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Archives: What's Been New on the Misenchanted Page

Last entry: July 4, 2000. Reformatted & introduction edited December 13, 2007. This is Version 2.5 of this Archive, which once augmented a "What's New" page.

Introduction:

This page was done in log format, with the newest entries at the top, the oldest at the bottom. It was intended to keep visitors up to date on any significant changes to the Misenchanted Page. First-time visitors might do well to skip down to the bottom and read the first entry before going any further. The following links can take you to any entry; the list is in chronological order, the reverse of the actual entries.

All of it is totally out of date and retained purely for historical curiosity value. Except for a handful of links I did not update old entries, as then they wouldn't be true archives. Links go to old locations, most of which aren't there anymore, but many have redirects to take you to the modern equivalent.

Final entry!

1996
[ March 28, 1996 | May 15, 1996 | August 17, 1996 | October 11, 1996 ]
[ October 19, 1996 | November 17, 1996 | November 27, 1996 ]

1997
[ February 7, 1997 | April 16, 1997 | April 18, 1997 | May 5, 1997 | May 28, 1997 ]
[ August 5, 1997 | November 9, 1997 | November 23, 1997 | December 6, 1997 ]

1998
[ January 13, 1998 | April 24, 1998 | November 7, 1998 ]

1999
[ February 4, 1999 | March 21, 1999 | October 1, 1999 ]

2000
[ June 19, 2000 | July 4, 2000 ]

July 4, 2000

This is intended to be the final entry in this archive. At some point in the future I may go back to doing "What's New" posts, but if I do I'll start a new archive. At present I don't plan to ever do that.

The change is because the latest update to the entire Misenchanted Page set-up -- Version 7.0 of the main page, Version 4.0 of the "What's New" page --included the introduction of frames, auto-refresh, JavaScript, and a bunch of other whizbang features that rendered much of my old set-up obsolete. I can now tag new material in the standard left-frame directory, or set the "What's New" page to take you there directly, rather than just providing links. I've also cleared space on the old main page where I can talk about changes -- that page had degenerated into little more than a directory, but with the directory frame I no longer need to use it that way and can put more content back.

For those of you who can't or won't use frames and other such features, I've tried to make sure you always have viable other options.

I kept neglecting to update the "What's New" page anyway, so it wasn't really an accurate reflection of how things developed. Now I'm not going to pretend any more. I'll still need to remember to update it, but now that'll just consist of plugging in a URL or two, so I hope I'll keep up with it better. And it won't leave anything to archive here.

If I want to discuss changes, that'll go on either the Announcements page or the main page, not the "What's New" page.

As for archiving those discussions, I mostly don't plan to bother. If I change my mind, I'll start a new archive.

But hey, one last thing -- here's the discussion from the main page about the change to 7.0...

Although I do now use frames and some minor JavaScript I've generally tried to keep this site as accessible and non-browser-specific as possible, with non-framed and non-script alternatives for everything. If something comes out weird or hard to follow, drop me an e-mail and let me know, so I can fix it.

The Misenchanted Page is almost five years old now -- I started it in September 1995 -- and it keeps mutating, as a proper Webpage should. It also keeps accumulating more material, and I'm too much of a packrat to ever want to remove anything. I've tried various schemes to keep this manageable, and for years I avoided using frames, but it's finally become clear to me that a navigation frame is just the only thing that makes sense -- especially since I keep changing things, so that any kind of on-each-page list of links would be in constant need of updating on every single page.

Before I yielded to the inevitable several pages, including this one, had degenerated into little more than switching points, directing users to various other places. One sometimes had to wade through several directories and subdirectories to get to a specific bit of content. I really, really want to lose this. That's why I've resorted to using frames.

The next problem is to improve loading speed, especially for the front page, and one way to do that is to move a bunch of content somewhere else -- like here, the "main page" that had hardly anything on it. So I'm doing that. It's below.

Another problem is that I've added two new entrances, at the World of Ethshar and Watt-Evans.com. I still need to incorporate those properly.

