Hey, Your Nose is on Fire!

I guess I've known Neal Shusterman:      For about two decades now ever since I joined the Orange County Fictionaires , a writing and critique group that's been functioning here in southern California for more than 50 years. Of course, Neal's been living in Florida lately, but that turns out not to be a problem. The pandemic, y'see, has made our group's meetings virtual since 2020, so Neal pops by whenever he can.      After one of our meetings early in 2021, Neal sent me an e-mail asking if I'd be interested in co-writing a short story with him for a collection he was putting together set in the world of his Arc of the Scythe series. I said, "Sure!" then went and read the trilogy. I hadn't actually gotten around to it yet...      The basic premise, like so much of Neal's YA SF and fantasy, is just terrific. Neal has the true SF writers gift of asking one "What if..." question, then exploring how the answer to that quest

The Daily Grind Table of Contents      If you're looking for something more Halloweeny, let me direct you back 10 pages or so to when all this story's scary stuff was happening.

The Terebinth Story Archive      This is no time for second thoughts! Or even first thoughts! On! On!

The Daily Grind Table of Contents      Let's see, now... All the stuff with the centipedes getting their minds back happened during Book 12: Worlds in Collision , so this current story, being six months later, must be taking place near the end of June, 2016. Continuity!

The Daily Grind Table of Contents      When you're a centipede, apparently one cave is as good as another.

The Daily Grind Table of Contents      Yeesh, Henshaw, that's not an electric chair you're sitting in. Try to relax a little!

The Terebinth Story Archive      I'd certainly call the internet a howling mass of something , Esther, but I'm not sure "amateurs" would've been my first choice of nouns...      Still, if I were the wagering sort, I might be tempted to think that the approach of page 1,700 might prove to be a point toward which the current run of comics is aiming.

Just in time:      For Hallowe'en, my poem Zombie Pirate Ghost " is available for perusal on the Silver Blade website. It's about as scary as I'm ever likely to get.                  Mike

The Daily Grind Table of Contents      Let's all go looking for some centipedes to talk to this weekend, and we'll meet back here Monday as our story continues.

The Daily Grind Table of Contents      As long as there's banter occurring, I guess everything's fine!

The Daily Grind Table of Contents      Get with the program, Henshaw. Ev'rything's always been about the big magical spiders 'round here...

The Terebinth Story Archive      I never realized so much equipment was involved in making this comic. I've still got so much to learn, apparently...

The Daily Grind Table of Contents      Two-thirds of the way through the story! Everybody check their bookmarks!

The Daily Grind Table of Contents      Ah, romance. Or whatever this is...

The Daily Grind Table of Contents      Nothing's ever simple around here, is it?

The Terebinth Story Archive      Adventure and the odd rondeau apparently....

The Daily Grind Table of Contents      We're having a planned power outage around here Thursday evening, so I'd better hurry up and get this--

The Daily Grind Table of Contents      Ooo! More weird colors! Fancy!

The Daily Grind Table of Contents      Y'know, if this keeps up, we might actually end up with some thematically appropriate material around here on Hallowe'en for once.

The Terebinth Story Archive      Oh, now, there's no need for stage fright, Sean. Hardly anybody reads this comic anyhow...

October is apparently:      Furry Book Month.      Not that the books themselves come equipped with pelts, I'm led to understand. No, it's rather a celebration of books whose subject matters involve talking animal folks in some way or another. The Furry Writers' Guild , who I'm fairly certain is behind the entire concept of "Furry Book Month," is celebrating with a Book Bundle consisting of nine furry books, and again I cannot emphasize enough that the books themselves are not more hirsute than other books. They are, in fact, "ebooks" and therefore have no physical substance to speak of.      Nonetheless, one of the nine novels in this bundle is Neighbors , a piece I self-published about eight years ago. At the time, I characterized it as follows:       You can choose your friends, but you can't choose your neighbors.      For a full quarter of his life, twenty-year-old Gus Lancer has been a resident patient at Haven Space, a san