Short answer to a short technical question someone asked: the ABSENT FRIENDS ms. as delivered was 625 pp., because at 137,000 words double spaced in Courier 10, that's what you get. The question was, why double-spaced in Courier 10? Courier 10 has long been a standard in the industry, from the days when that was what was on everyone's typewriters. Its use, along with standard-sized margins (inch and a quarter to inch and a half) and double-spaced text, allows an editor to pretty accurately estimate the number of printed pages a ms. will come out at. I understand now, though, that larger font sizes are popular, Courier 12 being one of them, because they're easier to read. And now that publishers are asking for electronic as well as paper submissions, the computer can make the ms.-to-book calculation for them. Double-spaced, of course, is for the same reason as the wide margins: to give the editor plenty of room to write comments.