetting my surroundings.

It's worse regarding my own genre, which is why I think it's because I've grown very analytical. It's rare that I pick up a romance novel these days, even though I adore the genre, even though I have my favorite authors. I know they write as good as before, if not better. I don't have as many autobuys any more in the romance genre. When I think of it, I may be afraid of being too influenced, perhaps. I don't have a problem reading outside of genre--my autobuys in fantasy are Charles deLint, Patricia McKillip, and Robin McKinley, among others. When I think of it, I don't worry about being influenced by them.

But as much as I deeply admire Nora Roberts, for example, I have a hard time getting through one of her books. I've done it--I've read three, and liked them well enough. But that was it. I don't know why.

Well, wait, there are some romance authors that are autobuys--Jennifer Crusie, among them. I'm almost afraid of picking up her books, though, because I want to take my time reading them, and inevitably I'll start reading them all the way through, quickly. Which is a sign of a good read, but then I regret I've read it that quickly. Susan Elizabeth Phillips, is another.

At first I thought I was becoming jaded about romance novels, which would break my heart if it were so, because I love the hopefulness of them, the positive can-do attitude they all have. I notice, though, that these days I'll read contemporary romances, not historicals, and not many paranormal ones, either. Which of course is very different from what I write, which is paranormal historical romances.

So perhaps what it is, is that I don't want to be influenced by the books that are in the same category as mine. I don't want "idea seepage" from a paranormal or historical romance into any of mine. Straight-on fantasy or science fiction is okay, because they're not romance.

But I'm circling around the point, giving reasons for why I haven't read some fiction in a while. Thing is, I'm restless. I want...I don't know....

Oh, I want to find another autobuy. I think I want to find another author whose work I love so much I'll buy the books as soon as they come out, no questions asked. Which means I will have to go to the store and browse and everything. Which used to be such a pleasure for me, but I just realized I've come to have such a rushed life that I resent even taking time for that.

Oh, that's bad. I really do need to take time to browse through books and figure out what I want to read. But it's been years, years since I've done that, and there are whole new crops of authors out there that I haven't heard of.

I need to do it, though. I need to keep up. And maybe I'll find another autobuy one of these days.

Romance market trends

I haven't been to RWA national conference this year, and so haven't heard the market news, but that's fine...I know what they are, anyway. Which sounds arrogant, I guess, but anyone who has met me will tell you I'm not that kind of person. It's just that one of my hobbies is the study of demographics and market trends, focused mostly on publishing and in particular the romance market. I've studied it for...let's see...since 1995, ever since my vampire Regency (The Vampire Viscount) and paranormal Regency (The Devil's Bargain) first came out. Yeah, I wrote them way back before the vampire/paranormal thing was huge. I have a habit of doing that. It's tough going, because when you write ahead of the trend, most people think you're crazy. Hell, I predicted during the 2000 RWA conference that we were going to see a surge of kick-ass heroines and that paranormals were going to be huge, and gee, guess what? It happened--it was the news during that conference.

I gave a talk at the Emerald City RWA conference in 2006 about demographic trends, and predicted that we were going to see a social crisis in the next year or two, akin to the Great Depression (yes, there is a reason why our 401K is still okay, though it did take a hit, as everyone's did. Clue: look at the events 80 years ago). I did another workshop in a few years later on the exact same talk, and didn't change the date on my PowerPoint, to prove my point. The Seattle Chapter will vouch for me on this. :-D

Anyway, here are my predictions for the next few years:

Based on my observation of generations and demographics, plus the economic times, I figure romance and women's fiction--with an uplifting ending--are going to remain strong. As during the Great Depression, romantic comedies, stories with optimistic endings with the belief in the decency of every-day human beings. Think Ginger Rogers/Fred Astaire, such movies as "Daddy Long Legs," "Topper Takes a Trip" (romantic comedy/ paranormal), "Bringing up Baby." Comedies in general will do well--remember that Charlie Chaplin made millions during the Great Depression when movies were 25 cents per ticket.

And gee, as an aside, is it any surprise that musicals are becoming more popular with the under 30 set? The Seattle area is considered a "bellweather" region, and I'm seeing participation in musical theater and music like never before amongst the young 20's and teens. I want to emphasize the areas outside of Seattle proper--there are relatively few children and teens in Seattle, compared to most any other place in the nation except for San Francisco. If you want to watch for trends amongst teens and the early 20's, look at King County, outside of the city. Places like Kent, Auburn, Everett, Bellevue, etc.

