Gradual Interview
(answers from December 2010, as of Apr 30 2026, 2:45:49 AM)
www.StephenRDonaldson.com
© 2004 by Stephen R.Donaldson

David Hawkins

I have been making my living as a writer for four years now, mostly doing technical and sales/marketing style writing. However, I have also been writing and building a stock of fiction which I am planning to transform into either a collection of shorts, or to write novels over the coming years instead.

With this said, you hit me with a thought that makes me feel much better about my writing. I have been considering how to write science fiction books that would hopefully inspire and interest folks who wish to see our space programs take off again.

However, after reading so many book by Ben Bova, I am daunted by the task of making reality fit into my stories.

You however talked about having total control of the creative development of your world, and how you needed this to write.

I see that perhaps this is true for me too, and I wanted to thank you for this gradual interview, as it has opened my eyes to a way of thinking about writing.

I struggle daily with how to come up with my story, and your discussions about the writing process have made me feel that I can accomplish this goal, despite not always feeling that I can actually accomplish it...

I'm not sure how much of my experience applies for you.  As you describe yourself, you want to write what I call "polemics":  you want "to write science fiction books that would hopefully inspire and interest folks who wish to see our space programs take off again."  Which is perfectly valid, of course.  Many writers have comparable aims.  But because my own intentions are very different....

It may be, however, that the underlying themes apply to all writers--or indeed to all creative endeavors.  So if my comments have been of any use to you, I'm simply grateful.  In any case, it certainly pays to understand your own intentions.  Many creative decisions become--well, not less arduous, but certainly less fearsome--when you know what you're trying to accomplish.

(12/01/2010)

Tim

Hi Stephen,
Yesterday I observed a young person litening to his Ipod while simultaneously reading on a Kindle and it got me thinking..College kids no longer put on a record and pour a nice glass of wine- they rip down a music file from the internet.  Now Amazon wants to make us forget all about the pleasure of beautifully presented, real physical books and convert us all to Kindle/ebooks.  My question is: do you think the current obsession with electronic technology will end up taking some of the charm and soul out of pleasures like music and literature?  Also, what do you think of the ever increasing role of technology in our lives, in general?cheers,
Tim
P.S Much looking forward to the real, hardcover release of AATE!

Not that my opinions count for much....  But I'm pretty old-school myself.  Simply adjusting to a computer--gosh, more than 20 years ago now--after a typewriter was very tough for me.  So I have very little interest in iPods, or Kindles, or "the current obsession with electronic technology."  (E.g. I enjoy movies and tv shows on DVD, but I have absolutely no desire to download them for "instant" viewing on my computer--or even on my tv.)  However, I've observed that many social phenomena swing like pendulums.  For example, despite the prevalence of CDs, vinyl LPs are making a bit of a comeback.  So I don't fear that "real," physical books will ever go away.  They'll fade for a while:  then they'll return to favor.  As so many things do.

(12/01/2010)

Lee in Vegas

Mr. Donaldson:
I'll bypass the sycophantic dotings as a former fan-boy who wants to thank you for influencing my life (even though you have).

My question pertains to commerce.  I'm sure there is a budding (dare I say burgeoning) cottage industry in memorabilia and/or apparel you could reap some financial benefit from.

Have you ever considered adding this to your web-site?  I'd love to see renditions of your Covenant and Gap books on shirts and other forms of self promotion.

Counting down the days,

Lee

I have a fairly stringent ethic (for lack of a better word) about such things.  I write books.  I'm not in the business of selling them.  Self-promotion (even in the GI) always makes me uncomfortable.  I certainly don't want to do *more* of it.  (You should see how eagerly I *don't* do book tours.  <rueful grin>)

(12/01/2010)

Bob DeFrank

Mr Donaldson

Hope this message finds you well.  A question about the Second Chronicles: I was sort of surprised when no Ravers popped up during the Quest's visit to Bhrathairain. I'd have thought they would have loved that place, and it had no shortage of able bodies. I was constantly looking for one of the Brothers to turn up and cause trouble.

Another small disappointment was Kasreyn's death. He was as intriguing character, sort of a Sith to the Lords' Jedi, with each having a competing philosophy for how to use Earthpower and live in the world - to rule the world rather than LF's desire to simply destroy it. I was hoping he would survive TWL and continue as an antagonist in WGW, only to find himself caught up in the Despiser's deeper plots.

