Chefs Dine In

If you're a good cook, going out to dinner is often an exercise in picking apart your meal and reconstructing it in the perfect world of your own kitchen. "I would have added shallots to the butter." "This isn't creamy, it's just greasy." "I think they could have been more adventurous with the wine sauce." But it's possible to go out and have a meal and think to oneself "I would never have thought of this!"

About once a quarter, I have a similar opportunity. My writer's group, the Zombie Club, meets every other week to review each other's work and provide encouragement. In between critiquing each other's novels, we read our own short fiction, and last night was a fabulous opportunity indeed to hear some really first-rate stuff.

You can see one of my friends, S. G. Browne, reading his prize-winning story "Zombie Gigolo," his selection for last night. I feel lucky that we get to hear this stuff in the intimate setting of the Head Zombie's living room. IT's GREAT to have the privilege of having talented friends.