I often wonder. This past week I've been right here, in my sunny apartment, with my writing partner, the infamous Carlos Dews. We've been drinking tea (Barry's Irish, if you must know, or Kenyan Tinderet) and trying frantically to work out the framework for Sam Cabot's next book. Also we went to the studios of our publisher, Penguin/Blue Rider, and made a BLOOD OF THE LAMB interview video which you lucky folks will get to see oh so very soon. We spent an hour on a conference call with the map-maker, too. (You'll love the map.) This work schedule is what's kept me from you, so you can blame Carlos, which is fine with me. But he's going back to Kuwait today -- he's from Texas, he lives in Rome, he's teaching this year in Kuwait, what am I gonna do? -- so here I am again, ready to return to as close to normal as I've ever been.