With that in mind, I appreciate the added complexity of the Insequent and their motives and how you were able to balance that against the straightforward quest nature of the story in the last chronciles.

When you first conceived of the last chronciles, did you know it would include these extra layers of maneuvering characters?

Counting the days till AATE.

Happy Halloween.

If you'll forgive some blunt responses....

I didn't send a Raver to Bhrathairealm because I didn't need him.  Kasreyn and the Sandgorgons seemed like quite enough.  Anything more would have made that portion of the story top-heavy.  (Kasreyn becomes aware of the Raver.  What do they do then?  One of LF's minions witnesses Covenant's victory over a Sandgorgon.  How does that affect later events at Revelstone?)  And I killed off Kasreyn in part because he deserved it, in part because Covenant needed to take that kind of action, in part because those events reveal the extent of Findail's desperation, and in part because I had no further use for Kasreyn.

When I was first planning "The Last Chronicles," I knew that it needed "extra layers of maneuvering characters."  But I didn't know exactly what forms those "extra layers" would take.  The Insequent--and much that concerns Esmer--were happy discoveries.

(12/06/2010)

jennifer

OMG...it suddenly hit me like an invisible tidal wave!
AATE is coming out in a few days! A new book by you is one of the best things in life, man! I don't have a question! I just have to express my excitement and appreciation somehow!

The beauty of it is how you give US new questions to ask not just of your works and themes and thoughts but of ourselves and indeed the very content of our own lives. Insight, power, purpose - priceless!

"Show me the truth!" 

DAMN RIGHT! Thank you SO MUCH for sharing your incredible gifts of vision and communication with us! You rock, Mr. D!
;)

I want to take this opportunity thank all of the many, many readers who have posted messages of congratulations, appreciation, and enjoyment.  I'm very grateful.  And I hope that you'll accept a broadcast "Thank you!" instead of dozens of individual replies.  Time presses cruelly upon me, and my need for short-cuts has become imperative.

(12/06/2010)

Doug The Slow

[various deletions here]

I have recently purchased an eReader as soon as I read in the GI that AATE was out electronically and I have already pre-ordered it. 
I purchased Jim Butchers Small Favor while I a wait the eventual release of my school boy jitters. While reading the appetizer before the meal, I came across a quote from TC in the pages. 
Dresden's Half brother, a Vampire, states that he is an "outcast leper unclean!" Oddly enough his name is Thomas. [Do] the likes of Jim Butcher have to go through your agent or you to add such things to his novel? And do you get a piece of the action when such things happen? Or is it just a nod of professional respect in your direction?
Quite frankly if it's just a nod of professional respect, Outcast leper unclean should be in every book published today.

Respectfully, 

DCM

If I may respond without any whiff of disrespect for Jim Butcher....  I'm posting this because I want to state in public that I have no problem of any kind with such things.  (Or with more substantive examples, such as the "zone implant" in Spike's head in "Buffy.")  Certainly no permissions or acknowledgments are needed.  In this specific case:  all other reasons aside, *I* didn't invent the phrase "leper outcast unclean."  I merely borrowed (stole?) it from earlier sources.  Other writers are entitled to do the same however they see fit.  And as far as "Buffy" is concerned:  I also did *not* invent the idea of mind control by technological means.  Surely other storytellers are entitled to draw on the same sources I did.

(12/06/2010)

peter

In the film 'Nine' based loosely on the life of the director Fellini, the protagonist (played by Daniel Day-Lewis) says that every film is 'murdered' three times. First by the writer when he sets it to paper, second by the director when he transfers the (already once murdered) material to film and thirdly by the audience when they place thier interpretation on what they have seen (quite likely to be a million miles from what the writer intended when he viewed the story in his minds eye). Is the same true to at least some extent with the writing of a novel in that it never comes out as you intend because the words contrive to work against you and foil your atempts to translate your inner vision on to the paper.

Well, I wouldn't use a word like "murder."  It's certainly true that everything I write conveys less than I intended.  To that extent, I suppose you could say that I kill what I write.  But what I write also says *more* than I intended.  That paradox feels like magic to me, and it defies the notion of murder.

Something similar happens whenever someone reads what I write.  The receiver always picks up both less and more than I transmitted.  Sometimes specific examples frustrate me; but in general I consider the process wonderful.

