Steve writes (at http://www.dreamcafe.com/books.html): "I think at a certain point, every writer has to ask himself why he writes, and what he's hoping to do. I wrote this one to answer that question and to explore other questions about art that had been troubling me. I have mixed feelings about it--I think I did all right with it, but it is too personal to have a very wide appeal. Still, I'm glad I wrote it, and I'm always pleased to run into people who like it." It's been a long time since I managed to read a whole novel in a single day. With two kids, a house, work, wife, etc. it's hard to get that much time to myself in one 24 hour period. Today, I came down with a fever that my older daughter had last week and so my wife took off with the girls to church, etc. and left me alone for the day. She hates it when Im sick and finds it easier just to not be around. In any case I'd picked up tStM&tS in trade paper a month or so ago and in celebration of the completion of Dzur, I decided to read it today. It's quite good, exploring the process of creation of art making it all kinds of self referential, which always appeals to me. C.