A few months ago I found out that , powerhouse creator of the Youtube channel and Substack publication Gospel Simplicity, has a novel coming out in November which is the story of a young man’s pilgrimage — which sounded suspiciously like my own debut novel, The Pilgrims, which is now being released in March 2027! I wanted to chat with Austin about this remarkable coincidence and unpack why both of us are writing about pilgrimages in 2026.

(Of course, you should all buy both books and them compare them for yourselves.)

AAK
So Austin, before we get into it, can you give me a blurb or summary of your novel, The Long Road to Holy Island?

***note: the rest of this article is ‘free-walled’, which means the rest of the dialogue will appear below after you take out a free or paid subscription to Waymarkers.***

Austin and I are going to be chatting more about novels and faith and pilgrimages on his Youtube channel very soon, so stay tuned for that.

Also, please do order a copy of Austin’s book The Long Road to Holy Island (and put some money aside to order mine when it drops next year). We all want to live in a world where more books like these are published, and the only way that can happen is if people like you buy them.

Fortunately, I’m not stuck trying to figure this out on my own. I’ve asked the ever-insightful to help me untangle the nebulous knot of mystical experiences. Below is our dialogue, a format I much prefer to the ‘podcast’.

AAK
Okay, James. We’ve both had what we would call ‘mystical experiences’, and while it can feel tricky to write about them to a wider audience, my guess is they aren’t as unusual as we think. If we broaden the definition of ‘mystic’ just a bit, we find that many people have had an experience they cannot quite explain, that doesn’t quite align with rational materialism (i.e. seeing ghosts, hearing voices, prophetic dreams, etc.). To my mind, there are two ways this happens:

1. You’re in a heightened state of emotion or altered brain chemistry which makes you more perceptive of non-rational occurrences.

2. You are intensely focused and in the flow of an activity or meditation or contemplation so that your mind is very quiet, and you are caught off guard by something you’ve never seen before.

What do you think? Are mystical experiences actually commonplace and we just filter them out because we don’t have a good way of understanding them? Or are there different categories of mystical experience and some are more meaningful than others? And how do these personal experiences all fit into more mainstream religion?

***note: the rest of this article is ‘free-walled’, which means the dialogue will appear below after you take out a free or paid subscription to Waymarkers.***

Do our experiences and thinking align with your own ‘spiritual’ or ‘mystical’ or ‘unexplainable’ experiences? Let us know in the comments, as this is something we’re both interested in understanding beyond our own perspectives…

RECAP: Last week, Nellie told Leila, Rudyard, and Mim about the standoff between three groups seeking to control Arakan — Portuguese pirates, samurai bodyguards, and the Crown Prince’s young followers. Leila devised a plan to trick Filippe’s pirates and Nakamasa’s samurai into being ambushed by the Crown Prince, allowing Leila, Rudyard, and Mim the opportunity to enter the temple and retrieve the Tiger’s Paw and make their escape…

Part 9 (End of the Affair)

The inside of the Kothaung temple was less labyrinthine than Rudyard had expected, and despite the darkness, they soon found their way through the twisting passageways into the central chamber. The roof was partially open, whether by design or neglect, and thin strands of moonlight were streaming down upon the stone floor. In the center of the chamber, upon a pedestal, lay the Tiger’s Paw.

It was larger and more beautiful than Rudyard had expected. A deep turmeric orange, with a few white and black stripes up the sides, divided into four thickly padded toes. Cruel black claws curled downward, glinting in the moonlight as Rudyard drew close. The Paw had been preserved somehow, maybe taxidermied. It still looked fresh and alive — as if it could spring off the stone table and cut him to pieces.

Lelila had brought a bag to put the Tiger’s Paw in, so they could avoid touching it until they had made their escape. She didn’t quite trust the Crown Prince to honour his bargain to let them go, especially once he saw the mystical object. She handed the bag to Rudyard, who grasped it without taking his eyes off the Paw.

“Be careful,” Leila warned, but Rudyard wasn’t listening. He was reaching out to grab the Paw, and once he had it in his grip he stopped hearing Leila altogether.

The heft of the Tiger’s Paw was surprising, even though it was bigger than his own hand. It dragged his whole arm down, but he did not want to let it go. Rushing up his arm and into his chest was an overwhelming sense of power, like the Paw was filled with energy, like it could conduct electricity. Then out of the silence, he began to hear words.