(12/07/2010)

Mark Slay

Stephen....Did you see what Putnam did to your book cover for "Against All Things Ending" ?

On the book jacket and on the spine, they misspelled Thomas Covenant.  It says on the spine, "The Last Chronicles of Thomas Convenant" instead of "Covenant".

They should be made to send out new book jackets to all people who purchased the hard back.

Looks like they spelled his name correctly everywhere else including on the actual book cover itself.

Yes, I saw that.  It's painful, of course; but I remind myself that everyone screws up occasionally.  Gosh, even me!

I'm told that Putnams recalled every book they could while they printed new dust jackets.  And I'm told (but can't confirm) that Putnams will send a corrected dust jacket to anyone who requests it.

(12/07/2010)

Jeff N

Hello, Mr. Donaldson.

In AATE, the US edition, page 511, paragraph 4, sentence 5, some punctuation seems to be missing; (...not rested not enough...).  If it is, you might wish to have it corrected in future printings.  

Also, while doing a search to avoid repeating a question, I came across the following: "But hold/holed is a point I really want to address. It is most definitely NOT a typo."  
I notice that the print edition uses "hold" instead of "holed".  I wonder if you decided to change the spelling or if your intended spelling was mistakenly "corrected".

Thanks for your time.  Hope this helps...

Well, DAMN it!  Thanks for letting me know.  Clearly Putnams has made a change that I did *not* authorize to the text.  Makes me want to tear my hair, that does.

(12/07/2010)

Steve Cohen

Dear Stephen,

Congratulations of the launch of AATE. I have a question about being a "rightful white gold wielder"... that is, why isn't Linden considered "rightful"?  

Convenant essentially gave her the ring "granted out of love and necessity" if I remember correctly from WGW (which I imagine by design ambigiously could be referring both Linden or Covenant).  

And, perhaps more importantly, spanning worlds Linden awoke with the ring in the palm of her hand.  Unless you want us to believe that she unconciously took the ring, the ending of WGW implies of fundemental granting / gifting or transferance of the ring...not a temporary loan from the library or a leasing of a car, with payment for mileage over the prescribed terms.

What am I missing?  Is it no more than merely the covenant of actual legally recognized marriage that marks both Covenant and Joan as rightful?  Even as writing that sentence I have a hard time believing that that could be your underpinnings as what constitutes "rightful," especially when you spend so much time in your writing addressing issues of love one way or another.

Anyway, forgive the rant... it's mostly tongue-in-cheek... really just another one of your crazy fans who has been reading and enjoying your work since the early 80's.

Best,

Steve

I concede that all of this is at best ambiguous--and at worst impenetrable.  Please don't think you're the only one who gets confused.  (What?  Moi?)

And I further concede that Covenant wanted Linden to claim his ring at the end of WGW.  However she did it (unconsciously, one assumes), she was acting in accordance with his wishes.  Or at least with his tacit approval.

But the brute fact is that Covenant *gave* the ring to Lord Foul.  That made LF the "rightful" wielder of that ring.  So he later dropped it.  So Linden picked it up.  So what?  The point is that she *took* it.  It wasn't *given* to her.  It wasn't even *surrendered* to her.

And Covenant certainly didn't *marry* her with it.  That's an important distinction, even if its import is more symbolic than literal.

(12/09/2010)

Jason D. Wittman

Hello again, Mr. Donaldson,

I'd just like to make a comment regarding the GI question of Oct. 21st about whether things like Twitter and text messaging, etc. are "great" or "horrifying."  Consider the following "tweet" (under 140 characters):

"Once there was hobbit named Frodo who had an Evil Ring.  One day the wizard Gandalf told Frodo he had to destroy the Ring.  So he did."

(I'm currently trying to write a 2-page-or-less, double spaced synopsis of my novel so I can pitch it to agents -- Sisyphus had it easy, and this is for only one book.  I can only guess the trouble you had synopsizing entire trilogies!)

Regards,

Jason D. Wittman

In fact, once I got as far as beginning the GAP books, I refused to even try to provide synopses.  The effort seemed actively harmful to the way my imagination works.  So my publisher offered me a different approach.  Since the whole project was already under contract (once the first two books had been written), and since publishers have a reasonable right to know what they're getting into, mine asked me to submit the first 200 pages of each new manuscript:  partly to pacify the lawyers, partly to demonstrate that I wasn't taking the money and refusing to do the work, and partly to provide reassurance that I wasn't taking the story in some insane direction.

