Good Afternoon from Vienna.

I should start out by saying thank you for opening this up. If you did, it means that you're not yet completely immune to the hysteria gripping much of the world that goes by the name of Corona. 

Here in Vienna, we had our first case last week, and then the police came out to lock down a school until one of the teachers could be tested. After that we were urged not to "overreact," to take precautions, and to try to go about our business as much as possible.

Now, sitting at home with a twelve-year-old fighting the flu (we think), we spend some time contemplating whether or not we should go get him tested, knowing fully well that if we do, his sickness will probably turn out to be the flu, will probably be over by Tuesday, and in the meantime our entire apartment building will be under forced quarantine.

Not by the police. They've stopped doing that.

Recently I spent some time in Vienna's beautiful Central Cemetery (it's what the Viennese do when contemplating death), where I took this photo:                        

Greetings From Vienna

Somebody Made Me a T-Shirt

Thankfulness. My man Emmett Wright, of Emmett Wrights Diaries, poet, prosist, and all-round great supporter and friend, made me a T-Shirt.

I'd never really thought about merch. I thought maybe someday I might get some books published and earn enough money to have a monk craft one of those 13th-century books on vellum, but I never thought about T-Shirts.

It's not for sale BTW.  But maybe, just maybe, someday:

New Blood Quote

Somebody Asked to Be in a Book

One of the most flattering things happened recently. One of my followers on Facebook asked me if he could be in one of my books.

When you are a writer--at least if you're this writer--you spend most of your writing time doing one of three things: writing, thinking you should be writing instead of things like work or bathing, and wondering whether or not you suck.

When someone hits you up with a "you can do it," it means a lot. When someone sends you a pic of a T-Shirt they designed online, with quotes from your published book, it warms you up.

And when somebody says "Hey man, I want to be in one of your books," you kind of just think "Why would he want to do that? It's not really very good."  Then you think "Wow, this is amazing. This guys wants to be in MY book."

So I am going to do it. I won't mention him by name, just yet (I have to figure out whether I need him to sign a disclaimer beforehand), but these are the things that cancel out the demons in the middle of the night that tell you that maybe you should just go back to school.                        

Relaunch April 8th

Stay Safe and Wash Your Hands

Last thing: even though it may not sound like I take this whole black plague thing seriously, I do. More sickness could possibly equate with less readers, and that just isn't good for anybody.

So stay safe, wash your hands, and feel free to join in on the conversation.

Take Care
Shane