Kage Baker will never leave my life. Mostly, this is a good thing, but … some days are still bad, and the last couple have been very hard. I spent two hours last night going through the rental videos on Amazon, morbidly noting which ones had been her favourites and are only now available on a home computer.  A major case of grieving funk.

But good things are happening too! Kage’s audio books are finally achieving some real speed. Just got the contracts for two more,  The Empress of Mars and House of the Stag. I don’t know when they will be available, but it should be soon. Watch this space for news!

Other than that, it is an uninspiring day. The clouds are rolling in, it’s getting steadily colder – snow is actually a possibility in low-lying areas like San Francisco and Burbank, and the rest of us will get very cold rain. It’s a dim, lead-coloured day here in Los Angeles. My car is in the shop with suddenly-shrieking brakes; mercifully being repaired, but it means I am housebound. All my favourite webcams show nothing but rain, mist and clouds – except the pier in Pismo Beach, where the railing apparently fell off the pier and the waves are presently obscured by great hulking piles of construction materials.

Oh, and Avalon, where evidently the coming storm has violated some municipal ordinance for weather in tropical paradises: the camera on  Crescent Avenue is showing a scene from 4 days ago, in bright and improbable sunlight. Time runs funny on Catalina Island. Kage always said it was because the Company base there was built by the low-bid contractor, and the insulation leaks.

***DISCONTINUITY***

Back from the mechanic; the brakes work again and the Pirate Pearl is full of clean oil. Which is leaking – only slow, only a little, but it is … so the first audio book payment will be poured right back into the car.  As everyone knows, cars have sensors that register the arrival of tax refunds, publishing fees and royalties. But I rejoice I can do this! Kage bought the car for me, and she is still paying for the maintenance. Time slips can be our friends.

And now I am going to turn off the little of my brain that is working, and curl up on the couch with a parrot, a horror novel, and a box of Thin Mint cookies. I wish you all something at least as nice.