The story was fine, I think. But a mortified editor from Prairie Fire reached out to me to apologize that my last name was misspelled on the front cover. It was spelled correctly everywhere else: in the table of contents, on the first page of the story and in the footer, in the biographical note listed among the contributors, and on the back cover. Just not on the front cover–in big, bold letters. Thank you, God, for keeping my author ego in check.
More importantly, “Excavations” is now published–and looking quite fine, if I do say so myself–on pp. 7-16 of the summer 2023 issue. The story will also be appearing in my second collection of Mulder tales, The Healing Arts.
A colleague suggested that some day this cover might become a collector’s item. Hmmm.