1867 is Going Swimmingly

Sue has had her first run-in with The Thing. It goes not quite well. Lee Overton’s grouchy ancestor makes another appearance. Sue’s mom gets pissed, lays down the law, and tells Sue a story about their Devil-fucking ancestor. So, yes, the Devil’s in it, briefly. They go to the time-traveling cave. A dog is inadvertently killed in their attempt to figure out how to work the cave and Metcalf is sent in the dead dog’s stead. Probably they should have just sent the dead guy in the first place, but the dog has to die for thematic reasons.

If we consider this book a roller-coaster with two big hills, we have just reached the top of the first hill and shit must start to hit the fan–the thing must get loose. Lee must dispatch his wife and try to abscond with Sue. The thing must then be subdued and Lee must be off to the future. And then 1867 can end.

The second draft is going to suck, but I am having a blast with this first one, let me tell you. It’s all dead babies and charming assholes and weird visions.

Speaking of weird visions, I need for Sue to have had one. But I’ll have to sleep on what that is.

Oh, it’s a weird book. I’m not sure if anyone will love it as much as I do, but I really do.

Never Before Have I Been so Relieved to be Aging Out of the Feminist Blogosphere

This, this, this.

I have lots of thoughts on this crap, but none of it is coherent. I wonder, for instance, not just whether you should quote extensively from people without asking when you’re writing about an instance in which people felt that there was a lot of “borrowing” without asking. I wonder if it’s even “fair use” to use whole blog posts without asking permission. I wonder about that dude’s friend, who seems like he might be being abused by his wife, and his friend sees his weird behavior and ascribes the problem to “women” or “feminists” and not to abuse. And I wonder if I really believe in redemption and I think that I don’t. Or at least, I don’t believe redemption then means you get to put yourself center stage.

The Best is When I Make Myself Laugh

My favorite Pith posts of mine are the ones I still laugh about when I read them the next day. And this morning I laughed at both “God’s Lesbian Loophole” and “Spinach: Muscle-giving Power Food or Too Close to Arugula for Its Own Good?”

We’re not at all ready for the arrival of my parents. Or Christmas in general. Oh well. We gave it a good shot at Thanksgiving. I guess that’s all you can hope for.