We had our art meeting today...sort of. I was sick with some sort of unidentified...thingies. I'm pretty sure it's hives, but didn't want to risk giving anyone chickenpox. Jay dropped the key to the money box on my porch. I put the money on the porch. Molly put the illustrations on the porch. It was very strange, really. I couldn't stop laughing. The illustrations are fantastic. She turned in 31 newly finished drawings, making a total of fifty. Hopefully they will all make it to the finished book, but it all depends on how the publisher decides to lay it out. The Nightfire Database should be up and running soon and, yes, it will include extra information here and there not included in the story; especially names of characters who would otherwise be listed under "Amy's grandfather" and the like. That makes it fun for me and more useful. :) So there you go. I'm going to go now. Think I'll sit around and marvel at my hives.

We're working on getting the first edition of the Nightfire Database online, and I'm up to my usual tricks making it more complicated than originally intended. I was looking over the notes for the entries based on "The Ghost in the Olive Grove," and I was bored out of my mind. Then it hit me that I would be more interested if there were some facts that hadn't been introduced in the story. I am very willing to provide extra details, but it has yet to be decided. The key thing is, these articles are going up before the end of the month. My adding new information will only be possible if it doesn't hold the project back. It's just a short story. I think I can do it. Then I'd like to do the same for the rest of the database entries. Maybe I'll just stick to finished stories, like "The Ghost in the Olive Grove." Open storylines, like Cry, Wolf, The Chronicles of Nightfire, Texas, and Metrognomes I will have to be more aloof about, since I don't want to spoil any twists. I think I'll let those go up just as dull and regurgitated from my work as they are. Not to insult the brilliance of Mr. Awbrey, whose dedication to tedium I find both astounding and quite useful. Afterall, a fiction writer's Web site just wouldn't be complete without all the information on his fictional realms and characters that can possibly be gathered being readily available to his fans. It's really just as a quick refresher if someone is reading, say, Nightfire #10, and a character pops up who hasn't been there in a while, and they can remind themselves who the character is and what the character has done by accessing the database. I just think it would be more fun if the database had extra facts, not yet revealed anywhere else. What do you think?

Sean Seybold came by tonight, and he showed me his portfolio, asking my opinion. I thought it was great. He's such a good artist. It reminded me that I'd had him in mind for the cover of Nightfire #6. I asked him if he'd be interested, and he sketched out three or four possibilities right there. They were all cool. I told him about the Nephilim in the Nightfire story, who they are and where they come from. I described their symbols and showed Sean some pictures from books I have on hieroglyphics and ancient Egypt. We decided on his third concept, which was way more involved than I'd anticipated. It's going to be brilliant! I'm glad I remembered to ask him about that. Sean's a friend, but I haven't actually "worked" with him in the six years since he did the cover art for Cry, Wolf. The only reason is that he'd asked for more time in the future, and I am always racing against the deadlines. I'm glad to be working with him again.

The Chronicles of Nightfire, Texas #5 print edition has just been added to the Merchandise section of the Web site. :)

The Chronicles of Nightfire, Texas #5 "The Trouble with Doris Gardner" was posted today, as well as "Haiku #20," both a day late. I apologize for the delay, but it's been crazy round hya. The print edition of Nightfire #5 should be available on the Merchandise page sometime this evening. "Haiku #20" by the way, was actually written between what are now #s 18 and 19, but I felt it interrupted the flow. There's you some trivia to impress...no one with. In fact, don't even tell me. I'll just walk away from you and act like you're beneath me. I'm gonna go now. I'm gonna hunt the stores for that new He-Man DVD. Have fun reading my stuff.

I just wanted to take a moment to say something about London. I am horrified by what happened yesterday. I remained cluless until I got home from work and read all about it on the Internet. As an American, I cannot help but feel responsible, considering they were allegedly attacked for helping us in Iraq. I hate this war. I support our troops with words and prayers, but I'd like the war to end. I was hoping such an end was in sight, then this happened. Now I hope the people behind this are located and dealt with quickly. No one can just sit back and take something like this. That's exactly how I felt on September 11, 2001. A country must take action. But where will it end? The militant Islamic factions don't see things the way we do. Jihad is one of the most chilling words I know. When someone believes they are fighting in the name of God, they will stop at nothing. If they make good on their threats of attacking still other nations, what happens then? It's something that Albert Einstein said that keeps surfacing in my thoughts, "I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones." I am haunted by that statement, every day that this war goes on. This is a time in history when we must all stand together, watching each other's backs. For the enemy is in the very shadows.

I did nothing today. I felt a bit under the weather. It's stifling hot in Dallas, you know. Hard to rise above it. Of course, I did break a personal record, just now, with my THIRD blog entry of the day.

Ooh, looky there! Two posts on the same day! The print edition of "Hollow Jane" just went on sale on the merchandise page. Just thought I'd let you know. :)

Okay, so it's been a week since I posted anything here, but I haven't been slacking! Honest! I've been working very hard. I wrote a new story, called "Hollow Jane," which has been in my head for months. It was posted yesterday, along with "Haiku #19." "Hollow Jane" is weird. I don't really know what to say about it, except that it's very close to me. It's something I had to write and share in order to purge it from my system. My writing is like that. My stories are like my dreams. They live in my subconscious, secretly allowing me to deal with things that I don't want to face. "Hollow Jane" is one of those things. It's a bloodletting. I don't know if it will entertain anybody, but it's as sincere as it is bizzare. Maybe you know a hollow Jane yourself. And just so we're clear, Jane could just as easily have been John. This story isn't about the character's gender, it's about the character's personality type. There are just as many hollow Johns in the world. So yeah, it's odd. I like writing in symbols, it seems. It also seems I've been leaning towards magical realizm in my short fiction recently. It's a style that seems to work for me. So that's my bla bla bla on that. I've also written another haiku and been working on The Chronicles of Nightfire, Texas #5 and my Web site. There are several things going on there. Ellen Heavner's The Great Debate interview should be posted soon, and Thomas Awbrey's Nightfire and Metrognomes databases will start growing bi-monthly, on a rotation. This month, all the stuff from "The Ghost in the Olive Grove" will go into the Nightfire Database, and next month all the stuff from "Music of the Metrognomes" and "Worse than a Gremlin" will go into the Metrognomes Database. He was going to do it all at once, but it was going to take forever before we had anything posted that way. This way, the Metrognomes Database will be complete by this August and the Nightfire Database will be complete by May 2006, both with regular updates to follow. Those "under construction" pages have been irking me awhile now. As for me, I have to complete Nightfire #5 this week, so it can be posted on Monday, then there's work on the print edition of "Dr. Coffee's Pill," then Nightfire #6 possibly subtitled "Secrets of the Nephilim" (remember the somewhat famous Bible burning scene from #2?) The I'm redrafting Metrognomes for the probably last time before it sees print. I'll do my best at keeping you posted.