Paranormals, and those stories with a spiritual/religious component will still be good sellers. Again, whatever gives a belief in something beyond ourselves will be popular, because in general, I think people's attitudes about society and our elected officials (on both sides of the political fence) is sort of...soured. Easier to believe in a larger abstract higher concept than individual fallible leaders.

Anything with a theme of overcoming difficulties to success/love/contentment should be popular.

In particular, I think vampires, while not as popular as before (saturation in the market) they will still be good sellers, in that these have the themes of encountering something potentially dangerous and navigating through discerning if it can be trusted or not. That reflects our times, plus the early 20-something and teen set. Anything else with that theme--encountering danger, going through a period of discernment, then triumph will be popular, because those just beginning to start their adult lives are facing the theme of a scary world in which they have to make their way. However, that theme has broadened to all generations because of the current economic and social crisis.

Also, though this theme is popular overall, for the Millennial generation (those born approximately from 1980 to 2000), stories with characters having a higher purpose and/or who are special in some way will be popular. This is why the Harry Potter books were so popular, and continue to be popular with them (aside for the fact that these books are simply danged good reading). In fact, they also had the strong, very strong spiritual/religious underpinning. No, they're not obvious to those who aren't familiar with religion (and ironically, a lot of religious people aren't familiar with their own), but trust me, they're there.

Despite the economic downturn, the Millenial generation is coming into their time of buying power. It's not as huge a buying power as the Boomers (still) have, but it's considerable simply because that population is so large compared to GenX and the Silent Generation (those who were children during the Great Depression).

And historicals..they'll keep going on. But what's missing--and wlll probably be popular when they do come about--are ones set during the American Revolution and possibly Civil War. Ditto WWII. Why? They all reflect what's we're going through/going to go through now. David McCullough hit a nerve with his books, John Adams and 1776. This is why he is both a bestseller AND a Pulitzer Prize winner (well, he's an awesome writer, so there's that).

Those are the eras the current crop of Millennials will find some common themes. The young people of those eras grew up in severely divisive times--as we do. Their elders could not come to any kind of consensus, and more time was spent squabbling and pointing out scandals than solving problems. The real concerns of the rural areas and those areas with less infrastructure (the American colonies during the Revolution, and the more rural South during the Civil War) were pitted against the concerns of the more sophisticated urban citizens (the British, and the very industrialized North, respectively). One of those crises ended up with a relatively healthy unity. The other...did not. WWII ended up with a healthy unity of purpose, and that was when we built the massive infrastructure that is now, unfortunately, aging to the point of danger to life and limb.

The current era...well, time will tell. We get to choose whether we get over our differences, find common ground, and work together, and I REALLY don't want finger pointing at the OTHER side that you just CAN'T talk to. Be the first to hold out the helping hand and open mind, people, and keep doing it. Really find out where the other side is coming from, what their fears are, and I mean their root fears, where they are suffering. Your survival depends on it. Although right now, my feeling is that either side's intention in finding out about the other side's suffering is in the interests of crushing the other side into dust. Or ignoring the other sides' suffering, period, because of course they're BAD. Yes, this Pollyanna is fighting cynicism.

To get back on track: As a result, there is a certain hunger in Millennials for hope (that is their nature), for the idea that difficulties can be worked through, that people can work together, that there is a higher purpose out there for every one. And, optimism is the very nature of romance novels, so I believe you will continue to see these novels prosper. Heroic fantasy will also do well, and fantasy in which the protagonists are fighting the powers of evil (Dresden files, is a good example).

GenX--do not dismiss this generation. This scrappy generation will help get us through the hard times. They do not hesitate to get their hands dirty and get the job done, and in hard times, that's what's needed. Think Patton. Yeah, those disaffected 1980's youth dressed in black and piercings end up being Patton, wreaking havoc amongst Hitler's armies. And they are really good consumers of paranormal stories that feature grim, realistic protagonists that wade through death and degradation to wreak destruction on predators. They are good at defending the weak and innocent while shooting off a witty quip, knowing that they will get no reward for their heroism, but that they're just here to do the job, hopefully with a small group of loyal friends or a devoted partner. (Think Buffy.)