The only way Rudyard could describe it later was to use Tagore’s style of speech, that he had ‘heard the words of the poets’, whereas Leila insisted it must have been the voices of saints and angels. Whichever it was, there were clearly words being chanted in a distinct rhythm, but in a thousand different tongues, swirling through the air around his head. And with the words came visions, ghostly images which became more distinct the longer he looked at them. They were images of his future, or of possible futures. He saw himself striding over continents like a giant, then galloping at the head of a cavalry charge, then receiving a golden crown before a standing ovation. Somehow the Tiger’s Paw knew his most secret desires. He could feel his heart pumping, louder and louder, until even the chanting voices were drowned out. He clutched the Tiger’s Paw and began waving it in front of his face, frozen to the spot, deaf and blind to the outside world. Which is why he didn’t notice when Filippe and one of his pirates came clattering into the temple sanctum and pushed Leila and Mim to the ground before snatching the Paw from him.

Filippe forced Rudyard to his knees and wrapped a thick arm around his neck before tossing the Tiger’s Paw to the other pirate, a large man with a great red beard.

“Giraldo, make your wish,” Filippe instructed. “Wish for what you want most. In the whole world.”

Giraldo frowned, trying to concentrate as the Paw’s power began to affect him. He closed his eyes and screwed up his face, until his forehead and nose turned as red as his beard. And then he crumpled forward, splaying onto the ground with an awful slap as flesh met stone. He was dead, killed instantly by the Tiger’s Paw.

“Eita! How can this be…” Filippe breathed, and momentarily relaxed his grip on Rudyard’s neck.

Rudyard took the opportunity to slip away and dash over to where the Paw lay on the ground, next to the dead pirate’s hand. Being careful to use the bag this time, Rudyard gathered the Tiger’s Paw up and as Filippe charged at him, Rudyard tossed the bag over the pirate’s head. Leila caught it and she and Mim moved toward the corridor that led back to the temple entrance.

“Go!” Rudyard called as Filippe tackled him.

Mim hesitated, tugging on Leila’s sleeve. They both turned to watch Filippe bludgeon Rudyard with a series of blows that winded the younger man and sent his spectacles clattering to the ground.

“By Jove… go now!” he managed to choke out as Filippe brought his thick fingers to Rudyard’s throat.

Leila felt the weight of the Tiger’s Paw in the bag and made a split-second decision, clasping Mim’s hand and dragging the girl behind her as they sprinted back to the forecourt.

Rudyard was going to die. Filippe was so much stronger than him — a hardbitten former soldier of the Portuguese navy, a murderer and plunderer, a man of terrible violence. Rudyard — the young journalist, the juvenile poet, the writer of entertaining stories — didn’t stand a chance. As he gripped and clawed at the iron fingers crushing his windpipe, his only thoughts were for his parents and sister back in Lahore. They would forever wonder what had happened on his ‘jolly adventures’. How could they understand that he had been drawn into something far more mysterious and important than anything any of them could ever imagine? That over the course of a strange and twisting quest, he had transformed into the kind of person who would sacrifice his life to save another.

And then, unexpectedly, there was the pounding of footsteps and a shrill scream, and the weight of the Portuguese pirate was wrenched off him, and Rudyard watched in blurry confusion as a pale figure plunged a dagger into Filippe’s chest, then drew it out and stabbed the man over and over, howling out to the moon through the gaps in the temple ceiling. The Crown Prince had finally avenged the man who killed his father.

Nellie had followed the Crown Prince and she knelt at Rudyard’s side, retrieving his spectacles and putting them on his face.

“Leila and Mim?” Rudyard whispered as the Crown Prince shoved Filippe’s bleeding body to the floor and wiped off his dagger.

“They got out, they’ll reach the port,” Nellie said softly. “But the Crown Prince’s troops have got their hands full out there. Those pirates and samurai are frothing at the mouth, and well, these kids have never seen real action.” She glanced at the Prince, his alabaster skin stained with scarlet blood. “It’s going to be a real fight I s’pose.”

