Back to work, back to the regular schedule today. This is good. I’ll go no more a-roving so late into the night, at least for a while.

I’m learning the uses of a cane. It’s a bloody nuisance, for the most part. It would be handy to have one of those with a hooked handle that I could hang over my arm when I need both hands, but this one (like most contemporary models) has a mostly horizontal one. Makes a better grip that way, I guess, but tucking your cane under your arm isn’t nearly as neat a move in real life as in the movies. The thing has a way of poking things, and people.



I’ve got a link for yesterday’s stop on the Virtual Book Tour here (It’s the Virginia Beach Examiner. I get a little more print there than in the minimal treatment most of my interviews have been cut down to so far.) Today is a guest post at a blog called Authors and Appetizers. I’m kind of proud of this one, because I hadn’t the faintest idea what I’d write when the publicist pointed me there and told me to say something about food. I think what I finally produced isn’t half bad.



Here’s a scene I expect is going to be played out soon (if it hasn’t been already) in the offices of the leadership of a major political party.

Chairperson: “So we’re all agreed, we’re going to put all our influence behind the Goodness Act.”

Junior Senator: “What’s the Goodness Act?”

Vice Chairperson: “That’s the law that outlaws all evil, and requires everybody to be good.”

Junior Senator: “Is that constitutional?”

Vice Chairperson: “Are you saying you’re in favor of evil?”

Junior Senator: “No, no. I’m sure it must be constitutional. You’re right. Forget I said anything.”

Congressman From Eastern State: “Wait a minute. I’m a Satanist. We believe in evil. Our only law is do as thou wilt. Are you trying to infringe my right to construct my own personal code of morality?”

Chairperson: “No, no. We’ll carve out a religious exception.”

Congressman From Eastern State: “Well, I’m still a little offended. Better fund that new highway for my state while you’re at it, and I’ll feel better.”

Vice Chairperson: “No problem.”

Congressman From Western State: “Hey, what about me? I’ve got a large sociopathic constituency in my district. What am I gonna tell them?”

Chairperson: “Don’t worry about it. By the time this bill is done, nobody’ll have a clue what’s in it. It’ll tie up the courts for years.”

Congressman From Western State: “Great! The sociopaths and the lawyers will both love it!”

Vice Chairperson: “You’re repeating yourself. I like that.”