Spent a busy weekend working on the latest episodes of Assam & Darjeeling — which are now up and ready for listening at either iTunes or via RSS.

It was interesting last night to see little comments trickle in from listeners after they hit the big reveal in Book Four, Chapter Seven. Based on what I heard, it sounds like people were surprised but all of the little hints layered into the story so far added up. It felt good.

But I have to admit, it felt even better to see so many listeners jump on and subscribe to my newest audiobook podcast for Matters of Mortology (also available via iTunes and RSS). There was even a little mini-viral promo effort on Plurk, thanks to the kindness of people like Devyl.

Again, it felt very good.

A new episode of Assam & Darjeeling will show up later this week. And I’ll get the next block of chapters out there for Matters of Mortology sometime over the weekend. Lots of good stuff coming in both of these, writing that I’m very proud of.

In other news… Most of my writing right now is given over to the new project. It’s very early and there’s a lot of old notes and pre-draft materials to sort through, but it feels good and it’s coming together well. Since I’m in the first draft, everything is being written in longhand with the excellent fountain pen and orange ink that the Fusionary guys gave me.

I must be writing a fair amount, as the pen seems to be inexplicably empty every time I pick it up.

At this point, I’ve been spending most of my time in an airstream trailer in Texas — creatively, that is. There’s this guy Marshall and, although I don’t know much about him, I already like him a lot. I’m looking forward to getting him hooked up with Paul — who’s out there somewhere most likely banging a cocktail waitress, the bastard. I’ll be getting them on the road as soon as I can. They need to get to Vegas, because Mr. Smith is waiting for them.

After that, it’s off to Dublin for a few nights, so I can keep Trip from getting his ass handed to him.

Sorry. I’ll be bouncing around a lot on this one. There’s lots of people out there, getting connected. I’m very interested to see how they all come together in the course of the story — which I know frontwards and backwards, so it’s just about the people at this point.

At least, that’s what I’m telling myself right now. The gods may have other plans. They usually do.

Enough teasing, then. I have also had a fair amount of fun playing with this little novelty. I’m linking to what it did to the first chapter of Assam & Darjeeling, but you can click on the “create” button up at the top to make your own.

Now that I’ve burned through every available episode of The Riches — my new favorite addiction — I’m going back through Mad Men in preparation for the new season in July. I’d forgotten how much I enjoyed this show. Although I now know (thanks to the immortal Ken Jones) that it really wasn’t like that on Madison Avenue back in the 60’s. But it’s still a great show.

I’d check them both out, if you haven’t already — or, failing that, just sit down and watch this for a few hours. It’s hypnotic, kind of like methadone for the television addict.

I can quit any time, of course.