Dear Cyndy,

Thank you for your letter and for the account of the award given to
Elizabeth. Thank you for your comments and advice concerning
publication. Since both novels are in German, it will make sense
ultimately to negotiate with organizations oriented to the German
market, although the perspective of how things are done in the US,
which nowadays is the font of all innovation, will be very useful.
Last night I finished editing Chapter 5 (of 43) of Die Andere, -
and my inclination is to complete the editing of _both_ novels,
certainly of one, before expending time exploring the publication
gambits. At the same time I'm continuing to add to Chapter 53 of
Die Freunde, though not as rapidly as I would like. It would be 
helpful to me to translate the new text into English, but as yet I
haven't taken the time.

Reading the encomiums bestowed on Elizabeth was an occasion for wistful
reminiscences of my own love affair with physics, my engagement
to which I broke after I was seduced by literature and philosophy.
It's ironic that I should now have occasion to return to the
love of my youth, physics costumed as fluid dynamics, in the context
of my contest with the Board of State Examiners of Plumbers
and Gas Fitters. Unwilling to spend hundreds of dollars on scientific
texts, and with the nearest science library a hundred miles away, 
(at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg) my only source of instruction and
wisdom is Wikipedia on the Internet, a facility that turns out to
be more than adequate. All that's required is to show that plumbers
are no physicists. They may be able to fit pipes to conduct the sewage,
but they can't explain how it runs downhill. In the absence of such
explanation, they aren't able to devise maxims, rules or regulations 
to control the actions of their fellows. They make fools of themselves
trying to do so.

The conceptual failure of the plumbing code has its complement in the
legal inadequacies of its enforcement. Each governmental entity in
Massachusetts, city, town or county, has its plumbing inspector who
supervises the plumbers that do work in his locality. The Board's website
states that it has jurisdiction over 25,400 plumbers in the Commonwealth.
That statistic seems high to me, but whatever the exact number, it's large.
39 meetings of the Board, from 7-7-2010 to 5-2-2012 are documented on the
Internet. In all these meetings, there was only 1 (one) appeal by a plumber
from an Inspector's decision, - not from Nantucket. It's not credible that
with so many plumbers over so protracted a period of time, there should
have been only one actionable dispute. What is credible is that since the
Inspectors' rejections and condemnations are all of them politically
motivated, prejudiced, subjective, arbitrary and capricious, the
intimidation that made Mr. Gordon fearful of his license for asserting
the code compliance of my plumbing prevails throughout the Commonwealth.
Plumbers can't afford to appeal the inspectors' decisions because such an
appeals would serve as a stigmas in the eyes of the Inspector on whose
good will and favors their businesses depend. A circumstance that adds
another dimension to the boast on Massachusetts license plates, that
Massachusetts is "The Spirit of America".

My immediate task is to discipline myself to conceal my thoughts, insights
or delusions as they may be, until the Board has ruled on my Appeal,
else the Board would be distracted from its evaluation of 3 Red Barn Road
by the need to justify its Plumbing Code, and the merits of my appeal might
be lost in the shuffle. At this juncture, I can attend their hearing 
confident in the knowledge that if they rule against me, as well they may,
I have on the shelves a set of telling arguments to give substance and
flavor to my case when next I visit the Court of Appeals.

Best wishes to you and Ned for the weekend and for the days and months
that follow.

Jochen