You can tell it's July. We're drowning in humidity. Our cat, Sabrina. has abandoned her fuzzy commode seat on the bookshelf for a patch of bare wood floor.

I didn't do much celebrating over the Fourth of July weekend. Mostly I worked on a legal article. Being self-employed, I quite enjoy working when I would normally be off. It allows me to occasionally revel in goofing off when everyone else has to work. Not that it makes my hours any shorter. Now that the holiday is over maybe I should resume blogging.

But first, a word from our sponsors.

If you liked Mary's story about the parade, and if you enjoy mysteries -- particularly those of the Golden Age -- don't miss her review of The Abandoned Room by Wadsworth Camp at Steve Lewis' Mystery*File. Sf fans might be interested to know that Wadsworth Camp was the father of Madeleine L’Engle, author of A Wrinkle in Time!

If you enjoy science fiction you might want to check out our long interview in issue 153 of Mike Glyer's File 770. Mike has been covering science fiction publishing and fandom for more than thirty years and has eight Hugos for his efforts. If you have any interest in sf you're bound to find File 770 great reading, and never mind our bit. The zine is available in pdf format at eFanzines. Download issue 153.

We don't talk about sf, though. As usual we blab on about writing mystery novels. I expect Mike thought the interview might be of interest to his readership because Mary and I both started out writing for sf fanzines and have been involved in sf fandom both as writers and as publishers for a long time.

Even if you don't like mysteries or science fiction, you must enjoy eating. Who doesn't? So you'll want to read Christine Verstraete's Fatal Foodies blog. Well, OK, it is about mystery books featuring food. And in case you didn't guess there's bit devoted to the cuisine of 6th century Constantinople as featured in the books of someone or other.

Now back to our normally scheduled sweltering.