Both GenX and the Millenials are hands-on, practical groups. GenX is a bit more gritty and pessimistic, while the Millenials are more optimistic. Both get the job done, and sooner or later become impatient with high-flying rhetoric.

I really also want to emphasize the religious/spiritual angle. When times are hard, when there is a crisis, people often turn to religion. This is why it is the most impoverished areas of the world that are the most religious; when you have very little, when your next day may bring hunger or the threat of poverty, then the only thing that often keeps you alive is hope in something higher and better, whether that would be your still-innocent children, or God, or both. In other words, these things represent hope for the future.

As a result, I expect books on religion and spirituality will stil be strong. Inspirational romances sales will probably hold steady, especially if there is some real spiritual insight there and realistic integration between some real, human life questions and religion/spirituality.

And...I expect the readership amongst men for romance novels will grow, and has been growing. Romance novels--especially those with suspense/mystery/action--will be especially appealing. Romance novels are probably one of the few fiction areas that feature men as good guys (we have heroes, after all!), and people, men need hope, too. That they have not much hope is reflected in the steep increases in male suicides, especially amongst teens and 20-somethings, in the last few decades, as much as 5 times that of females. It's also reflected in the fact that of all graduating high school seniors, 80% of girls apply to college, whereas only 20% of boys do, and that has been going on for a decades as well. That's another reason why the Harry Potter books were so popular amongst boys--these books are one of the few instances that featured a boy as a protagonist, a boy who was special, and who tried his best to do good. That's a hopeful thing for boys who are looking for a book to read.

So in essence:

• Romance will be strong, and hold steady
  
• Paranormals strong, vampires have glutted the market, but will still hold steady (and zombies as protagonists or heros--oh, please. A bump in the road. I could be wrong, but having a guy who has to keep sticking his face back on with superglue because his flesh is just a bit on the rotten side is not romantic. However, innovation does occasionally win).
• Ghosts...give those a try. Demons, ditto. However, redemption as a theme should be strong. We have a very punishing society, with almost no forgiveness unless you have money or fame. Redemption themes as a result is another source of hope for the rest of us.
  
• Romantic comedies--yes!
• Historicals will hold steady, but do give the eras of the American Revolution, the Civil War, and WWII a try, although I expect these will probably be most popular in about 5 years. If Europe, Puritans vs. the Cavaliers, and Tudor era would work. the The authors MUST do the research on those, as ever. Less costume dramas, more historical meat.
  
• Inspirationals strong, but must integrate realities and questions of life
  
• Perseverence and success in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds is always a good theme.
• Good vs. Evil, always a good theme, but make it real.
  
• Oh, and the theme of fighting or subverting an ever-encroaching totalitarian government should also be popular in science fiction/fantasy/romance. Wouldn't hurt to bring back a Matrix-like theme, although I expect that'll be more like 10 years from now.
• More can-do, decent, heroic guys. Guys need hope, too, and they're going to be looking for something to keep them working and holding on. As a result, it'd be good to defeminize the covers on the action/romance/supspense romances--not a problem, as I see they're doing much of that already. Wouldn't hurt to do that to some of the historicals that have more action/suspense, etc., too.
• Forgot to mention above: Graphic novels. Always a good thing. Will do very well in the coming decade(s) as they are very adaptable to both print and electronic media, and the concepts are easily transferred to the big (and small) screen. The more mutable a story is to differing formats, the better. If a romance novel--especially if action, suspense, and/or paranormal--can be translated to a graphic novel/manga format, perfect.
  

One more thing: Because the Millenial Generation is large in numbers but is going to be struggling for jobs, they're going to try to find their entertainment where they can, whether they make it or find it inexpensively. This means the publishing industry will have to find better ways to deliver their goods. They know this already, or should. E-books will do well, I'm sure, but if they're the same price as paper books...well, we'll see. Those who have a handle on this relatively new technology (and please, formatting!!!!), will do better than others, in the same way movie theaters that grasped the sound aspect of movies back during the Great Depression thrived rather than went out of business. It's a big initial investment, but it'll pay out in the end in both stability and profits when the economy turns up better (not right away. Expect a big downturn around 2012, and with luck it'll start rising steadily again. What mistakes this and the last administration have made will come to bear then. Invest in capital and be thrifty now, pay off what you can, then be prepared).

