You saw it here first. The cover art for my Attack of the Smart Pies, coming out this spring from Carus Publishing. In the book, Emma, an orphan girl in an awful predicament, seeks help from nine modern Muses, whose secret mission it is to help humanity, but who have so many problems of their own that Emma has to solve theirs before they can solve hers. Oh, and by the way, this is a novel—with real words—not a comic book!

Meanwhile on the blogspam issue, a reader writes: "I've never seen anything like it on other blogs, nor my own. I'm puzzled by it. " Pretty strange. Makes me wonder if I was deliberately targeted by somebody irked by something in History of the U... If you have something to add to this, email me by hitting the Contact button.