The writer took a day off for some administrative formalities–except that of course, we’re having a massive train strike here in France, and the person with whom we were supposed to do the formalities can’t make it to Paris. Well, at least I caught up on sleep, and am slowly catching up on email backlog and stuff.

Got BF’s crit of Harbinger of the Storm yesterday. Basically, lots and lots of problems, but most of these should be small fixes: the basic structure of the novel looks to be sound. I’ll brainstorm some extra fixes, and then go roll up my sleeves and tackle revisions…

Finished a short story for the upcoming Villa Diodati workshop. Temp title is “Age of Miracles, Age of Wonders”. Set in the same universe as “Memories in Steel, Feathers and Bronze” (upcoming in Beneath Ceaseless Skies), and “Prayers of Forges and Furnaces”.

Snippet:

The god
The weals on Coztic’s back have begun to heal by the time they reach Axahuacan. The marks of the chains on his ankles and wrists–the deep burn lines rimmed with red, puffed skin, encrusted with scabs–haven’t. At night, when the moon rises over the desert, its light as pale as the face of corpses, he shifts in the copper cage and feels pain lance through his limbs, as familiar and as welcome as an old enemy.

The hierarch walks ahead of the cage and of its guards, the metal of its face turned straight ahead. If it thinks of anything–if metal and cogs and wheels can have thoughts–it doesn’t say.

I have three major deadlines at the end of the month (the novel, one other sekrit one, and a work-related one). April is going to be loads of fun…