So cool when a reviewer pays attention to K.C.'s (the protagonist's) description of his own gender identity, rather than leaping for one end or the other of the gender binary. The discussion is here.

"The power of sex is in its consuming nature, in how it narrows the vision, directs the attention, and succeeds in making you forget (if only for moments) the world beyond the interaction." --Tim Phin for Bookfrogger

This morning I found a few ground cherries that were still ripe, fresh, and tasty, but that had stayed on the ground just long enough for their papery coverings to have decomposed, leaving just the skeleton of the ribs that had supported the coverings. They were like little beads in individual cages. Makes me wish I were a silversmith.

Here's a pic that shows one with its covering intact:

These are due out November 2012. The art makes me astonishingly happy. Thank you, Mr. Gutierrez, for all your hard work. Thank you also to the Grand Central Publishing design team for the lovely cover designs. I like the hand-drawn look of the cover fonts, and the way that each font aims to evoke the concept of the book.

We were running out of pepper sauce, so I decided to make some. It was an experiment, but using pawpaw (papaya) and a bit of ripe banana as two of the ingredients resulted in a pleasant pepper sauce with two main flavours. The first is a mild sweetness that sashays up to you, Betty Boop style, and makes doe eyes at you. While you're still mesmerized by Teh Cuteness, the heat rabbit punches you, then runs away, giggling. It's a nice mix. I have a feeling it'd go well on grilled prawns, or on lamb chops.

On Monday night after I handed in a final pre copy-edit rewrite of my novel Sister Mine, I posted that I was about to celebrate by baking bread. I used a regular gluten-free bread mix to which I added a handful of raw oats and some whole caraway seeds. It was lovely. It came out chewy and dense with a crunchy, slightly sweet crust. Pic;

Fastest turnaround ever! My editor at Grand Central read Sister Mine overnight, likes the changes, gave it final approval, and has sent it for copy editing.

Meanwhile, award-winning actor/narrator Robin Miles called me yesterday to check some pronunciations. The recording of the audio book of Midnight Robber is moving along well. So it looks as though there'll be an audiobook available when the dead tree version is re-released next year.

I'm within paragraphs of completing a pre-copyedit rewrite of Sister Mine. My editor at Grand Central was correct; there was only a bit more to be done, and it was much quicker this time around. She also made some good, clear suggestions that helped me work through a few plot threads that had been making me crazy. This near to the end of a big piece of writing is when I become paranoid that my computer could crash and take all that work with it. So I'm taking a break to back up and to stretch my legs before getting back to it. Plan is to hand it in to her tonight, so that tomorrow I can begin working on lesson plans, etc. for my classes when I return to UCR next month. And so that I can get back to working on novel-in-progress Blackheart Man.

EDITED TO ADD:

Rewrite done and submitted. Now I'm going to bake bread.

My editor wants me to do one more rewrite pass of Sister Mine before she sends it on to the copy editor. She says it's not much. Onwards!

Breakfast; enoki mushrooms, white asparagus, soft tofu, grated ginger, crushed garlic and black cumin seeds stir-fried in butter and olive oil, then topped with sprigs of parsley.

Yesterday I made gluten-free bagels from this recipe. Because I'll only be here in Toronto for a few more weeks, I used Bob's Red Mill brand gluten-free flour instead of buying all the various flours to make the blend in the recipe. They turned out pretty well. I made one each of poppyseed, cumin, sesame seed and coarse salt;

They were dense and chewy and altogether lovely. I found that the sugar in the boiling water made them too sweet for my liking. Next time, I'll halve it or omit it completely. I also found them mealy when re-heated, but that may well be because I was using a substitute flour blend. Gluten-free flour mixes are very specific to what you're making with them. I find that the best thing is to keep a range of the most common starches, meals, flours and thickeners on hand so that you can make the particular blend you require as needed. In any case, I was happy with yesterday's experiment. It'd been a long time since I'd had bagels. I ate almost two of these with butter, and was quite content.

Today's quickie breakfast: halve and pit a perfectly ripe avocado; squeeze on the juice of half a lime; add a couple of dashes of pepper sauce, some fresh-grated ginger, a sprinkle of salt, and some diced garlic. Nom.

This morning I also made a diy version of Nutella; I mixed hazelnut butter with cocoa powder, cashew cream and a bit of agave syrup. I make no claim that it's any healthier than Nutella, but at least it's lactose-free and less sweet. Great spread on rice crackers or rice cakes.