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There's a new, special nine page chapter of my webcomic, Dekpa and Deborah, online to-day. Usually the chapters are just eight pages. Why is this one longer? I miscounted the pages when I was writing the script. Oops. But lucky you.

Happy Birthday to Emperor Go-Komyo (後光明天皇) of Japan; Princess Beatrice of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha; Harold Lloyd; Lionel Hampton; Betty Lou Gerson; Tito Puente; George Takei; Peter S. Beagle; Ryan O'Neal; Veronica Cartwright; Luther Vandross; Crispin Glover; and Andy Serkis.

A new chapter of my webcomic, Dekpa and Deborah, is finally online. I passed the 200 mark with this one and now the comic stands at 202 pages. And it only took me six years! Anyway, I hope you enjoy it.

Twitter Sonnet #1468

The years in sequence gather thorns and leaves.
The time of curling wind reveals the rock.
A gnarled trunk would seem a face that grieves.
The roots combine to make a wooden lock.
A sooner mass abuts the rooster crow.
Misleading lefts revert the step to right.
Inexpert shafts rebound abaft the bow.
The question fish produced a western kite.
With water thoughts the soap would clean the clothes.
Forever running, pipes conveyed the spark.
A stone was like a door that never closed.
The journey stopped before the starting mark.
The frozen ear detects a fire near.
The darkened ice contains a waiting fear.

There's a new chapter of Dekpa and Deborah online to-day. This is the 21st chapter and the end of Book I. The comic is now grown to a total of 178 pages since I started it in 2015, pretty slow work compared to Venia's Travels, for which I produced over 500 pages in two years, but in the years I've been doing Dekpa and Deborah I've graduated college and held a few jobs, all distractions I didn't have for my previous comics. In addition, I've done a lot more research for Dekpa and Deborah and I'm working on bristol board instead of sketchbook paper now so it's no surprise it's slower going, even when I do have time. I'll be doing more research for Book II and hopefully by the time it comes out I'll have a nice stockpile of chapters so I can update regularly. For now, I hope you'll enjoy reading back over Book I, feel free to look for any clues as to what may lie ahead. I know I will.

To-day I also read the new Sirenia Digest which features a lovely new short little piece by Caitlin R. Kiernan about murder and a body of water sinister for more reasons than for being a dumping ground for a corpse. It's another dialogue piece in which tension is built with wonderful, dreamlike description that may or may not have something to do with the Loch Ness Monster.

Twitter Sonnet #1273

A verdant book demands a dryer eye.
As pages crack for time again to turn.
Behind the stack we hear a shaky sigh.
Another word and something new was learned.
Observers check to see consistent squares.
A tally mark obscures the counted claw.
The cats establish base for fishy wares.
The truth of flannel mice became the law.
Discomfort chose the flaky chair for fame.
A thousand shreds of phony skin abide.
Synthetic snow submits another name.
An arm and leg as limbs at length collide.
In quarter years the clocks divide a pool.
In tests a timid toe decides the rule.

To-day brings a new chapter of my infrequently updated web comic, The Devils Dekpa and Deborah. Our heroines discourse with the supernatural and the worse for wear in this sea faring adventure comic. Enjoy.

Happy birthday, Wolfe Tone, Errol Flynn, Lillian Hellman, Lala Brooks, John Goodman, and Robert Rodriguez.