http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denouement

It is a splendid little word, isn’t it? Don’t ya just love the way it rolls off the tongue? Yep, and it’s French, you know. Literally, it means unknotting or unwinding. In a story, it’s the outcome of dramatic action, following the climax. The fate of the characters is revealed, harmony is restored, destinies are settled.

Well, Marty finally cracked last night, and spilled the beans. I’ve been waiting too patiently for too long for him to finally tell me what becomes of this little family I’ve created, and of their lands and lives, so I can write it down and get on with my own life. (Or perhaps I don’t so much write it down as type it up. And I mean to get on with my life by doing so, not afterwards.)

I’m afraid things don’t turn out too happily for our hero, as the new millennium staggers out into daylight, squinting and blinking at the sharp San Joaquin Valley sun. Marty finds himself cut off, adrift, and forced to face, literally, the means and instrument of his family’s greatest grief. As if Sisyphus, finally relieved of his burden, is made to sit and stare at The Stone, in the front yard of his house.

Why am I being so obtuse? Because you gotta buy the book, dudes. After I finish writing it. Well, a few of you will get free copies, but you still gotta wait. Except for this guy. In the mean time, you can learn more about the novel here.