When they got out of the temple, Rudyard saw Nellie’s prediction was accurate. The pirates and samurai outnumbered the Crown Prince’s makeshift army, and compared to the scared boys and girls, the pirates and samurai were grizzled fighters. A few had snatched spears off their guards and a full-blown riot was underway in each corner of the forecourt. Before Rudyard had time to think, Ganesh came stomping over and wrapped his thick trunk around Rudyard’s middle, pulling him off the ground, then placing Rudyard onto his back. A shrill whistle pierced the night and Ganesh lumbered toward the sound, out of the temple complex and toward the road which led to the port.

Rudyard twisted around to check on Nellie, but she was strolling comfortably up to a vantage point from where she could observe whatever unfolded below, happy with any outcome as long as she could capture it in sellable prose.

A few of the pirates and samurai spotted Ganesh making his escape and broke away from the main skirmish, setting off in pursuit. Rudyard saw them over his shoulder, and leaned down to murmur into the elephant’s ear.

“If possible, old chap, you might want to pick up your pace.”

Leila and Mim had winched up the anchor of the ‘Vasco de Gama’ but Mim refused to loosen the last rope holding them to the wharf. She stood balanced on a tall pole, holding the rope out of Leila’s reach. She knew better than to get on a vessel before everyone she cared about was on board.

Then Ganesh and Rudyard came thudding down the road, angry samurai and pirates in close pursuit, and Leila barely had time to get out of the way as the elephant clambered straight onto the ship. The lumbers creaked as Ganesh tried to find his footing, smashing through one of the smaller masts like it was a twig, and the ship began to push out into the river, dragging Mim from her position as she clutched the rope. With a desperate leap, she flung herself at the departing ship and somehow found Leila’s hand, dangling from the side of the boat. Shakily, Leila pulled the girl up into the boat and they collapsed on deck, looking up as Rudyard slipped off Ganesh’s back and limped over to them.

“You have the Paw?”

Leila nodded her head to the bag next to the ship’s wheel.

“I cannot believe that worked,” she breathed, closing her eyes and letting out a deep exhale.

Rudyard let out a hoarse chuckle as he watched the Crown Prince march down the road with more of his young troops to round up the escaped pirates and samurai. He lifted a ghostly hand in farewell and Rudyard returned the gesture.

Leila burst into exhausted laughter, clutching at Rudyard’s arm as he drew her to her feet, then collapsing against his chest.

“We did it, we did it, we did it” she kept repeating, embracing Rudyard with both arms. And with a wild whoop, she tilted her face upward and kissed him.

Rudyard took a few steps back, blushing furiously. Leila turned away too, helping Mim to her feet. A silence descended, which neither of them knew how to break. But eventually, Rudyard made his way over to where Leila and Mim stood by the railing, and lay a hand on top of Leila’s. And there was something right about standing on the deck of that ship in the balmy night air, feeling the current of the river catch them and carry them toward the Bay of Bengal. It was over. They had completed their quest.

The sun rose over the water as they sailed west toward Calcutta, hugging the coast. Between them, Leila and Rudyard knew enough about ships to head in the right direction, and the weather was perfect, with flat seas and a gentle breeze pushing them onward. Like a giant hand was guiding them home.

“Do you want to know something I just realised?” Leila called out to Rudyard as he held the ship’s wheel and she tied off the rigging on their main sail, careful to avoid Ganesh’s legs as the elephant stood perfectly still. “The only reason you are here is because you wanted some bloody adventure stories. But now you have had an adventure that you can never write about!”

She laughed and Mim, tucked up on a ladder above Rudyard’s head, giggled as well.

Rudyard smiled wryly. “I suppose. But I think I can find a way to distill some of this as inspiration. Though it might take me a while before I am up to the task.”

“Magical objects? Elephant helpers? Pirates and samurais and albino princes? Far too fantastical, isn’t it?”

“Yes, well I shall tone it down,” Rudyard chuckled. “Truth really is stranger than fiction.”

Suddenly the whole ship jolted and there was a terrible crunching sound, like they had run aground. Rudyard and Leila fell over while Ganesh managed to keep his footing and Mim held onto the ladder. A giant gunship loomed over the ‘Vasco de Gama’, flying the French tricolour. And standing on board were Monty and Jonno.

The Frenchman pranced his way onto the deck of the ‘Vasco de Gama’ while Jonno followed behind him, and a dozen soldiers trooped over to hold bayonets to Ganesh’s flank, prodding the elephant until his huge eyes watered.

