Prophecies and Penalties, my serial about a murder on a Vermont religious commune, has hit the thirty chapter mark! Hoorah! Emily Fisher, not-exactly-professional detective of this story, proclaims, “I am a gifted individual” in chapter 30. Oh, but the Trojans could tell her something about gifts, particularly gifts one doesn’t fully understand. Not everyone can vomit up gallons of water on dry land, and one really, really should look into such things before they cause more problems. As they will . . .

If you’re not already reading this story, you can start here.

My policy for some time has been to post twice a week, with a new chapter of the current serial on Fridays and another post, on whatever subject, on Monday or Tuesday. I’ve now missed the “other” post, the Monday/Tuesday post, twice in three weeks. Unfortunately, due to personal circumstances, I can only commit to posting on Fridays for the next few months, and hope I can get out a Monday/Tuesday post now and again. Sorry about that. I’ll return to my old schedule when other demands on my time become less pressing.