I'm rarely ever taken with jealousy over another writer's talent. Not that I think I'm so great--far from it--but I think I've just gotten to a point in my life where I know that I do my thing well and they do their thing well and we're all individuals with different skills and talents and, you know, that's what makes the world a wonderful place.

But every once in a while I'll read something--a book, a short story, whatever--that makes me want to toss in the towel, cause, hell, I'm never ever going to be that good, so what's the damn point? I had that experience this afternoon when I read Jeff Ford's contribution to International Pixel-Stained Technopeasant Day. It's called Weiroot and it concerns a character first met in Ford's fantastic short story "Boatman's Holiday. " If you haven't read "Boatman's Holiday," well then, it's your loss.