Well, not entirely. I’m back from my vacation and still in the afterglow of the great weather, friends, family and relaxation (not to mention Tim Horton’s coffee!) I enjoyed in Canada. I’m also an avowed political junkie and so eye-deep in the Democratic Convention tonight with Kerry, Clinton and Biden speaking.

The weather has been brilliant this week here in Ontario, Canada and I’ve been out doing my best to enjoy it. On Monday I was in Toronto and met a few of the S&S Canada people, Nicole, my publicist, Rob, the national accounts manager and Janice the regional manager. Chris of Bakka-Phoneix on Queen Street was also there then we all went back to the store where I met Ben and had a chance to look around. They have a huge selection of SFF in a very cool section of Toronto. If you’re ever there it’s worth a long look. They really know their stuff. I found out they are one of the reporting stores for Locus.

I really didn’t think I’d be that interested this time around, but once I tune in for a quick look I’m quickly amazed by the athleticism and courage of so many of the athletes. The underdog stories are always the best. Got me wondering if anything of the sort has been done in a fantasy context? I haven’t read everything out there in SF&F so it’s quite possible I missed it, but I’d be curious to hear if any writer has incorporated anything like the Olympics in their series.

The weather has been spectacular today. I hit the park around 8ish this morning and put in 5 miles. The breezes were incredible. What a change from just a few weeks ago. It was one of those mornings when you feel like you could run another 50 miles, even if your body is telling your brain “yeah, buddy, you just have to sit their while we do all the work.”

The writing goes well for The Light of Burning Shadows. I typically don’t write the beginning of anything I do until I have the conclusion firmly in my mind. Now that it’s come into focus the start of the book is beginning to gel. I think I’ve even settled on the epigraph, though I’ll hold off on a final decision until I’ve lived with it for a few weeks. For the longest time I was set on a TE Lawrence quote, but now I’m leaning a different way, definitely darker, but also more poetic (which is saying something when comparing to Lawrence). I’ll be curious to see if Americans are familiar with it.

What a night! The Police were, and are, amazing. The concert was brilliant. Even the opening act, The B-52s, put on a great show. Hearing Rock Lobster live was a real treat.

One of many highlights was the NYPD Drum Band that came on stage to play back-up on Message in a Bottle. The place went nuts. You could see the cops actually singing along as they played.

They opened with Cream’s Sunshine of Your Love and later in the show played Jimi Hendrix’s Purple Haze. The crowd, around 19,000 they said, sang along song after song. I know my voice is still hoarse today.

Almost all the major hits were played, although Synchronicity II didn’t make it into the play list. Roxanne, King of Pain, So Lonely, De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da, Everything Little Thing She Does is Magic (Sting’s daughters came on stage and danced during it,) Voices, Don’t Stand So Close To Me, Demolition Man, Walking on the Moon and more. It was the greatest of greatest hit packages live.

The show finished, literally, with the fat lady singing as they brought out a roadie dressed as a big opera singer followed by Porky Pig’s ‘That’s All Folks.” Sadly, it does seem that this will be their last show as a group, but I hold out hope they might yet be tempted to regroup at some point for another tour.

You can see some photos of the concert here:
The Police

In book news, the cover design for The Light of Burning Shadows has begun. Several ideas are being talked about so it’s still a bit early to know what the final image will be, but if it’s as strong as A Darkness Forged in Fire I’ll be very happy.