And there's the question of what to do about users who hate frames. I'm working on that one, too. And someone's just recently pointed out the needs of color-blind users, where I'd been choosing my page colors entirely for esthetic reasons.

So there's still a lot to be done, but meanwhile, here we are. I'm trying to make everything here as versatile and accessible as possible. If you have any complaints or suggestions, really, I do want to hear about it, so e-mail me!

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June 19, 2000

Wow, I've really neglected this!

There have been so many changes I hardly know where to begin. I've updated the Announcements page several times without mentioning it here, but that's the least of it.

The biggest change is that I've acquired two personal domains -- Watt-Evans.com and Ethshar.com. The former is intended to eventually become my primary website, while the latter is meant to be devoted entirely to the Ethshar series. I'm not transferring stuff wholesale, but virtually all new material is going on one or the other of those, rather than here on the original Misenchanted Page, and I expect things to gradually migrate. (This is going to make updating my Contents page really difficult.) One reason I added the new domains was that I'd run into space constraints, and this gave me lots more room to play with.

I call Ethshar.com "the World of Ethshar," while Watt-Evans.com doesn't really have a name yet. (Feel free to e-mail me with suggestions.) It may wind up taking over the "Misenchanted Page" name.

So far, the World of Ethshar includes a Welcome page, an Introduction to Ethshar, and a Novels page that lists all the Ethshar novels, past, present, and planned, and provides readers with a chance to vote on which one they'd like to see next. Much more material is planned. Some stuff may move from the Ethshar Directory of the original Misenchanted Page, but so far that hasn't happened.

Watt-Evans.com just has a brief introductory piece about me intended to look professional -- this is where I'd direct prospective employers and that sort of thing -- and links to the World of Ethshar and the original Misenchanted Page. To get to any of the other material there you need to follow links from the original Misenchanted Page. (More on the nature of that new material in a moment.)

All three websites now link to another new feature, the Misenchanted Guestbook. This is a service SFF-Net added back around the end of the year. Despite occasional slow periods, mine's been successful enough to spawn archives -- two so far.

Let's see, what else?

Well, I've added pages for The Nightmare People and Shining Steel, not to mention the not-yet-written Ithanalin's Collection. They're a bit fancier than most of my older individual-novel pages -- I've discovered CoolText and learned more about using tables, and decided to see if I could produce something a little more professional in appearance. (Next: JavaScript!)

I've also put together pages for two upcoming anthologies I'll have stories in: Far Frontiers and Graven Images.

I now have links to several more booksellers, and put together an entire page of international links to booksellers outside the U.S., other than Amazon. I've also opened a PayPal account for anyone who wants to buy anything from me online.

I've updated several other things as well, but frankly, I don't even remember them all! I've really let this go; I apologize.

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October 1, 1999

As usual, I've updated the Announcements page without mentioning it here -- though not very often; I think July 24th was the last until today.

In fact, I didn't just update it, I subdivided it. Back in July I added a Recent Announcements page, sort of like the Archives in this section, with news no longer current enough to be on the Announcements page.

And today I spun off three more new pages:

I've also updated the pages for Dragon Weather and Night of Madness, and the Contents Page.

And there's probably something more, but I forget what.

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March 21, 1999

I've updated the Announcements page a couple of times since I last updated this page, but that's not unusual; if you want to keep up with that you really need to use that form at the bottom to get the e-mail notices. I don't consider just changing the announcements a real update.

At long last, I have all eight sections of the trip report on the cruise we took last summer:

I also finally got around to a report on the 1998 Small Press Expo -- or really, more a collection of reviews of the comics I acquired there. A planned report on last summer's trip to HersheyPark isn't ready yet, but I hope to get it uploaded soon, so it may be there by the time you read this.

I've done some revision and addition to the Advice Section since last time, but I think it's all right on that entry page, not on any of the subpages.

And I've added a new section for Miscellaneous Articles, pieces that may be about writing or may not, and may be advice or may not, but which don't really qualify as advice on writing. So far, the following articles are included:

And I suppose it's an article, but I wound up giving it a separate link from the Main Pageand putting it in a different directory: a list of my favorite authors, taken from an old letter.

