First, good news: Publishers Weekly this week has a review of Hart & Boot & Other Stories, which is pretty favorable. Hell, it's short, I'll just quote it:

Hart & Boot & Other Stories

Tim Pratt. Night Shade (www.nightshadebooks.com), $14.95 paper (209p) ISBN 978-1-59780-053-2

A simple theme unites the 13 stories in this solid collection from Pratt (The Strange Adventures of Rangergirl): extraordinary things can happen to ordinary people. In the title story, a western, Pearl meets—or perhaps creates from nothing—a man she names John Boot, who proves to be her salvation. In "Impossible Dreams," a videophile repeatedly returns to a mysteriously appearing video store from an alternate reality. In "Bottom Feeding," Graydon, mourning the death of his brother, conquers a giant catfish that has magical properties. Elements from Greek myth play important roles in such tales as "Terrible Ones," in which an actress finds herself followed by a Chorus and sought out by the Furies, and "Living with the Harpy," about a woman who gives up her harpy roommate for love. Pratt's straightforward style, ordinary Joe protagonists and often hackneyed plots render his bizarre landscapes all the more plausible and the emotional connections all the more wrenching. (Mar.)

Claude Lalumière sent me a link to his review of Rangergirl, which is quite nice. He wrote a good review of Heather's story "Single White Farmhouse," too.

Now the bad:

I have a fever of 102 (.4, if you want to get specific). Not quite in Sylvia Plath territory yet. I thought it was just freezing in the bedroom when I woke up, then Heather exclaimed when she touched me, so we took my temperature. Doctor has been called, appointment made (for annoyingly late in the afternoon), work called. I hate being sick on Mondays. Stuff always piles up over the weekend, and it only gets more piled by Tuesday. My boss was just telling us last week all we should get flu shots. Guess he was right. Hope it's just the flu and not something bacterial. Started feeling sick late Saturday night, and sorta dragassed around on Sunday, but with painkiller I didn't feel too bad. Let's hope this is the low point and it'll all improve from here.

I took something to break the fever, which should relieve the sensation that my sinuses are full of molten liquid. Doubt I'll be online much since sitting at my desk makes my body hurt.

Good weekend otherwise, though. Got my story "Artifice and Intelligence" revised and mailed off. Good writing group meeting on Saturday afternoon. Heather worked a bunch yesterday and finished the draft of a short story, which I read, and think is one of her best yet. Hurray!

Okay, off to the couch with my tea and tissues. I knew there was a reason I was Tivo'ing all those old episodes of CSI