(Now, as it happens, I don't even do that much.  And no one has asked for more than I've offered.  Apparently my editors trust me.)

I know writers who live by their synopses.  I would just die.

(12/09/2010)

Mick

Why oh why do they delay publication in the UK by 10 days or as you would say half a score of days? is it to cross the atlantic?

Hmm.  It's important to keep in mind that my US and UK dealings are completely separate contracts.  They agree on how they're going to divvy up so-called "foreign" markets.  Other than that, they don't work together:  they make their own decisions for their own reasons.

(Of course, the web forces US and UK publishers to pay attention to each other's schedules.  They can't afford to ignore the fact that readers can easily buy books from other countries.  Nevertheless the US edition typically comes first because a) I signed that contract first, and b) my UK publisher tends to run behind schedule.)

In this specific case, Gollancz was looking for a time when no other publishers were launching "major" books.  They hoped to give AATE an open field.  Whether or not they succeeded, I have no idea.

(12/09/2010)

David Scott

I have read AATE but cannot figure out who the character on the cover, the rough looking guy with the staff, is supposed to be.  Who is it?

I think I've covered this.  That's the Harrow--or rather, the artist's version of the Harrow, which is only approximately related to *my* version.

(12/10/2010)

Case

I love your stuff, but it seems like for certain things you always repeat them and they are always the same.  Certain phrases and words used in the same way over and over.  Just one example is how Linden is somehow always surprised to find that she is hungry, or that covenant has a face as strict as commandments, or mentions of the words puissance, loam and exceeded, among others.  My question is, is that a conscious thing?  Do you know you do that?  I notice almost all writers have things they commonly repeat.  Why is it in all fantasy they eat bread and dried meat and cheese?  I'm just musing aloud.

Well, *I'm* always surprised to find that I'm hungry....  <sigh>

But seriously, there are several issues here.  (Before I get distracted, however, let me say that I've read a number of fantasy novels with more varied diets than mine.)  One is simple practicality.  How many different ways do you think there are to describe Covenant's face/expression without violating previous descriptions?  (Keeping in mind that I want to be helpful to readers who haven't recently immersed themselves in previous "Covenant" books.)  How many words are there that refer to magic?  How do you imagine that I could avoid repeating all kinds of things?  In books this long?

Another issue is technical.  I'm trying to develop an elaborate web of what I call "leitmotifs":  recurring words, phrases, entire sentences which are intended to form links (perhaps subconscious) in the reader's mind between the story's present moment and the story's past events/passions/themes.  I'm trying to accrete meaning and emotion.  Whether or not I *succeed* at my intentions is a separate question.  My intent is to enhance substance.

Yet another issue has to do with how language is patterned deep within my own mind.  These patterns exist far below consciousness, and they express themselves reflexively.  To some extent, I can violate them whenever I wish:  consider the variety of styles I've deployed throughout my writing life.  But some patterns are inherent to the way I think, and I can't think my thoughts without them.  On this point, the same is true of every writer; even every person.

(12/13/2010)

Andrew

Stephen, thank you so much for taking the time to answer our questions. 

I was wondering if you could please give us an update on how Against All Things Ending is selling, and whether or not you are happy with the sales results.

Sales (as measured by bestseller lists) were significantly impacted by the fact that Putnams released the book with a typo on the dust jacket.  When the mistake was discovered, Putnams stopped selling the book until new dust jackets could be printed.  But subsequent sales?  Sales over time?  I have no idea.  Publishers often don't release that information until a year or more later.  Why?  Protection against "returns":  books which were sold to bookstores etc., but which later come back to the publisher because they weren't purchased by readers.

But leaving all that aside, I find it very difficult to be "happy with the sales results"--and I suspect that most writers my age feel the same.  A major bestseller today sells--at best--1/3 as many books as a major bestseller did, oh, 25 years ago.  Those of us who have had to live with the shrinkage are seldom happy about it.

(12/13/2010)

Tim

Hi 

I recently wrote a short story which I quite like but which doesn't flow quite the way I like.  I'm thinking when I rewrite it of trying to impose proportions from the fibonacci sequence on it.

