New Musings

It’s long and dense and has been rewritten so many times that I lost count. That doesn’t mean “Thinking aloud” is ready for flight. The case came down to no more thought to spare. Treating three topics immensely important to me but possibly no one else, I wrote to purge a swirl that had become a creative block. I could neither let go of nor successfully talk out the confusion, so I typed.

The three topics are my name, my psychological diagnoses (yes, plural), and what I thought I was doing with the four books I call the Habdvarsha artifacts. That third topic is the final, longest part of the column, and may or may not adequately answer those who have asked straight out what on earth these books are supposed to be. The final paragraphs probably hold more general interest that any of the rest.

To spare you a long wade, the column wraps by explaining that a year from now (more or less, and barring the unexpected):

• all Stikmantica print titles will go out of print,
• Stikmantica will cease activity except as an ebook imprint for my more conventional narrative fiction,
• I’ll take down the websites,
• I’ll take myself back to the underground I probably never should have left.

I could do these things now, but a year gives a grace period to come to terms with disappointment, and to grieve. Over the year I’ll continue to make updates when (if) there is news to share. I’ll also likely knock out a few more Musings columns.

The current piece offers the last words I intend to write on the covered topics. Enough is enough. Time now to talk of shoes and ships and sealing wax. Don’t ask what I think of kings.

-Robert Stikmanz