I am still working on Grog 4; its in early stages, so a sudden blitz is not very likely, although I am settling down into the flow of the second section.

In other news, Grog got a one-star review on the basis that ‘slavery is bad’, a point I apparently failed the emphasize in that book. I find it odd that the post chose to note that slavery was bad, but apparently had no issues with the MC having 60+ kills in a gladiatorial game, but morality is a personal choice.

For those of you who are reading the Grog series, let me assure you that I am most emphatically anti-slavery/human trafficking in real life (and also am against death sports). I am, however, a writer of fiction, and I thought that the circumstances of Grog and his world to be an interesting venue. For those who are interested, I have based the overall situation and conditions of slavery in Grog’s world on the Roman institution of slavery.

Anyway, here’s hoping that everyone had a nice Thanksgiving, and that my Jewish readers, if I have any, have a pleasant Hanukah. I seldom forget that particular holiday (I man\y have told this story before) because years ago (a lot of years ago) I stopped a man for a traffic offense in the first week of December, and ended up writing him a ticket for not having valid liability insurance (a substantial fine in Texas).

While I wrote the ticket he very agitatedly told me I had no business issuing tickets at Christmas. Now, my agency did have an unofficial policy of not writing tickets between 20 December and the 25th, but that was still two weeks away. When the citation was signed, I told the man ‘Happy Hanukah’. I’m not Jewish, just a smartass. Although I felt that I also made a point in suggesting or pointing out that not everyone celebrates Christmas. But mostly, I was being a smartass. I did not intend any slight towards the Jewish people or their religious holidays.

The gentlemen drove straight to the PD, where he confronted my Sergeant with the situation. The Sergeant’s only question was “Do you have insurance?’

The man then proceeded to the Chief of Police (Skipping several layers of supervisors in the process) to complain on both me and my Sergeant. The Chief’s only question was the same as my Sergeant’s.

Thereafter, the Chief always made it a point to wish me a Happy Hanukah. I took the point, and did not repeat that (specific) wisecrack again.