Down to the wire

I'm in the final trimming stages of The Magistrates of Hell, and extremely pleased with it. It often happens that as I'm finishing a project, some final piece of research will turn up that adds something vital to the story - in this case, last week I acquired a book called The Phantom Caravan, the memoirs of a fellow who was in the British Foreign Office only a decade or so after James Asher would have been... and who served in Peking, which is where Magistrates takes place. FINALLY, I was able to get descriptions of what the city looked like THEN, plus a wealth of little details about England and the foreign service.

I love it when things like this turn up. The ms goes in this week - after which I hope I'll be able to take the time to pull together a couple more short stories.

It's autumnal and pleasant here, and there is the second round of exams to grade. WAY too much to do.