Scholarship and Long Hiatus

That creaking sound you're hearing isn't me reaching down to pick up the remote; it's me opening the digital pages of this old journal once again. Been awhile, my friends, but it's good to be back. We accomplished quite a bit in the last ten days, with the largest being the 95% completed painting of the exterior of the ol' homestead. That old girl vampired the first eight gallons without breaking a sweat, then she slowed down with a sigh and took another three for good measure. We need to do a couple of sets of window trim, then we'll be finished.

I'm back full-time at the college and it feels great. I'm happy to be back in a good routine (teaching is good for my writing), and Lyla seems to be adjusting well to the new schedule. She's learned a few new words in the last week: "apple," "up" and "thank you." The pronunciation isn't perfect, of course, but we get the gist of it.

I'll return to a regular pattern of discussing speculative stories soon, but in the meantime, if you're interested in a survey of American narratives of the apocalypse, I'm very proud to have an essay I wrote published with World Literature Today.

Hope things are well where you are...