I apologise for the gaps between journal entries lately; Janet left on Wednesday morning, and I've been more or less a mess since then. Plus, one of my best friends got married yesterday, and I was his best man, so I've been busy as well from that. Somewhere in the midst of all that, I managed to finish The Last Coin by James P. Blaylock, which showed that you could deal with the battle between good and evil and still have a lot of fun. It was recommended to me by Tim Powers and Karen Joy Fowler as something they thought I might enjoy, and they were right. It's very funny and very suspenseful and very cool and if you find a used copy somewhere, grab it. The next book I start will either be Galveston, the World Fantasy Award winning novel by Sean Stewart, or Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang, which hasn't won any awards yet since it has just been published, but is sure to sweep awards ceremonies in the near future. (Many of Ted's stories have won awards already.)

Not much to do today. I need to drive down to the hotel where Derek was staying and get his tux, return it and my own to the rental place at the mall, drop off the wedding ring box at Katie's parents' house, drive to Fuquay and feed my parents' bunny, and call Janet, who is staying with Liz Levin, a fellow 2002 Clarionite living in Chicago who is putting Janet up for the remainder of her stay there. We were talking last night, Janet and I, and if she extends her stay to the full ninety days of her visa (which would end around September 4), she might be able to come back down and stay with me for a little while longer before she has to go back to Singapore, which would make me ecstatic. I miss her more than I thought it possible to miss someone.