I was reminded of this when my wife came home from wor telling me about her workmate's knitted top with a fibonacci stripe pattern. Painter's and architects have always made use of the golden section (which is the proportion of adjacent fibonacci numbers) Debussy is argued to have incorporated this type of proportion into his music and the classical composers (haydn, beethoven) either instinctlively or intentionally also have major points of change in their music at points which divide their movements into 'golden' proprtions.

My question is:
do you or do you know of authors arranging events in their novels according to prescribed proportions (e.g. 30 pages of exposition, 50 pages of something different then 50 pages of denouement) or do you just rewrite until it feels right?  Have you heard of this sort of thing being helpful at all?  

I've already discussed discovering order or pattern organically vs imposing it, well, inorganically (from the outside, according to some more or less arbitrary set of rules).  I won't repeat myself here.  But I've certainly heard of writers writing according to a "formula" of one kind or another:  a chess game; a political or psychological agenda; a theory about the characteristics of a bestseller; a design required by a publisher (Harlequin romances leap to mind).  In some sense, all "work for hire" (e.g. Star Trek novels) is produced this way.  In my (very) limited experience, however, the results read like exactly what they are:  exercises in formula rather expressions of real imagination.  It seems to me that the best creative minds simultaneously accept and defy the expectations generated by formulas.

But in fairness, I should add that I also know of writers for whom formula is *necessary* to creativity.  For them, the restrictions of formula enable rather than inhibit imagination.  Whether or not these writers produce work which can stand the test of time is entirely another matter.

(12/29/2010)

Usivius

Hello Mr. Donaldson. So glad I finally got my copy of 'Against All Things Ending'. I am about half way through and enjoying it THOROUGHLY! However, as I read, I cannot help have many questions, all of but one I will not ask here. If I may ask, I have a question about what choices you make while writing, and it specifically has to do with a passage in Chapter 1 of Part 2:
TC has Linden cradled in his arms as he is seated on the sand against a bolder and the rising sun is slowly spreading across them.  In a wonderful passage, TC speaks to her of how much he loves and respects her and her choices (as the others pretend not to listen).  After this, they are forced to sit on the other side of the boulder to avoid the direct heat of the sun (and Stave helps TC move Linden).
I guess I can think of a reason why this might be here, but to you I ask: why write this section so that TC has to change his position with Linden and move to shade? 
I know you do not write superfluously, and that you had a reason, so I am humbly asking what your reason was. 
(It's a beautiful visual image, BTW)

An often-neglected aspect of storytelling is brute practicality.  How long can Covenant sit with Linden in direct sunlight (which he naturally wants to do after the ordeal of the Lost Deep) without risking sunburn, or even sun-stroke?  After all, at that point in the story no one has found water.

(12/29/2010)

Alan

Since we all know you were a big Tolkien fan (and presumably are) I was wondering if you had read the relatively recent The Tale of the Children of Hurin, and, if so, what your impressions were?  The language is quite archaic, but I was amazed at how good it was.  Reminded me all over again of how excellent Tolkien was at the things he did well.

I lost interest in Tolkien "residue" after "The Silmarillion," so I haven't read anything since.

(12/29/2010)

Steven J. Thomson

I notice today that AATE has reached #15 on The New York Times Bestseller List.  Although I'm only 60 pages in, I am not surprised at this.

Does this acknowledgement gratify and does it affect your writing process?

Congratulations Stephen;  TLD will well worth the wait.

A True Fan;
Steven J. Thomson

I've discussed the comparative meaninglessness of bestseller lists before:  I won't repeat myself here.  But being on the NY Times list *does* gratify me--to the extent that it raises my stature with publishers (on whom my life depends).  However, it has no effect on my writing process.

(12/29/2010)

Alan Lantz

33 or so years is a long time to write on the same series of books. I have read these so many times throughout the years Covenant seems more real than fiction. Do you ever re-read them and wish you would have written them differently? Perhaps even with different outcomes or different characters? 

Hmm.  Never with different outcomes or characters.  (I believe in what I've done.)  But often with better narrative skills (especially organizational skills:  parts of the first and second trilogies are poorly organized even though they're written well enough).

(What?  You want *details*?  You want to know what I'm actually talking about?  <sigh>  Well, look, for example, at those portions of TIW and TWL where the main characters take separate paths.  In retrospect, I don't like the way those paths are laid out.  They result in--for me, at least--unsatisfying reconnections.)

