That does it

Stories::Meta

With the publication here of "Passover In Hell," the story that to date has generated the greatest amount of positive reaction of any I've done, I have now posted all of the Sunday Griot stories to this weblog. Break out the champagne, or sparkling cider, or the Cherry Seven-Up Plus Calcium (which I have just discovered, and like very much).

What this means, I'm not sure. I will continue to post stories from Sunday Griot as they're written, but I am thinking about doing some original stories that might not fit neatly into the Sunday Griot concept of stories with progressive messages.

Just to give you an example, in last Sunday's story I dropped a bunch of hints about Stan's life. I mentioned that on his way from the Midwest to Pennsylvania he picked up a dog and a banjo. Today I took my granddaughter to the zoo. Getting away from the computer with nothing to do but watch her enjoy herself gave me some skull time to work on the story of just how Stan learned to play the banjo (and a little bit about where he got it). If I can get it whipped into shape with a proper beginning and end, now that I have something of a middle, Stan Learns To Play The Banjo would be a good candidate for publication here. It doesn't directly teach tolerance, or peace, or freedom or justice or equality or caring for one another or any of the subtexts of the stories thus far, except insofar as it's the story of one man relating to those around him.

Perhaps there will be something more to this Stan guy than an excuse to get the dog where it could corner a burglar. If so, you'll hear about it here. That's really the proof of the pudding as far as good characters are concerned. They don't let you go. The best ones, in fact, can end up taking over and telling their stories through you. Or so I've been told by people who make money at this sort of thing.