Of what are we newly possessed?

Dispossession.

I told you this was coming. Now it's here. Follow that link to read the opening for free. The section's called Philoxenia: which may be translated as "love of the stranger", which is appropriate, as it opens with a man married to a woman he cannot remember; it may also be translated as "hospitality", which is outrageous, as it opens in a hospital. (I tell you these things as a temptation. In the cafe this morning, people were telling stories about co-workers complaining when they used five-dollar words. To which the only reply, apparently, is "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be condescending" - which of course drew the inevitable response, "You see? See? He did it again!")

If you don't need or want to read the opening online, you can simply buy the book, in mobi or epub format, right here.

Oh, and by the way, here's the cover, courtesy of m'friend'n'webmistress shewhomust:



Luke hates to fly, but when he must, the air will bear him up.

Today's challenge

Lay hold of your stout sharp kitchen knife, and - without letting go of the knife, or in any sense losing control of it - cut the thumb of the hand that holds the knife. On that same knife, yes.

It isn't easy, but it can be done.

It makes breaking eggs after kind of painful.

Ahem...

It blushes me even to mention, but my LJ friend brotherguy has just said some really nice things about my books Bridge of Dreams and River of the World, over on his blog. I didn't know he even read me. He's the Pope's astronomer, for cryin' out loud, and I'm just this fictioneer...

Anyway. Pop over there, to see what he says. Then you could pop over here, to the books' own website (the two books have a semi-secret series title, Selling Water by the River, for reasons that might seem clear on page one, but are actually maybe a little more complex than that).