(12/29/2010)

Guy Andrew Hall (Rook)

Not a question, just a story that is interesting that seems related to the earlier questions about online piracy.

http://yro.slashdot.org/story/10/10/22/174206/Comic-Sales-Soar-After-Artist-Engages-4chan-Pirates?from=headlines

It is indeed interesting.  But I wonder if it has any general relevance.  It looks to me like a very particular interaction between a specific artist and a specific audience.  Change any one of the many variables, and the outcome might be dramatically different.

Or not.  What do I know?

(12/29/2010)

Larry Cole

I have been reading your work since the 70's. I just finished "Against All Things Ending" and I wondered if you had the concept to allow the Haruchai to challenge the Elohim (Stave being able to resist the stasis the Elohim placed him in) and succeed from the beginning? It seems at long last they are merging as one of the people's of the land, gaining their own innate earthpower rather than being from outside.

I guess it depends on how broadly you define "the concept."  Did I intend from the beginning (in this case, the original inspiration for the Second and Last "Chronicles") for the Haruchai to come into their own; to emerge from their rigidity to discover their true power?  Yes.  But did I have Stave's specific interaction with Infelice planned from the beginning?  No.  I "found" it along the way, as I was writing.  For which I thank my unconscious mind daily.  It's a much better storyteller than my conscious mind.

(12/29/2010)

Terry Hornsby

Having searched and not found this question (but my eyesight isn't as good as it once was), have you ever wondered if Covenant is ever filmed, what would be the soundtrack of the film? I know you like classical, particularly Wagner, to provide a pleasing white noise whilst writing, but what music would you use in key scenes, or as interludes between action sequences? Maybe, as Covenant faces Foul at the end of the first Chronicles, for example, it would be "Always look on the bright side of life" (apt, but not seriously!). Or maybe someone like Howard Shore, whose Gollum theme, in particular, really captured Smeagul/Gollum's duality (thanks largely to - was it? - Fran Walsh's lyrics).

The short answer?  No.  My mind (or my inspiration, if you prefer) doesn't work that way.  If I heard a soundtrack for a potential "Covenant" film, I would no doubt react to it.  Perhaps vehemently.  As I do to visual representations of my work.  But such things don't exist for me until someone else creates them.

(12/29/2010)

Brian

I have your books in hard copy, but I now own a Kindel for traveling.  Your latest books are available on Kindel.  Is your publisher planning on rereleasing the Kindel versions for the first chronicals and second chronicals?

I've discussed this in some detail elsewhere in the Gradual Interview.  Here are the simple facts:  I still own the e-rights to the first six "Covenant" books, and I haven't released them because I don't believe that my publisher is capable of producing an accurate e-text.

(12/29/2010)

Mark

So....now that your book is finally out, do you have a sense of relief - abeit temporary? Having never published anything, I would imagine that it's much like the birth of a child. 

On a side note, this book was available as an e-book immediately. That's great for me as I thought I'd have to wait a bit...not that I wouldn't have bought a hard copy... 

Thanks for a great ride so far. 

Relief?  Ha!  What I mostly feel is dread.  I react this way for more reasons than I care to explain.  (Do I fear the continuing shrinkage of my audience?  Did I say that out loud?)  But riffing on your "birth of a child" analogy....  If the mother is carrying quadruplets, has been for three years, but only one of them is born (with excruciating difficulty), after which she has to wait for another three years for the next to come to term--and the only thing she knows for sure about the whole process is that each succeeding three-year term and birth will be vastly more arduous than the one before:  then you might have a viable comparison.  Of course, I do experience relief from time to time during all this.  But it usually happens when I finish the first draft, not when the book is eventually published.

(12/29/2010)

Terry Hornsby

Further to my question "What Soundtrack?" would accompany the Covenant series, I found this website, where (it must be) one of your keenest fans has detailed his own ideas to the series (I hasten to add that whilst I might use some of the music, others strike me as decidedly odd):

http://theland.antgear.com/

(there is a link on the right of the home page called "Soundtrack" to get there. The site seems to have been done with frames, rather than proper pages, so I can't seem to link to it directly).

I'm posting this as a matter of general (?) interest.  I haven't checked it out myself--although I'm sure I will at some point.

(12/29/2010)