There's also a JPEG of Bob Eggleton's cover art for Dragon Weather now available. I've kept the "Read Any Good Books Lately?" page current, moving older entries to a new page created for that purpose. And I've updated a few other bits here and there in minor ways, but right now I forget exactly what; I've been spending far too much time on this stuff lately. You'll have to find any other changes for yourself.

This is really one of the most extensive updates and expansions I've ever done; hope you find things you like.

Enjoy!

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February 4, 1999

As usual, I've updated the Announcements page and the Convention Calendar. I also now have five of the eight sections (no, it wasn't originally planned as eight; it expanded) of the trip report on the cruise we took last summer:

The other three portions, about Great Stirrup Cay, Port Canaveral and the Kennedy Space Center, and Charleston, Alexandria, and home, should be along before too much longer.

I've also added a page about Super Medic, Julian's giant toy lobster. That's linked from some old trip reports and Julian's own page.

If you're a beginning writer, you'll be glad to know I've finally started assembling my long-planned Advice Section. So far this includes my poem The Second Draft, which is new, and Watt-Evans' Laws of Fantasy, which has been up for awhile but hard to get to, and a link to the off-site Frequently-Asked Questions About Agents on the HWA Website. The Advice Section can be reached from a new question at the bottom of the list on the Main Entrance.

I've added a JPEG of the cover of the new Russian edition of The Spell of the Black Dagger

Oh, I almost forgot -- I've updated the pages for Spot and Chanel.

And that's about it. I hope I haven't forgotten anything else. I probably ought to update stuff about Dragon Weather and current works in progress, but I haven't gotten around to it yet.

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November 7, 1998

I finally updated the Contents page, after almost a year.

I've also done several little things over the past few months that I should have listed here and didn't. Let's see if I can remember everything...

Seems like there was more than that, but I can't think what else beyond basic stuff like updating the Announcements page and the Convention Calendar. Oh, well.

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April 24, 1998

I still haven't updated the confounded Contents page. I really ought to.

I've reworked some fairly minor stuff, buried deep in the tangled depths of the Misenchanted Page, this time. Specifically, I've updated the Ale 8-One subpage to the trip report of our 1997 vacation, and done considerable work on some of the Ethshar pages.

In the Ethshar section, I've updated the FAQ, added pages for two unsold short stories entitled "Night Flight" and "Ingredients", finally provided a map, and attached some extras to the page for The Spell of the Black Dagger -- a sketch of Wizard Street, and an outtake that describes some of Ethshar of the Sands.

I've also updated the pages for Dragon Weather and Touched by the Gods.

I did finally put in the link to my SFF-Net newsgroup, and updated the Conventions list.

And I think that's everything.

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January 13, 1998

Okay, this time I've done a fairly extensive general update. I've rearranged, repackaged, and partially updated the bibliographies; I've updated pages for Julian, Kiri, Spot, myself, and my family, as well as Dragon Weather and probably other stuff I've forgotten. I updated the Announcements, of course -- that's going to be a regular thing, not deserving of mention here.

I added a page for Mr. Crabbie -- I really need one for Super Medic, but it isn't ready yet. I think all the other completely-new pages are related to the bibliographies.

I've finally more or less standardized the stuff that goes at the bottom of each page, though I suppose it'll be quite awhile before all the pages use the new version.

I moved some stuff, with only minor updating -- the science fiction bibliography, the fantasy bibliography, and the horror bibliography are now in the Writing Section, where they belong, and the page for "The Final Folly of Captain Dancy" and its subpage about the parrot are now in the Stories directory.

I also started a little updating on the Miscellaneous Section, but didn't get far.

I'm sure I've made some other changes, as well.

Still haven't put in the link to my SFF-Net newsgroup, or updated the Conventions list, and as of this writing the Contents Page doesn't reflect the recent changes. Oh, well, I'll get to them eventually.

