• The fatigue caused by the radiation treatments for cancer is slowly starting to dissipate. After supper yesterday, I was finally able to now a big stretch of non-yard grass on our property. I couldn’t have done that a couple of weeks ago. I have a checkup with the oncologist tomorrow–to talk about what, I don’t know. The hormone therapy continues at least into January. It makes it more difficult for the cancer to return. It also keeps us from running the only test that shows the status, if any, of the cancer cells since the hormones mess up (a medical term) the test.
• If you’re a fan of Native American Author N. Scott Momaday (who won a Pulitzer Prize in 1969 for his groundbreaking novel “House Made of Dawn,”) you might enjoy the documentary about him which is airing Monday night on PBS stations. Click here for more information.
• Even though my physical strength is returning, my muse has yet to reappear. I’m not working on anything except this blog and my website. My short story “Shock Treatment,” which appears in the Tulip Tree Publishing anthology Stories that Need to be Told was written before the cancer treatments began.
• I’ve added several more excerpts from my novels on my website. Stop by and see if you’re tempted.
• My wife and I are enjoying the third season of the Netflix series “The Crown.” Rather than ageing their actors as their characters grew older, the producers opted to start season three with a new cast. This was jarring and I wish they hadn’t done it. My wife said, “Well, I thought you’d be happy to see Helena Bonham Carter taking over the role of Princess Margaret.” She was right. I do like the actress and see her as a great match for the feisty, outspoken princess. The segment in which the princess meets the rough-and-tumble, profane President Johnson is wonderful and, I suspect, true.
• I have high hopes for author Erin Morgenstern’s new novel The Starless Sea. I’m wondering if it will live up to the creativity and wonder of The Night Circus, my favorite novel in 2012.  The novel sort of came out of nowhere like Susanna Clarke’s 2008 novel Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. This was my favorite novel that year. Her next novel, Piranesi, is due out next year. I’ll be waiting for it like a teenager waiting for the latest Harry Potter novel. So, The Starless Sea is on my Christmas list. I’m sure Santa will be obliging because he knows that–like Mary Poppins–I’m practically perfect in every way.
• Otherwise, I continue to promote my latest novel from Thomas-Jacob Publishing, Special Investigative Reporter. I debated coming out with a new release of this novel which was originally published under another name because it’s a departure from my recent magical realism novels and short stories set in the Florida Panhandle. It’s written in a film noir style (my favorite kind of film) about an investigative reporter who doesn’t fit into the current style of today’s journalism. Actually, I don’t either. That’s why I see my Jock Stewart protagonist as my alter ego.

So there it is, the stuff going on in my life. How about you? Are you reading some wonderful novels this weekend?

–Malcolm