So in the course of researching a plot-point, I discovered that Wikipedia has an entry titled "Reproduction and pregnancy in speculative fiction," which opens with the following (emphasis added):

Because speculative genres explore variants of reproduction, as well as possible futures, SF writers have often explored the social, political, technological, and biological consequences of pregnancy and reproduction. However many SF writers have used their dreams for their inspiration, and dreams are known to provide prophetic content for everyone that has used them.

I find this noteworthy because I had a dream last night that I was sitting next to Kathryn Bigelow when she won her director's Oscar for The Hurt Locker, and while I can imagine ways in this dream would prove prophetic, they all involve either time travel, an oscillating universe, or brains in vats.

A holiday update on my novel-in-progress: I now have a contract with HarperCollins and a deadline. The finished manuscript is due at the end of next year, which means barring delays (and/or the collapse of the publishing industry) it will be published sometime in late 2011 or early 2012. Sorry to take so long, but as we all know by now, I write slowly. You should still have time to read it before the Mayan calendar runs out.

I'm still not ready to go into detail about the plot, but in essence, The Mirage is my attempt to tell a 9/11 story that isn't like other 9/11 stories. It's set in an alternate reality, primarily in Baghdad but with sidetrips to Cairo, Beirut, America, and Texas. The protagonists are a trio of Homeland Security agents who are investigating a bizarre claim made by a captured suicide bomber.

As I've mentioned previously, The Mirage started out as a TV-series pitch. Part of the challenge of writing it is taking the multi-season story arc I'd envisioned and fitting it into a single novel. While there are still some major issues I need to work out, at this point I have a pretty good sense of which of the many possible paths I want to take to get from the beginning to the end. I think it's going to be a great book.

A pop quiz for those of you who haven't already seen today's Times editorial page. Can you name the world leader who wrote the following?

"The basis for the modern State of Israel is the persecution of the Jewish people, which is undeniable. The Jews have been held captive, massacred, disadvantaged in every possible fashion by the Egyptians, the Romans, the English, the Russians, the Babylonians, the Canaanites and, most recently, the Germans under Hitler. The Jewish people want and deserve their homeland."

Answer here.