Yes, I have been away from this website for a while. Sometimes life gets cluttered. Other times, however, it gets painful. I lost my mother and, though she had lived long and well, her passing was difficult and losing her hurt quite a lot. Ironically, at the same time I was giving birth -- to a book. A great part of my sadness is that she will never see it.

But my readers will. That was always a given. The God Spear is being published on schedule, April 16. (Originally I was told it would be pu...