UPDATE FROM AN EVOLVING PANDEMIC

The important thing is not to fool yourself into thinking that things are returning to normal. What was normal? Did it ever exist? Can it come back? All important questions these days. Or should it be daze?

Still somewhat quarantined. But no one seems to know exactly what that means.

I'm back to work at my regular part-time schedule, but it's far from normal. All of us have to wear masks. No customers—er, sorry, patrons are allowed in the library. All the business is curbside. They request books online, we gather them up, then the patron (patrón?) comes in, calls on a special line to have the books, or DVDs, or CDs brought out in plastic bag by a masked employee.

Surreal? Sci-fi? Do we have a new word? All the old ones are seeming like clichés.

Behold, the new clichés!

On the home front, Emily continues to collect unemployment and proceed with her home improvement frenzy, uncovering strange artifacts, and even old artwork by yours truly. It's actually looking pretty good. Damnear civilized. The decay, chaos, and entropy have been knocked back for a while.

There's plenty of that stuff piling up in the outside world, clogging the streets, the news media, evolving into strange new realities. Upheaval. Revolution. Mutation. Hang on, kids, you ain't seen nothing yet . . .

There are interesting developments in the witches brew.

While I was sheltering at home, trying to finish my novel, Zyx, Or; Bring Me the Brain of Victor Theremin, my career has come back to life, taken off, dragging me off into the future. Editors and publishers have gotten back to me. Pending projects that have been in limbo are gonna happen. New opportunities come a-knocking on my electronic doors. Watch for more news. Soon.

Despite what people say about it messing up everything, I've got to admit that the social media has been very good to me. A creative weirdo needs to seek out and connect with, and sometimes create, an audience. And don't depend on gigantic corporations to do it for you.

What I recommend is to put on a mask—the pandemic is far from over, keep socially distant, and keep your eyes and ears open. It's raining bizarreness out there, so go and soak it up.

That's where the ideas come from. Take the jagged fragments of a shattered world, and reassemble them into something you want to live in.

We're seeing a collapse happening. A lot of people are going to sink into depression. Others are going to take advantage, and knock things in the direction of their choice. That's what I recommend.

No matter what happens, the new world—or should that be new worlds?--is going to be interesting. There's plenty of debris providing funky raw materials--new archaeology to build a new renaissance. Why not?

Guess I better get back to work . . .