“ODYSSEUS’S SCAR”: YOUR OWN PERSONAL JUDAS. (Someone to hear your prayers. Someone who cares.) …Anyway, here’s the final section of the last story I will post until the New Year!

And it’s totally lame. Lots of stuff happens, the plot gets slightly out of my hands, and our characters descend into soap opera. Um, right, the story is about spies. And stuff. I do think it can be made good–perhaps even very good–but right now… lame. For one thing, it’s too short, hence the soapy quality as all the plottiness crashes in toward the end. But please, if you have any other comments, let me know, so I can make this story Be All It Can Be, Get an Edge on Life, etc. There are a lot of elements here I find unsatisfying.

Here for story from the beginning; here for final section.

Not sure what, if anything, I’ll post by way of fiction for the rest of the month. On November 1 I will start revising the… let me go count… 17 (!!! I rock!!!) rough drafts I’ve got. While I’m revising, I’ll be doing a super fun, super weird writing exercise, and posting the results at least once a week; so there will still be fictionality here, but it will be very short and very bizarre. Next year, while I’m sending out the fixed-up stories, I’ll get started on the… let me go count!… nine-plus story ideas I’ve already got very close to the drafting point. In the New Year, expect class-reunion hijinks, hurricanes, deep romantic love, memory problems, fantasy of manners, The Zombie Survival Guide, and much much more!