I don’t want to get political on my blog–that’s what Thanksgiving dinners are for–but come one. This is a rare week. When I crowed about my own accomplishments last weekend, I dared not hope that:

1. The Roberts Court would uphold the right of all American citizens to marry, not legislating from the bench, but correcting a wrong that never should have been a law in the first place.

2. The Court would also continue to prevent discrimination in housing.

3. And it would uphold the 8,996 words of the Obamacare legislation, as well as the drafters’ own intent, that contravened what a half-formed four-word phrase said.

On top of that, impossibly, the murder of eight more African-Americans by yet another racist terrorist ended up doing some good by causing the Confederate swastika to be dragged down from state house flagpoles and pulled from the shelves of major retailers.

My little victories are nothing compared to all this.

Is America perfect now? No, but it’s better on this Friday than it was on Monday.

Three sweet pieces of news:

1. Simon451 has decided to bring out The Dragon Round in hardcover instead of as an ebook original, which also means its pub date gets pushed back until June 2016. A small a sacrifice–and a deadline. My goal is to have the first draft of the sequel, The Dragon Tower, done by then. Right now I’ve written half of the second outline, and I’m resisting the urge to rewrite it again before doing the second half. Must push on.

2. I’ve had a third story accepted by AE, an SF crime story called “Wire Paladin.” The title comes from a certain TV gunslinger’s business card.

3. And in case you missed it on Twitter, here’s a link to my story in Flapperhouse #6, “Who Else Would Make a World Like This?” which is about four friends trying desperately to watch the series finale to Game of Thrones. They added what may be best spoiler alert ever.  They’re having a reading for the issue, which I may attend.

BTW, if you’re a Thrones fan, here’s your chance to predict in a funny way how it will all end. F&SF is running an excellent contest:

GAME OF PROSE
According to an announcement from his British publisher, the upcoming installment of George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series, The Winds of Winter, will not be released in 2015. We could reread the books again (and again). Or we could finish it ourselves. For your next assignment, write the last paragraph of Martin’s final book, A Dream of Spring.

Example:
And with the defeat of Stannis Baratheon, the seasons aligned, and the maesters could then determine that winter would last only ninety days a year. The remaining Starks changed their family motto to “Winter is coming. No, seriously.”

You have a maximum of six entries (either in one email/letter or six separate ones, it makes no difference), with a maximum of fifty words each. Make it funny, because we need something to cheer us up until 2016. Or, egads, 2017.

That said, it would be tough to top the reveal by GRRM’s editor Anne Groell Keck of the end A Dance With Dragons: