Beginning Sunday, Oct. 22, I will publish on this page a serial novel tentatively titled Birnbaum: A Novel of Inner Space, set in a Japan only a few – maybe only one – can know. (Or is that an empty boast?) It will run in weekly installments of 3000-5000 words, a new installment appearing every Sunday morning, Japan time. How long it will continue I can't say precisely. Probably a year, possibly longer. There is no hurry. The novel is neither finished nor edited. Rough edges remain – and why not? There is something to be said for rough edges. Editors who cringe at them are mistaken.