With my new novel, American Marchlands, finished (well, as finished as these things ever are; which only means, really, that I’ve surrendered it to the Powers That Be and am now, anxiously, awaiting Word from On High—hopefully I’ll have some official news I can release soon but, for the time being, I will say my love affair with France continues. And deepens!), I’ve begun work on something new.

Right up front, this entails a lot of inactivity. This means wool-gathering, staring out the window,...