Haven’t been near a computer the past couple of days. I’ve been busy proofreading the copyedited manuscript for “Stone and Anvil,” the next New Frontier hardcover. It’ll be shipping in October/November of this year, and will be a direct follow-up to the long-awaited “Gods Above.” “Gods Above” wraps up the cliffhanger that “New Frontier” fans have been hung up on for some time now.

I turned the CE MS in to John Ordover today, so hopefully we’re on target for the pub date.

PAD

Although the contracts haven’t been signed yet, I have a deal with Del Rey paperbacks to write the novelization of Spider-Man II. The movie will be out in May, I believe, which puts the paperback release at sometime in April.

The novelization for the first Spider-Man film is probably one of the best selling books I’ve ever written, with somewhere around a quarter of a millioin copies sold.

PAD

Well, breathe a sigh of relief: She’s well on her way to recovery.

The swelling has gone down on the area of her flank where she was bitten. The wound crusted, then the crust fell off to reveal a small hole no longer inflamed. Bleeding and oozing has completely ceased. Even more important, she’s acting more like her old self, even repeatedly going to the door and asking to be let out (which I’m not going to do until she’s done with the antibiotic and the shaved area has grown back in).

PAD

Among some of the sillier comments the politics threads have spawned (What could I possibly know because I’m “only” a comic book writer. And George W. Bush is only a failed businessman and Ronald Reagan was only an actor and Harry Truman was only some haberdasher, because one aspect of someone’s life completely dictates all other aspects, right?) there was a fairly reasonable question as to my news sources.

It’s eclectic. I read Newsday, the NY Daily News, Time, Newsweek, watch CNN, the Daily Show. But the one I’ve come to find the most informative is a magazine called “The Week.” Quite simply, it’s a weekly news magazine that beautifully sums up everything of major importance that’s gone on in the previous week, presenting viewpoints from all sides in brisk, even-handed fashion. I strongly recommend subscribing to it if your local newsstand doesn’t carry it.

PAD

If you have a newsstand that carries “The Wall Street Journal,” hie over there to read the page one article (yes, page one) about Harlan’s endeavors against AOL and his Kick Internet Piracy Crusade. After which I suggest you bop over to www.harlanellison.com and click on the icon that will tell you how to contribute to his endeavors. If you felt any anger over the kind of mindset that had no problem stealing the latest “Harry Potter” novel and posting it on the net, then you’ll want to support this cause.

PAD

For those who still don’t understand why the Iraqis are shooting at us, and base all their support of Bush’s policies on the Ends-Justifies-the-Means philosophy (Saddam was bad, therefore what we did was good), and don’t comprehend why the world doesn’t love us, I offer the following recollection:

I spent several weeks of my life in Romania in connection with some movies I wrote that were filmed there. And whenever I went anywhere with whatever Romanian guide was assigned to me, the guide would always bring up Ceausescu. Ceausescu was the Romanian dictator from the mid-60s through to the late 80s, finally overthrown by his people in fierce battle in 1989 and subsequently executed. Wherever we would go, guides would say, “And this was a palace Ceausescu was building before we overthrew him.” “And this was where Ceausescu’s favorites were housed before we overthrew him.” The fact that they had taken charge of their lives and tossed out a parasite–a parasite the U.S. had supported until the mid 1980s, by the way–was a source of great national pride.

The Iraqis have no national pride. They’re the United States’ bìŧçh. To seize control of your destiny engenders pride. To have someone do it for you and then not leave causes frustration, self-loathing, and anger directed at your intended liberators. And outside of the country, it’s seen as presumptuous and arrogant.

Get it now?

PAD

Although she’s emerging more regularly, Pandora still seems to like spending time in the cat carrier (now renamed Pandora’s Box.) Her haunches are protected that way. Our regular vet thinks it was another cat who attacked her and only managed to get one fang into her. The problem is that fluid is building underneath the wound and it’s not draining properly. If fluid continues to leak, I’ll have to bring her in on Thursday and he’ll sedate her and essentially put another hole lower down in the wound so that the fluid will be able to get out of there.

PAD