Handfast (2006.12.26)
Xen and Emily are joined together. Christmas comes and Xen soon goes.

Nutcracking (2006.12.17)
Now, is this entry called that because I go to see a play? Because Emily tells me we don't make enough of birthdays? Or, possibly, because my new job pokes me again about my hair?

Alexiteric (2006.12.07)
Xen and Emily plan their wedding in analogies, because neither of them are canines.

Mutant Anemia (2006.11.30)
Xen is offered a job. And an apartment. And a wife...

Missed the Train to Mars (2006.11.19)
Xen is privileged. Emily misses her father. Xen goes to a party in the second person.

Caramel Covered Karma (2006.11.10)
Xen is a good citizen and won't shut up about it. Conor loses his keys, but not his head.

And To Think That I Saw It On Parrot Street (2006.11.03)
Xen and Emily fend off sexy serial killers. And some not so sexy ones, but we're not saying which is which. They also trick or treat and are given hot chocolate for their immaturity.

New York State of Mind (2006.10.28)
Emily gets stood up by freshmen, so we wander the streets. Xen interviews. And interviews. And interviews. Then a light lunch. And another interview.

Chthonic (2006.10.21)
Xen decides against being a zombie. Sarah calls up and out. Dives Dives plays holiness.

A Day of Two Carolyns (2006.10.14)
Xen meets two very different females sharing the same name. He also goes to a party and talks of sexing the dead. Emily cries over missed birthday wishes.

Muddy Streets (2006.10.07)
Xen and Emily attend a Pagan festival called [NAME REDACTED]. No, you can't come. Not yours.

Stranger in the Cave (2006.09.30)
Xen grows detached from fright while chastising teenagers for being detached from life.

Keepsake (2006.09.20)
Xen revisits the ghosts of his past a bit too literally. The orchard of Xen's youth sells out. Emily is hired to help the Bad New Bairds.

Unforgivable Curses (2006.09.10)
Dezi parties with zombies. Emily goes to NYU. Melissa and Stevehen hate tourists among the monks.

To Make Much of Time (2006.09.03)
Conor returns to the fold. Dan plays with a Virgin and there is much rejoicing.

Something Different (2006.08.27)
Xen serves chaos at a block party. He nervously reads at the Something Different Arts Festival in Poughkeepsie and it not murdered for his unhappy ending.

Vacation Morals (2006.08.20)
Xen returns to Lake George, as he has done since a glacier carved it, but finds it somehow different.

Every New Beginning (2006.08.12)
Summer Institute for the Gifted ends, leaving Xen unemployed. Keilaina and Dan B. leave, ne'er to return.

Losing Our Quest (2006.08.05)
Emily revisits the sets of her adolescence. Quest is put to sleep.

Is Real (2006.07.22)
Emily returns home from Israel. "Returns home" sounds better than "flees the country at the behest of the American Embassy for fear that Hezbollah will blow her up."

Term Limits (2006.07.12)
Kei and Dan B. are leaving for snowy climes, Melissa and Stevehen for Albany. Xen and Emily for no where in particular, but that is fine, too. Xen makes wee girls fly. Kevin of the Leather Pants is introduced.

Fifth of July (2006.07.05)
Xen watches a lot of fireworks and happens to actually see and pay attention to at least five. Xen begins his stead at the Summer Institute for the Gifted. Emily leaves for Israel.

Faith Value (2006.06.20)
Xen and Emily spend time at a nudist, Pagan, sylvan enclave. It takes about a month, though the calendar only changes a few days.

Gravid (2006.06.10)
Xen carries around too many people. Becky carries around one fewer now. Dave and Nikki get engaged.

Facing the Sunset (2006.06.01)
Stuart Shedletsky, 1944-2006

Stuart Shedletsky: A Retrospective (2006.05.25)
Emily and crew go to her father's art retrospective in a creepy city warehouse.

Lord Shaper (2006.05.19)
Bryan graduates from college. Xen contemplates shaping.

M5 (2006.05.14)
Xen and Emily have been together for five years and celebrate by going to a sex shop. Dan B is not a potato.

Duck, Duck, YOU'RE ON FIRE! (2006.05.03)
Only Emily can prevent forest fires. Fate is a cruel bastard. Emily's fathers mind is going.

And Though I Walk In the Shadow (2006.04.24)
Xen could love Warwick, tolerate the city, but is at home in Wappingers Falls. Emily chases a rooster and fears of her father's mortality. Eggs are hunted with GPS.

Lest Ye Be Judged (2006.04.13)
Xen plans a life based on transexual person, more or less. He doesn't like very many people and feels somewhat sad for that, as long as he missed out on the good souls and not twits with video cameras.

Harlequin Ichthyosis (2006.04.02)
Xen gets a new job that is not teaching. Dan B revels in some weird conditions. Stevehen pees in a bottle.

Karma Police (2006.03.24)
Xen and Emily have a city day, eat much karma, and visit Westchester to lunch on angst.

Measuring in Weeks (2006.03.11)
Emily's father won't see fall again.

Xen Debris (2006.03.02)
Xen goes to the Zen Debris show, which is not to say that he actually sees any of it. His view is hidden behind sixteen-year-old saxophonists and fifty-year-olds bearing camcorders. Xen muses about premature enlightenment.

Beyond the Rainbow (2006.02.25)
Xen and Emily goes to Dives Dives's show. Dives Dives is amazing, as always, but it makes Emily suspect that Xen lusts with his mind.

Murgh Tikka Sagwallah (2006.02.18)
Even people in the ghetto have to look down on someone. Dan and Ann break up, if they were ever together. Xen is a side of beef but, what, in a bad way? He dreams well though.

leaves of grass with pens and brushes in hand (2006.02.10)
Dives Dives plays the Cubbyhole and Dan feels stagnant. Emily won't marry Xen near a waterfall. Sarah calls.

Circle Jerk (2006.02.03)
So much depends on the location of your parents' home, though it is easy to escape just by wishing it and looking to the horizon. Xen is brave in a circle, but not nearly so much as Emily.

Flax (2006.01.26)
Xen is taken off a sub list because a girl makes up a ridiculous lie. He also loses a few ounces of hair.

Petrified and Weighted (2006.01.19)
Apparently the student loan company would actually like their money back somewhere in the neighborhood of right the fuck now. This doesn't mean that Xen has the slightest problem with Emily, however.

Subsonic Crickets (2006.01.11)
Xen watches trees burn on a full stomach, but is told he could make more money flipping burgers. Dan and Ann play their funky music, white boy. Lay down the boogey and play that funky music 'till you die.

Circle of Friends (2006.01.04)
Xen and Emily spend New Year's Eve alone, which thrusts Xen into morbid contemplation.

Thomm Quackenbush is an author and teacher in the Hudson Valley. He has published four novels in his Night's Dream series (We Shadows, Danse Macabre, Artificial Gods, and Flies to Wanton Boys). He has sold jewelry in Victorian England, confused children as a mad scientist, filed away more books than anyone has ever read, and tried to inspire the learning disabled and gifted. He is capable of crossing one eye, raising one eyebrow, and once accidentally groped a ghost. When not writing, he can be found biking, hiking the Adirondacks, grazing on snacks at art openings, and keeping a straight face when listening to people tell him they are in touch with 164 species of interstellar beings. He likes when you comment.