Even so, I don't expect paper books to disappear for a long, long, long time.

You fill a need in an economy, and you will survive as a business, and publishing is a business. Hope is a need. And in this economy, everyone needs hope pretty badly right now.

Too freakin' hot / Storytelling

98 degrees F today. It's supposed to be even hotter tomorrow, over 100 degrees. I called my mom today to see if she's bearing up under the heat all right, and she said that when she went to her doctor's appointment in the late morning, she saw two bank reader boards that showed 103 degrees. I looked at the forecast for Eastern Washington--10 degrees COOLER than the Puget Sound area.

We may break some records in Seattle.

I feel so lethargic in this kind of weather. I'd like to knit and spin, but it's too hot for that, even with cotton yarn. My hands get all sweaty and the yarn doesn't slide smoothly over the needles. So, I'm reading instead, which is good, because I've slacked off dolorously in my reading for too many years. It's not good to slack off reading when one is a writer.

Got hold of and am reading the latest Dresden Files paperback by Jim Butcher, Small Favor. I am a major fan of Butcher's series, because he's a marvelous storyteller. I think he tries too hard on the quips occasionally (he throws in a quip or two that I think aren't likely for the scene or action, and it pulls me briefly--I want to emphasize briefly--out of the story), but I'm more than willing to forgive him this one small flaw because I love the characters and Butcher has followed through with his storytelling promises enough so that I trust him to follow through every time. I understand something very, very unfortunate and unhappy is going to happen to one of my favorite characters in this series, but I'm willing to travel down that path, because I trust Butcher will do it right.

And that, to me, is a mark of a good storyteller. I don't ask that an author not go down an unexpected alley, or make a left turn when I'm looking for a right, and though I have my standards and sense of right and wrong, I'm willing to have the evidence presented to me and be convinced. What I do ask for is psychological consistency, for follow-through on the world-building and the characterization.

All stories have a framework on which they are built, and I really do not care how avant garde a story might be, there is always a framework. If an author says his or her story has no framework and that it is this free and wild and avante garde thing that cannot be confined by mere human expectation, then either he or she is lying or is a poseur. That's harsh, but that's my opinion, and since I am way older than 40, I'm not taking it back.

When a story has a framework, a reader instinctively understands whether the story that hangs on it fits or not. This applies to characters as well as the structure of the story. One big error that immediately screams amateur to me is when I see that the author has said upfront that a character has certain attributes, and then proceeds to contradict it. If a character is supposed to be smart and sensible, I don't care how emotionally involved he or she has become in a certain situation, that smart and sensible part is going to rant and rave and be disapproving even as the character does something wildly unlike him or herself. The smart and sensible part doesn't suddenly disappear. No, Smart and Sensible Part will sit there sobbing its little heart out because the character it is inhabiting is doing something dumb and wildly wrong. And as a result, you will have a character that is very conflicted, and much, much more interesting to read about.

Now, have I committed this sin of psychological inconsistency? Yes, of course, but hopefully not in print. And if I have, then no doubt it was while I was becoming increasingly anemic many years ago, and had not the mental stamina to examine such a horrendous error in literary judgement. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it. :-D

I have about an hour and a half before bedtime--must get some reading in! Toodle-ooo for today!

Ten minutes to Eternity

My mom's house is in the boonies. To get there, I have to go through two or three small towns that are around...maybe 10,000, but it's hard to tell, as I just did a Google search and came up with nothing as to to the population of each. Cell phone service is available, but even my Verizon and my brother's AT&T services quit when we get to her house.

She lives outside/in a small town--well, come to think of it, I don't think there is a mayor of that town, it's sort of a general area--an "unincorporated community," with a population of around 6000, more or less, depending on if you count the town next to it that is under the same zip code, because the U.S. Postal Service generally doesn't acknowledge that town exists, unless the inhabitants insist, and I believe the town inhabitants have to pay a fee to have the town they live in as part of their home address. There was some bad history between that one town and the U.S. government, and once the government has it in for you, it seems it doesn't forgive or forget, even if you are long dead. I believe the town founders who supposedly defied and offended the federal government (they dared published booklets on agnosticism and practiced yoga on property they owned) have been dead about 100 years now. Yeah, that's 100 years, no typo.

