Sorry about the long gap between posts. I've been on vacation for a week. I traded 30-degree weather and avalanches for 75 degrees and earthquakes. I sat on the beach and watched waves, smelled salt, read four books and started a fifth. I went to an aquarium and saw sharks and sea-horses. I ran barefoot in the sand. I got wet in sea-water. And now I'm ready to get back to my Utah spring and back to my writing. Which reminds me of something: Fantasy-writers can't write, somebody once told me. They don't care about quality. "And, by the way," she said, "Harry Potter's crap." One guy I know snorted at the suggestion that Lord of the Rings books might be fine literature. Me: "Have you ever read them?" Him: "I can't remember." Me: "Really?" Him: "Um, probably not." Another guy: "They're just fantasy. Fantasy is escapism. People should face life, not run off and pretend to fight drag...