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December 6, 1997

I've continued to tinker pretty frequently the past few weeks. I've redone the Announcements page -- but that hardly even counts. I've added a page offering my books for sale (a couple of them, anyway), and the "Trip Report" section has two new entries, for the Small Press Expo '97 and Shorecon 1997 -- I'm especially pleased with the Small Press Expo one, which includes lots of short comic-book reviews and cover art.

And I've added several assorted links and small changes here and there; I don't even remember 'em all.

More are planned, too. Watch for a link to my SFF-Net newsgroup to be added somewhere soon, among other things.

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November 23, 1997

Okay, this wasn't a real update, which is why I'm not moving the last entry to the archives; I just finally got the rest of that second trip report up. I still want to add more links, and I've found two other brief old trip reports I'll add eventually.

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November 9, 1997

As usual, I'd meant to do an update sooner -- and the fact is that this one isn't complete; I expect to tinker with it further. I just don't know when. And because I don't know when it'll be complete, I'm writing this entry now, rather than waiting.

The biggest change is one you've probably already seen -- I've now put up an Announcements page in front of the Front Door. I'm not sure whether this is permanent -- it could be a bit embarrassing if I let it get out of date -- but for now I'm going to try to keep it current.

I've already made changes to it since I originally posted it, so maybe I will keep it up.

I've also added a couple more new questions to the Front Door that lead to an update of the main page for my personal section, replacing the old one that was still there from over-all Version 3.1 of the Misenchanted Page, and to the page for Touched By the Gods now that it's finally out. This latter one's intended to be updated to always go to my most-recently-published novel.

There's been some updating on the page for Touched By the Gods, reflecting its publication, but it's pretty minor.

The updating to the Personal Section is far more extensive -- a complete rewrite of the main page, updates to the pages for my daughter Kiri and my family, added pages for our cat Chanel (with pictures) and Julian's pet lizard Spot, and an entire new section for trip reports, with one and a half reports included so far. (The second half of the second one should be added within a few days -- it's written, just not in HTML.) These reports are hypertext; I hope to add more links to them over time, and there are already a few.

I've spun off a couple of little directing pages for investments and Beyond Comics, too.

And I've added an item to my recommended reading list. I did that awhile ago, actually, but it was too small a change to count as an update or mention here.

I've also moved My Theory about background colors to its own silly little page -- it was on the now-removed Version 3.1 Personal Section main page. So far, the only link to it anywhere is the one at the beginning of this paragraph, but I expect I'll fix that.

I'm probably forgetting stuff, and I expect to add more fairly quickly and may not update this page, or the Contents Page, for each change. Sorry for any confusion that may result.

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August 5, 1997

I'd really meant to do more of an update, and sooner...

Oh, well, at least I've done something. I was planning to post more old articles, but haven't gotten to that. What I have done is to add a new question to the Front Door that leads to a list of SF conventions I will and won't be attending. I've linked to the Web pages for conventions I'm attending, if they have Web pages and I know it.

I've also done some minor adjustments to the Front Door, fiddling with the size of the little doodles Kiri provided. I welcome comments on whether this was an improvement or not.

I updated the Family Page, with sad news about pets and a link to my sister Charlotte's Web page.

I got that bunch of recommendations for old favorites put together, though it's a bit rushed. Sorry.

And finally, I've added a new link from the page for The Lure of the Basilisk to a really nifty page about an unjustly-neglected, very influential writer, Robert W. Chambers. If you're at all interested in fantasy's literary history, this is worth a look.

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May 28, 1997

On a whim, I decided it was time to post a few old articles. You can access them from the Writing Section Entry Page, even though I actually filed them under "Miscellaneous."

There are three of them. The first is an untitled article on the difference between science fiction and fantasy, taken from a piece I wrote for Del Rey's Internet Newsletter (DRIN) when Out of This World was just being published. Second is "Watt-Evans's Laws of Fantasy", which appeared in Starlog several years ago. And the third is "I Just Wanted to Say..." which originally appeared in some fanzine back in the late 1980s.

I've got some more similar material I expect to post ere too much longer -- particularly a bunch of recommendations for old favorites you should look for in used book stores. That's not ready yet, though.

