Is it appropriate to say happy new year? We’re only eleven days in and already surrounded by disaster. I hope your first eleven days has been disaster-free.

As you know, there are terrible fires in Los Angeles. One reader asked about this, so I thought the rest of you might be wondering. There are a couple of conversations in Stolen to Death (out now, in case you didn’t know) where Jamie and Pete both comment on the fire hazard of living in Mandeville Canyon. I’m cringing now because I don’t like being a prophet. The houses along Mandeville Canyon Road are under evacuation orders, and the fire trucks are on the road, preparing to defend the homes against the Palisades fire which is headed that way. Jim and Rhea Perkins and their neighbors, and St. Chad’s Monastery, have all been forced to find other shelter.

The next stop after Mandeville Canyon for the fire would be Brentwood. (Mandeville Canyon is in Brentwood, if you want to get technical.) The Angeles Investigations office is safe, since it’s in the lower section of Brentwood, but Ali and Mel’s house is in the potential danger zone.

I’ve been trying to find out whether the house I chose for Mike Day and his partner Austin is still standing, and I can’t. Obviously things are still in flux, and part of Pacific Palisades is still in some danger.

The air quality in parts of LA is terrible. As soon as the fires started, I’m sure that Jamie and Ammo headed for Oceanside, where Jamie is now working remotely from his dad’s house. He took Ammo so that Pete wouldn’t have to go outside as often. Pete has stayed to support the Dodgers employees. There are 500 non-player staff, and according to the Dodgers statement, some of them have lost their homes.

And then there’s Pasadena, which is directly south of Altadena, where thousands of homes have been destroyed. I don’t think Pasadena is in any danger of burning, but I believe there are power outages and drinking water restrictions in place. Rob and Aaron are probably staying at the apartment in Brentwood, and Jamilah and Anisha have probably gone to Jamilah’s parents in South Central, which is far away from the fires. I expect that Jamilah is working remotely, too.

I may be nuts, but I’m going to LA next week. I’ll be staying with a friend in Hawthorne, south of LAX, which is in no danger. I’m sure I’ll be breathing some smoke, but that’s no biggie for me. I’ve done it before…

In 1998, we lived through the Florida Firestorm. We had a wet winter, but then it quit raining in March. The fires started at Memorial Day and didn’t stop until mid-July, which is the first rain we’d had since March. My county is 1,000,000 acres; 200,000 of that burned. Twenty percent. The county just to the north of us, Flagler County, ordered the entire county to evacuate. I lived inland then, right across the street from an evacuation zone, and had flaming chunks of palmetto falling on my house and yard. Fortunately, none of the houses burned. Two years later, I moved to the beach, where there is no forest and we’re safe from wildfire.

I’d much rather deal with hurricanes. We can see them coming and get out of the way with days of warning, not minutes.

Anyway! I’m going to LA to look at locations for the next couple of books. We were going to take a drive up the Pacific Coast Highway; I doubt that’ll happen now. One of the locations is Oceanside; I’ll finally get to see the house I chose for Dave, almost 13 years ago. Can you believe it?

The next book takes place this past December, about three weeks before the fires started. It feels so strange, to be writing the book knowing what’s coming but having to ignore it because, in the book, it hasn’t happened yet.

Stuff like these fires is why I don’t publish before the book has “happened” in the Brodieverse.

Wherever you are, stay safe.