Dear Readers,

The time has come for me to make a temporary change in this weekly forum. In order to focus more fully on completing my novel-in-progress before my hands give out, the nature of my posts will be shifting for a couple of months. Instead of the ruminations on life and death I have been posting, I will be sending out such things as a link to something interesting I’ve read recently, or a sneak peak at the new novel, or I might bring your attention to a quote or a word that fascinates me. I might even invite some “guests” to write in my place. (Contact me if you’re interested in writing a guest post!)  In short, you won’t be hearing so much about my condition and my thoughts about impending death, but I hope to entertain you—or provoke you—and string you along until I return to the narrative I’ve been following for the last twenty months or so. I haven’t counted, but I believe there must be over one hundred mini-essays posted here since my ALS diagnosis on Feb. 4, 2021.

I plan to return full force in January, possibly earlier if the writing goes well. In the meantime, in addition to working on my novel-in-progress, I will be doing all I can to support the two new novels of mine that were just published last month; I’ll be taking another guided psilocybin trip (you can expect to hear about that); I’ll be hosting my whole family for Thanksgiving—and meeting my new grandniece, Radley—as well as adjusting to whatever challenges ALS presents me with (send good thoughts for the strength of my hands!).

I’ll leave you today with a word I recently learned and which I’ve been obsessing over for the past few weeks:

AGATHOKAKOLOGICAL

I admit that it’s an intimidating word to look at, one you might never use in casual conversation, and it appears impossible to pronounce, but if you break it down a bit, it becomes fairly easy to say.

Agatho-kako-logical

The reason for my obsession, other than the fact that I am always obsessed with words I’ve never met, is its meaning. It means: composed of good and evil. I can’t think of a better word for describing the current moment, an inextricable helix of good and evil. I would love to use the word as the title for the novel I’m working on now, but I’m not sure the sight of that word on a book cover would lure the casual bookstore browser!

Speaking of luring readers. I hope you’ll check out the new novels, Unleashed and Livid. They both tell engaging, surprising stories. If you enjoy reading novels, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. And if you like them, please spread the word.

See you next week with something I hope surprises us both!

Happy Autumn,

Cai