Reading: Armageddon In Retrospect by Kurt Vonnegut
Music: Greg Brown
TV/Movie: Journey To the Center of the Earth
Link o' the Day: Kristine Kathryn Ruschs's Freelance Survival Guide: Job Descriptions



Usually the mail arrives in neat envelopes, bundles, scrolls, and whatnot. The operative word being neat. One of this week's arrivals arrived crumpled up and without an envelope. At a guess, I'd say the note is written on business stationery with the head trimmed off. It reads...

Dear Lord Jim,

Your pale associate swears she can deliver this letter to whatever bolthole you're currently hiding in. In my twenty-plus years of practicing law, I have never once advised a client thusly, but my most ardent advice to you is this..._run_!

Convert some of your gold to cash and get yourself out of the country straight away. Go by sea, if possible, or overland on foot to avoid customs stations. Find a country of _lax law_ with no extradition treaties with the US and then _lay low_. Not all of your enemies are bound by international law. Change your name. Change your appearance. Acquire an accent and new background. Lose the tweed suits and bushy mustache. Trim your eyebrows and adopt a hairless beachcomber look. Whatever. Just get the hell out of Dodge, you get me?

Don't bother with addressing my fee. Some things are more important than money. Do not try to contact me again as this note also signals the dissolving of our relationship. Nothing personal, but I have a family and other people who love me. I cannot be confident of the same in regards to yourself.

Those were exciting days in May, on the Black Sea, then on to Tangiers. But that's all in the past. Take the money and run.

And good luck.

--C.

P.S. It should go without saying that I would appreciate you destroying this letter immediately.

Each week I receive a folded letter on rag paper printed with crimson ink. I cannot prove that this wee's mysterious note is at all related to the above letter, but the way the mail bag operates...it wouldn't surprise me. The plot thickens.

Dear Sirs,

In case you were not aware, one of our number has absconded with a significant portion of our monetary resources. We are currently on the hunt and, for the moment, will be unable to respond to any signals you might send. This is pretty embarassing for us, but we beg your patience in this matter as we round up the scoundrel and set matters aright.

Watch for our candle. When it reappears in the tower window, you will know we have been successful and once again take up our charge in awaiting your signal.

(unsigned)

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I could use one more day this week. Not because I'm running behind, but more because I'm not ahead as much as I normally like. I'm looking forward to spending the day at Sarge's Comics tomorrow in New London, but I could use some of that time on work. Maybe I'll bring the laptop.



The Monsters book got held up briefly in production due to a technical issue on the part of the authors. No biggie. They've sent me some additional material to make it up and it should hit the press by next week. I think the additions add a lot to the book which was already pretty cool to begin with. If you're a fan of the old Universal monster movies, you'll get a kick out of this book. When it actually hits the press, I'll mention it again and include an order link.


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Today's link takes you this week's installment of Kristine Kathryn Rushs's Freelance Survival Guide. This week's topic is Job Descriptions. How we define our job as freelancers. What we sell. And so forth. Give it a read.

Good stuff.

Cheers!