“Bonjour, mes amis! How nice it is to be seeing you again.” Monty sneered at them and removed his blue-striped plinth helmet, revealing a few thin strands of greasy black hair raked across his scalp. “We will be taking the Tiger’s Paw and my briefcase, tout suite.”

“Hand ‘em over,” Jonno drawled, patting the pistol hanging from his belt.

Rudyard sat in stunned disbelief, while Leila scrambled to her feet, quickly handing over the black bag containing the Tiger’s Paw and the briefcase they had been carrying for weeks. She backed away slowly, watching Jonno’s hand as it hovered over his gun.

“How did you know we would be here?”

Monty laughed through his nose. “After your little altercation, Jonno met me on the road into Pokhara and told me everything. Thanks to him I knew Nepal was a cul de sac, I knew you did not have the Tiger’s Paw, and I knew the coins came from Arakan. So I went back to Calcutta and sent one of my men to Arakan to see what was happening there.”

“And so when we went east with your briefcase —”

“— I sent a letter to my man in Arakan to keep watch. He spotted you weeks ago, and when I received his letter I prepared my ship. I knew you would bring the Tiger’s Paw to me.”

Monty seemed to be enjoying himself, but Rudyard could see Jonno was on edge, watching the black bag which held the Tiger’s Paw, waiting to see what Monty would do with it. The Frenchman set the bag down as he crouched to open his briefcase.

A primal scream pierced the quiet morning, and Mim swung down on a rope from the tallest mast, snatching the Tiger’s Paw from the deck, and swinging back around to the mast. She began climbing up toward the crow’s nest as Monty and Jonno both drew their pistols and fired into the air.

“Stop!” Leila shouted. “Or she will drop the Tiger’s Paw!”

Monty cocked his head and scowled, motioning for Jonno to lower his weapon.

“It is a very delicate object,” Leila said solemnly. “The girl is wild, but she listens to me. I will retrieve the Paw for you, and then you can leave us alone.”

Jonno pulled Rudyard off the ground and held a pistol to his head. “Fine, but no more monkey business. Or your petit amis gets it.”

There were several awful minutes as Leila clambered up the mast, eventually making it to the crown’s nest where Mim had tucked herself away. Rudyard could smell the sweat on Jonno’s skin and the rum on his breath. Monty hovered nearby, stinking like old cheese and growing more red-faced with each passing moment.

“We are waiting!” Monty called up to Leila. “Unless you want Mr Kipling to meet his death!”

Leila ignored the jibes. Monty was unlikely to shoot Rudyard, he never liked doing his own dirty work, plus he wanted the Tiger’s Paw more than anything. He had crossed the entire subcontinent looking for it, and he wasn’t about to let it slip away or be damaged.

The crow’s nest was a small wooden bucket affixed to the top of the main mast. Leila had to squirm to wedge herself next to Mim. The girl looked up at her with green eyes ringed with exhaustion and fear.

“What are you going to do?”

Leila gestured for the bag. “Well molay, I think it is finally time for me to make my wish.”

As Leila grasped the heavy orange paw in her hands, she experienced the same overbearing power that Rudyard had, the buzzing sound of voices speaking in languages she didn’t know and the materialisation of ghostly visages. But there was another sound, cutting through the buzzing noise. It was the calm voice of a man, speaking with a deep and hypnotic accent. Leila felt her grip on the Tiger’s Paw loosening as she looked down at Mim and then looked further down at where Rudyard stood with Jonno’s gun to his skull. She felt as if she was floating up and out of her body. The Tiger’s Paw was no longer heavy in her hands. It dawned on her that there was nothing to wish for, because she already knew what she wanted, and she didn’t need a magical object to make it happen.

She dropped the Tiger’s Paw back into the bag.

“What happened?” Mim whispered.

But before Leila could answer, a huge gust of wind came up over the water and filled the white sails of the ‘Vasco de Gama’. The ship lurched forward, away from Monty’s ship, sending everyone on deck stumbling. The ship sped forward, rushing toward the sharp rocks on the nearby shoreline. To her left, Leila spotted a giant surge of waves coming across the water. She grabbed Mim and braced herself against the sides of the crow’s nest. The boat was slammed twice, once by the impact of the waves, and again when it bounced off the rocks. A second wave leaped up and over the boat and washed across the deck, sending all the men overboard. Ganesh, wisely, had wrapped his trunk around a mast and managed to keep his footing.