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May 5, 1997

So I got ambitious, and instead of working on anything useful I updated the Web page again.

I've added starter pages for several non-series books, done a little spiffing up on the page for Touched by the Gods, updated the pages for all six Ethshar novels to include the Russian editions, done a minuscule update on the status of Dragon Weather, added some graphics (provided by my daughter Kiri) here and there... lots of little stuff, nothing major.

Oh, and I've updated the alphabetical bibliography.

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April 18, 1997

I don't ordinarily do two updates in a single week, but this time I had to -- I got in the dustjacket proof for Touched By the Gods, and had to put it up, and while I was at it I did some other stuff, too, like adding an absurdly-complimentary review of The Lure of the Basilisk that Stevens R. Miller sent me last summer.

I also fixed a bunch of out-of-date links, both internal and external, and added some new ones, including one to the brand-new page for Beyond Comics, which I'm part owner of, and one to a picture of me on Karen Taylor's Web page -- there's no picture of me anywhere on here, but she's got one.

And now to subdivide this page -- all the old updates are now in the Archives, instead of here.

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April 16, 1997

Okay, I've added a bunch of personal stuff -- a lot of it was originally on Version 2.0, but I've updated it and split it out into several small subpages. There's stuff about the Watt-Evans name, my family, my wife, etc. I'm hoping to add a few other bits in the next couple of days, as well.

Also, this file is getting too large, and will therefore be split into two -- the actual "What's New" page, and the archive of all the previous announcements -- as of my next update.

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February 7, 1997

Today's addition: New artwork by my daughter, Kyrith. This particular character is named Penelope: [drawing]

Also, please note an update on Touched By the Gods on the appropriate page.

I know, I know, I promised a bunch of other stuff and it's not all here. I'm sorry; I took it easy for the holidays and let myself get behind on everything, and then just when I was set to start catching up -- January 6th -- my computer broke down, and I didn't get it back up and running in its completely rebuilt form until January 31, by which time I had lots more to catch up on.

But here we are, and I hope to do a bit better in the future.

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November 27, 1996

It was pointed out to me by a helpful correspondent that I had the front page for Version 4.1 link directly into the Writing page from Version 3.x, which then led to a bunch of outdated stuff. This was Not Good. I've therefore added a new Writing page that links to the old one and to some new stuff. I'm gradually phasing out the old, out-of-date stuff; if you get into the older sections you're going to find defunct links sometimes. When you do, it means there's an updated version of that content somewhere, and I haven't fixed the old link. Finding the new link may sometimes be tricky; I apologize.

Coming soon: Updated pages and cover JPEGS for the "Lords of Dus" series.

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November 17, 1996

Okay, time to get some actual content into the new set-up!

I've added a big chunk of new material about Ethshar, including pages for every published Ethshar story to date, with sample chapters and so on. I've updated the page about Touched by the Gods, too -- it's no longer technically a work-in-progress, since I finished it and mailed it off last week. I've updated just about all of Version 4.x to properly include this stuff. I'll be deleting old Ethshar material soon, which will probably render a lot of old links non-functional; sorry for any inconvenience this may cause.

I haven't yet done any graphical frills -- backgrounds, headers, inline graphics, etc. -- for any of these new pages, but I note that the new Ethshar pages mostly do include links to full-size cover art. Enjoy!

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October 19, 1996

Okay, I've just added some new subpages about Touched by the Gods, my current work-in-progress. I've also fiddled with the graphics at the top of the front door. I intend to get some more stuff up here as soon as I can. Incidentally, there's at least one non-functioning link so far -- sorry about that.

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October 11, 1996

Well, if you got this far you've probably noticed that I've revised the front door again and started on Version 4.x. (As I write this it's 4.1, but that'll change.)

I did this because the Version 3.x set-up seemed too rigid and hard to navigate. It was also a hassle to maintain. It was meant to be an improvement on 2.x, and I suppose it was, but where 2.x hardly had any structure, 3.x was too structured. Not to mention that everything got bollixed up when the Misenchanted Page got moved from Greyware to SFF-Net.

