This Week at the Palace

I revised "The Angel with the Broken Face" for Mars Hill Review; it was too long for them and was a bit overstuffed anyway. The editing comments were interesting.

So far I've seen one review of my story that's up at SCIFICTION. I find it curious that the reviewer never thought that the vision of the girl might point both to Lyle's wife as a girl and to the young woman at the opening of the story--it works in a double way as prophecy, but if one doesn't "get it," the story is diminished. I don't quite see why that would need to be explained... And I always find plot summaries of fiction to be disturbing; if I'd wanted to write a story in 200 words, I would have done so. However, it's enlightening to have paid a visit to the genre world, where there seems to be a lot of lively talk about magazines and stories.

On Saturday I'm doing a yack-and-read at a Barnes & Noble in the hinterlands. I hope that last week's remark, "sometimes we get two librarians," doesn't turn out to cover my event!

Tussle of the week: http://www.2blowhards.com/archives/002014.html#002014. The initial explosion has set off interesting small fires elsewhere.

My favorite response to "Chickens at the Palace": "Can't match Mike the Headless Chicken -- which, as Dave Barry would say, sounds like a terrific name for a rock band -- but Whiteville, N.C., has its Fire Ant Festival coming up."

The rest is reticence.