Anyway, I traveled after work on Monday to stay with my mom, because she had cataract eye surgery scheduled on Tuesday. I decided to leave home well past rush hour, but well before dark, neither wanting to mess with traffic or a barely-lit two-lane rural highway. Knowing that my mom was not (I HOPE) going to leave her house for a few days after surgery, I asked her whether she wanted me to pick up anything on the way--a carton of milk, she said. There's a grocery store in one of the towns, about 15 minutes away from my mom's house, so I stopped in there, because she said it was open until 10. I got there before 9 pm--plenty of time.

I decided to pick up a few items for myself as well, and browsed the close-set, twilight-dimmed aisles crowded with as many daily necessities and little luxuries as a rural grocery store can afford to carry: the ubiquitous Starbucks bottled frappucino, yes; Pepsi Max, no. MD 20/20 cheek by jowl with Chateau Ste Michelle. Little toys from China wrapped in cellophane--cellophane--how old is that? The store has a latte stand just 200 feet across the parking lot from another latte stand, because after all this is Washington State, where intravenous drip coffee would be available if someone could find a way to do it legally.

No hurry, I thought (though I wished one of the latte stands were open--a little "why bother" decaf latte would not have been amiss). It was well before the closing time of 10 pm, and I was the only customer. I was startled to hear, as a result, the lone cashier announce, "store customers, please prepare to purchase your goods as the store will be closing in ten minutes to eternity."

Ten minutes to eternity.

Should I rush, or shouldn't I? How long was ten minutes to eternity? I looked at the quart of milk, my package of Kotex-with-wings, and my diet Coke with lime (diet Coke is my default, unless there is diet Pepsi Max with ginseng), wondering if somehow time was different in this little store, and if these items would somehow disintegrate in a strange, quantum space-time continuum sort of way if I hurried, or morph into some evolutionary blob not yet known to man or beast if I took my time.

I walked in a moderate way to the check-out stand.

"Ten minutes to eternity," I said as I placed my items on the conveyor belt.

"Yeah, I throw out stuff like that sometimes to see if anyone notices," the cashier said. He was a lean, dark-haired young man with a goatee, with a nonchalant air about him. Under 30, I thought, maybe 25. He punched in the prices on the cash register.

"So Twilight Zone." I gestured at the windows, grey with shadows and the barely visible setting sun. "Here I am, going down a lone country highway at dusk, an unsuspecting consumer of grocery goods looking only to buy a few things on the way to my elderly mother's house..."

"You only think you're coming in here to buy milk, sanitary supplies, and a cold refreshing diet beverage," he replied. "When you leave...will you really be leaving? Or will you be entering? Into what will you be entering? Is there a difference between entering and leaving?"

"Maybe not!" I said.

He paused thoughtfully before bagging my purchases. "I had an uncle who once said that. Are there really differences between---" He waved his hand at everything in general. "All this? Once, everything was the same. It was all one big sameness. No conflict, because who's going to be all judgemental when it's all the same? And then people started finding differences. This is different from that, all the way down to particles and scientific names for things we don't even see. Now, it's, this is better than that, I'm better than you, no, I'm better than you. This is good, this is bad."

"Makes me think of how Adam and Eve ate of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, and then they began to think they way they were created was somehow bad."

He pointed at me and pulled his trigger finger. "Bullseye." He counted out my change, and closed the till, locking it. "You be safe out there. Whatever out there is."

I hummed the Twilight Zone song, and he grinned.

New book cover!

The new book cover has arrived! I've posted it up on my web site. I rather like it--the colors are nice, although the gal holding the chalice looks a bit spacey. I don't know if she represents any of the heroines in Jo's, Mary Jo's, or Barbara's stories, but she doesn't look anything like mine. But that's fine. It's hard to represent different elements of an anthology, but I think this one works all right.

I'm looking forward to seeing the whole book. I've become used to seeing my books in the final stage, but there is nevertheless the sheer simple pleasure of holding the finished product of one's labors in one's hands.

I'll put up an excerpt once I see the manuscript in its copyedited form.