So now I'm trying a looser, flowchart sort of structure with lots of small pages and a Q&A format. Let me know how you like it. (Send comments!)

As for what actual new content there is... so far, I've updated the page about Touched By the Gods, my current work-in-progress. I've got the new front door for The Misenchanted Page, Version 4.1. I've added a

  • Who is Lawrence Watt-Evans page that should eventually serve as a major switching point but which doesn't yet have most of the links installed. And for the first time I have something resembling a
  • Table of Contents or Directory, though so far it's only for Version 4.1

    The old stuff is still here, still accessible at the same old addresses:

    And I think that covers it...

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    August 17, 1996

    Jeez, time has been flying by...

    In mid-July this entire page got moved to a new server -- it used to be on Greyware and is now on SFF-Net. I haven't had time to do any checking or updating since the move, so there may well be stuff that doesn't work properly. I'm starting to fix that -- I've just updated the main page in the Writing section, but I haven't yet gone through the subpages there or any of the other stuff.

    I know most of my hit-counters are now disabled; sorry about that. The ones that still function mostly have the wrong reset date; they're actually only counting hits since July 15, 1996. The old counts were lost when the server changed. I'll be updating all those when I have time -- if we don't all ice-skate in Hell first.

    The one other update that I really hope to get done later today -- in the Personal area, in the part about my kids, there's a scan of one of my daughter's drawings. The one that's been there for months, Lemya, is very out of date, and we've scanned in a new one I hope to upload in its place. Here's a miniaturized version:

    Kaiuri Tendo, by Kyrith Evans...

    That's about it. I really do expect to do more on this place once I've ended my term as president of HWA and finished the very-overdue Touched By the Gods.

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    May 15, 1996

    Hello again -- if you're here for the first time you might want to skip down to the section dated March 28.

    I've been appallingly busy lately, but I've managed to update the Deathrealm area, and add some good stuff there. Everything about Deathrealm has now been cleared out of the old back-up section -- though if you use the old URL, or out-of-date links, with Netscape Navigator you'll be transferred to the new page automatically. If you're using a different browser you'll need to click on the link. I intend to use this approach for other sections as they get updated, as well.

    And that's about it for additions. I'll note that the stuff about conventions I'll be attending is now badly out of date, but I don't know when I'll have time to fix it. I hope to get to it reasonably soon.

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    March 28, 1996

    Hi there! I'm your host, Lawrence Watt-Evans. As you probably know, I'm the author of about two dozen novels and around a hundred short stories, as well as innumerable articles, comic scripts, poems, and other miscellany. I started this Website on September 29, 1995, as an exercise in ego and self-promotion, and quickly discovered that it was fun to play with, but incredibly time-consuming, and hard to keep up with.

    For one thing, I'd forget what went where, what I'd added and what I hadn't -- and if I got confused, or missed stuff, I'm sure casual browsers did, too.

    So I'm undertaking a major reconstruction, and intend, from now on, to post a notice here whenever I add anything new, whether it's scanned-in cover art, or an entertaining new link, or a sample chapter.

    We'll see how I fare with these good intentions...

    But anyway, right now, when I upload this file I'll also be uploading the new "front door," and the homepages for the other three major divisions in this new set-up.

    I'll try to get the various subpages and graphics files in place in the new directories as fast as I can, but it'll probably be awhile before everything's installed. If you hit a link that doesn't work, or a graphic that isn't there, I apologize -- let me know exactly where it was and I'll get it fixed as fast as I can.

    Meanwhile, for those of you who'd been here before when the old structure was in place, you'll find that the new sections are mostly re-edited versions of the old homepage. There is some updating in the Writing section.

    And as an emergency fallback, I'm going to include a back-up system that's more or less the old Version 2.0. Pieces will gradually disappear from that as they're moved into their new places, and eventually I'll kill it off, but for now, there it is.

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    --------------------------------------

    That's it; here's your list of handy exits:

    The Misenchanted Page
    Front Page | Main Site | E-mail me!