After an absence of over a month, my website is finally up and running again. This is the second time that Easy CGI has disabled my website based on their allegations that it was tainted by malware. I don’t begrudge Easy CGI’s right to guard against the various infections that infest the Internet (pardon my alliteration), but I do resent the fact that each time they took down my site, they basically did little or nothing to help get it back online. This time, I’ve decided to address the issue by moving to an altogether new web host. Hopefully, I won’t have the same problems that I had with my prevous host.
I’m continuing to work on City Of Witches and have close to 20,000 words. In connection with this novel, I’m also doing research by reading various books about the Italian Renaissance. The period has interested me ever since I read biographies of Machiavelli and Savonarola about ten years ago. One particularly fascinating aspect of the Renaissance from my perspective (being a big military history fan) is that this era marks the beginnings of what eventually evolved into modern armies based on massed infantry, as opposed to the “medieval” model of armored, mounted men-at-arms as the principal force. One book I’m particularly enjoying at the moment is Lords Of Italy by Orville Prescott. It’s not a new book; in fact, it’s over forty years old, but the material doesn’t date and Mr. Prescott writes in a very lively, engaging manner (he was chief book reviewer for The New York Times for many years). He has excellent subject matter too. Italy in the bad old days may have been racked by war, disease, and poverty, but it still excelled in producing large numbers of colorful, bloodthirsty psychopaths. Used copies can be had quite cheaply on Amazon.
(Note how the horse’s livery matches the rider’s, a typical classy Renaissance touch.)
So He Went To The Fortune Teller is the title of my newest short story. It’s about a hedge fund manager who figures he’s finally got the ultimate source of inside information when his girlfriend hips him to a old Greek woman who tells fortunes by asking questions of Plouton, Lord of the Dead. I won’t toss out any spoilers, but wish me luck in getting it published.
That’s all I have for now. Hopefully this finds you all well or at least not bummed. I’ll post more frequently now that the website’s functioning again.