Life’s Been… And a New Story, Too!
Persphone: One of Jim’s Caregivers
Since the beginning of July, my ultra-quiet, writing-focused life has had more than a few disruptions.
I’ll spare you the ups and downs of sick pets, temperatures of over 105 that started cooking the garden, and the advent of squash bugs. Instead, I’ll focus in on the event that was the straw that nearly broke this camel’s back.
On Monday, July 6, Jim went into the hospital to be treated for a severe urinary tract infection complicated by extremely low sodium.
It’s never great to have one’s partner in the hospital but, because of restrictions due to Covid-19, I couldn’t go into the Urgent Care clinic with him. I’d taken him the previous Sunday, when he started feeling unwell, and since he was running a fever, even he couldn’t go in. On Monday, when he went back, he wasn’t running a fever… Then.
(Yes, he’s been tested for Covid-19, and came up negative. That pretty much means that, as of that testing, I was negative, too.)
We didn’t learn until Tuesday that I could visit him at the hospital. Visitors were restricted to one per day. Not one at a time. One per day. New Mexico has been very careful, and I am grateful for this.
Anyhow, Jim came home on Wednesday, mid-afternoon. He’s not well, but he’s getting better. However, for now, I’m without someone to run the errands at a time where there are more errands to be run. This has a ripple effect down the line, up to and including hitting my immersing myself into polishing the manuscript of SK4, the yet-untitled fourth book in the Star Kingdom series I’m writing with David Weber. Not only do I have less time, I’m really, really wrung out.
The situation would be worse, but I had fantastic support from various friends who helped with getting Roary the kitten to the vet for his booster shots, picking up groceries, delivering packages to the post office, and suchlike.
On a more cheerful note, I have a new short story out! “The Problem with Magic Rings” appears in DreamForge, issue 6. It features the same characters as in “A Familiar’s Predicament,” which was featured in the anthology Sword and Sorceress 33 back in 2018.
Although the illustration makes “The Problem With Magic Rings” look like a kid’s story, it has more in common with adventure tales and sword and sorcery, such as Fritz Leiber’s stories about Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser, where a sprinkling of the outrageous enlivens clashing swords and creative spells. The narrator is a very tiny dragon…
You can learn more about subscribing to DreamForge here. They’ve just revised the website, so you can see what else is featured in issue six, as well as in prior issues.
Enjoy!
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