Rudyard was washed into the sea along with Monty and Jonno. As he surfaced, he spotted Monty treading water next to the side of the ship, holding his briefcase above his head. Rudyard swam up behind him and grabbed the briefcase. Monty turned to snatch it back, and was whacked over the head with a giant piece of wood. The ship was splitting in two on the rocks, smashed by the waves and bending under the enormous weight of the elephant.

Rudyard watched as Ganesh stumbled off the ship and landed in the water with an immense splash and began swimming for shore. Shaking off his momentary shock, Rudyard kicked his legs and managed to follow in the elephant’s wake. He heard two more splashes behind him as Leila and Mim jumped from the crow’s nest while the ship continued to fall apart on the rocks.

Ganesh led them to a narrow strip of beach, and they collapsed soaking onto the sand, leaning against the elephant as the sun and wind dried their clothes. They could see the ‘Vasco de Gama’ sinking beneath the waves, but they couldn’t see any other swimmers. Whether Monty and Jonno and their men had gone under with the ship, or whether they had managed to swim to shore, they couldn’t say.

Rudyard felt exhausted. He lay against Ganesh and watched the wheeling seagulls and waited for the pounding in his head to subside. He could hear Leila murmuring prayers under her breath. Eventually she sat up.

“We are saved! It is a miracle!” Leila laughed joyously. “Rudyard! Can you believe it? A miracle!”

Rudyard sat up slowly. “It may have been a freak storm — ”

“ — that came out of nowhere and hit the boat at the exact right time?” Leila rolled her eyes.

“It could be,” Rudyard said, smiling ruefully. “Look, you know I do not really believe in — ”

“ — all that rubbish.”

“Exactly. But I am not too proud to admit, this is something I really cannot explain….” He trailed off and looked down at the wet briefcase lying next to him. “I did manage to get you a gift, if that helps?”

Mim scampered over and took the briefcase and placed it next to the black bag which held the Tiger’s Paw.

“So, what did you wish for?” Rudyard asked after a moment’s pause. “For a big wave to hit us?”

Leila’s face grew serious and she shook her head. “I did not make a wish. I already know what I want, and I can have it right now.” She turned her body toward him and moved closer.

Rudyard found a handkerchief in his pocket which was somehow still dry, so removed his glasses and wiped them. “Oh?”

“I want a home, Rudyard. To be with someone I can build a life with.” She was staring at him, unblinking, and Rudyard found it hard to meet her gaze. Even Mim could sense the tension, backing away and sinking to a crouch.

“What I need, what Mim needs, is a man. A good man. Who can help us be a family.”

Rudyard raised his eyebrows and considered Leila’s upturned face. How the sun struck her cheekbones and lips and wonderfully large brown eyes. He felt something stir within his chest.

“Father Bendang is that man.”

Relief flooded Rudyard, with a slight hint of disappointment.

“His home is where the Tiger’s Paw belongs. He asked me to bring it back to the Nagas if I found it. And he said that if I wished to raise Mim somewhere she could roam freely, he would take us in as his wife and daughter.”

“I see,” Rudyard said softly. “So that was your big discussion in Pokhara?”

Leila nodded, her eyes searching him. “What do you think?

“I think it is a jolly good idea,” Rudyard said quickly. “And Ganesh will enjoy the hills. There will be plenty of space for you all.”

Leila gestured at Mim to come over and the girl obeyed, nestling in next to Leila. “If there is any hope for Mim or me, it is to start over somewhere new. Where we can build a new life. As a family.”

“I agree entirely,” Rudyard murmured, placing a hand on Leila’s.

They found their way to a road, walking slowly to put off the inevitable. Rudyard had agreed to take Monty’s briefcase up to Simla, to the Viceroy’s summer residence, and show him the Field Marshall’s slave trading plans.

“My parents know the Viceroy’s family,” Rudyard had explained. “He will at least give me an audience. And after that, well we must leave it to Providence.”

Leila and Mim were going to make their way up to the Naga Hills. Riding on Ganesh’s back up through the Purvanchal Range until they reached Father Bendang. It would be a long journey.

“But,” Leila pointed out. “We are not in any rush. We do not have anybody chasing us, or anything we are chasing. No more bloody badmaash.”

