Submitted: "Cutting Time"

I'm happy to hear that. Feedback is candy. One thing I really enjoy in speculative fiction -- my own or someone else's -- is laying out the usual and then looking for exceptions. How do people respond when things go wrong? Do they have any backup plan(s)? Who are the outcasts and how do they get pushed to the fringes? Does anyone try to pull them back in? So once we had the age-sets and the adulthood tests established as core concepts for the Northern culture, I wanted to see what would happen when those broke down.

One thing I like about Eshra as a character is that she's a timex gal: takes a licking and keeps on ticking. Despite the damage to her personality and social skills, she still makes the effort to participate as much as she is able. That changes over time, as she grows into her new context.

I'm glad to see other people enjoying her!

Doug and I have many areas of mutual interest. We also have some that don't overlap, which makes for variety. Reading is an overlap. He is an avid first-reader of my writing, too. By this point, he's had so much experience that he is more use to me than many professional editors I've worked with. He puts in a lot of hours making sure that my fiction is as good as it can be before it hits the market. We do revisions on other stuff sometimes, like nonfiction or poetry book manuscripts.