They laughed, which quickly turned to tears for Leila and Mim, so Rudyard knew it was time to make his goodbyes and make them quickly. Rudyard embraced them both, promising to visit them in the Naga Hills one day. Then he gave Ganesh a firm pat on the leg and turned, squaring his back against the rising eastern sun, and set off down the dirt road. He would hit another road eventually, and then another, and eventually one of the roads would have other people on it, and they would be able to tell him where the nearest town was, and where the nearest train station was from that town. And so it would go. One step after another, one road leading to the next one, a train or a ship or a horse or a camel or an elephant or an air balloon. The entire world was traversable, if one only had the willingness to keep going.

Rudyard reached a slight crest in the road and stopped to look back for a moment. There in the distance was a perfect picture: a girl and her mother, riding on an elephant, toward the rising Indian sun.

— FIN —

Thank you so much for reading The Tiger’s Paw. I know a nine-part serial is a big investment, so you all have my deepest gratitude.

There is so much more to come with Waymarkers, including the released of my debut novel THE PILGRIMS, coming soon from !! If you like my fiction writing (or any of my writing really) then I know you are going to love THE PILGRIMS. Stay tuned, and get ready to order hundreds of copies for all your friends and loved ones.

Note: Paid subscribers to Waymarkers get lots of great benefits (including, but not limited to, being called Wayfarers™ in the group chat), and this will extend to the release of THE PILGRIMS… so it is a very good time to go paid!

RECAP: Last week Rudyard discovered that Ganesh had been following them down the river and Mim had been secretly meeting with him. Leila accepted that the elephant was now part of their motley crew and after a few more days they arrived at the mysterious kingdom of Arakan. A Portuguese gunboat dominating the…

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RECAP: Last week Tagore took Rudyard, Leila, and Mim to the Unakoti rock carvings and sang a song which caused Leila to have a mystical experience relating to the Tiger’s Paw, while Mim made friends with an elephant called Ganesh. Tagore and Rudyard found some mutual respect despite their differences, but an…

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RECAP: Last week Mim spotted Monty and Sir George in deep conversation and stole a briefcase the Field Marshall was passing to the Frenchman, and Rudyard, Leila, and Mim made a quick escape on a train heading to Dhaka in Bengal. Pursued by Russian soldiers, they were rescued by Rabindranath Tagore himself, a…

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RECAP: Last week Leila heard rumours around Pokhara that a mysterious man was looking for them, and then a Naga pastor named Father Bendang appeared claiming an angel had sent him. Rudyard, Mim, and Leila followed Father Bendang to the heart of darkness, where a temple supposedly guarded the Tiger’s Paw. Lei…

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RECAP: Last week Rudyard was halfway convinced that Mim was indeed raised by wild animals after seeing her fishing in a mountain lake. An altercation with some goats resulted in Jonno accidentially destroying the gas balloon, but when he attacked Rudyard out of misplaced anger, Mim knocked Jonno unconscious …

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RECAP: Last week Leila, Rudyard, and Mim made their way down from the mountain fort and saw Monty riding north toward Tibet. Rudyard and Leila got reacquainted and Leila told Rudyard about finding Mim out in the wild and that the girl claimed to be raised by snow leopards, while Rudyard admitted he had been …

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RECAP: Last week we met Leila and Rudyard in a fort hidden deep within the Khyber Pass, where a rogue Russian soldier had set himself up as king. Leila disguised herself as a nun and a mysterious child helped her steal documents from Monty, a French slavetrader, while Rudyard played journalist and took notes…

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I recently went through some family papers and came across a diary written in the late 1880s. The diary contained the story of The Tiger…

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Whenever I get to the limits of my own thinking I try to find someone more intelligent to pester with questions (even better if it’s someone who has professionally studied the topic). So although it makes me feel simultaneously old and unwise that the expert I’ve been pestering is younger than me, is such a gentleman th…

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It’s been a fun few weeks seeing my poetry chapbook, LUMINOX: a journey through the blinding dark, sell out its first printing. Poetry is not usually popular, so it’s heartening to see so much interest in idiosyncratic art-poems about birth, death, science, cosmology, doubt, faith, darkness, light, seeking, and finding.

The publisher is planning a second…

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Life Is A Different Category

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I.

Many of you will have heard C. S. Lewis’ ‘argument from desire’. He used a version of it …

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It’s been 9 months since I did one of these roundups, and there are now nearly 1,900 of you subscribed to this strange journal of mine(!) which is staggering and lovely. Thank you for being here.

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