Hello, and happy May!

Frankly, it’s a chilly, dank day here right now, and doesn’t feel very May-like, but I have confidence that the Southern sun will return soon.

It’s been a busy spring, and I know I’ve been AWOL for a lot of it, but I wanted to drop in with a quick reading recommendation and update on a new story that–I promise–will be available soon.

I just finished this wonderful book: 

It’s a delightful story of a neuroscientist who decides to try training his dog to voluntarily undergo fMRI scans so that he can answer the age-old question, “What are dogs thinking and feeling? Do dogs think and feel?”

Actually, I don’t know why that’s a question at all. It seems blindingly obvious that dogs are thinking and feeling all the time, just like H. sapiens sapiens. But apparently, for many people the world consists of themselves (the only true sentient being) and a bunch of things. Some of those things move, vocalize, and otherwise show signs of sentience, but how can you really know? Maybe they’re all just robots and I’m the only real person out here? But if I run their heads through a scanner and certain colors light up on the screen, then I can be sure that they’re sentient too!

But I digress. And the book does not deserve that kind of snark. It really is delightful.

I also read it against the background of the ongoing efforts to rescue the dogs at Ridglan Farms. I’ve been following along the rescue attempts the better part of a year now, and although I couldn’t take part in any of the on-the-ground efforts, I did send some heartfelt letters to everyone from the Dane County Sheriff to President Trump. 

I watched both the open rescue attempts this spring as they were being live-streamed, and got to experience firsthand the rush of emotions that come when you see someone you consider to be “yours” getting pepper-sprayed in the face at close range. You can read an account by one of the rescuers here. One thing it leaves out is that the clouds of tear gas rolling across the property got sucked into the dog barns, presumably gassing the dogs confined in tiny cages.

Anyway, it was all quite a thing and the assumption afterwards was that there was a long fight ahead to save the dogs. 

BUT! BUT BUT BUT! Various rescue organizations and celebrities, including Lara Trump, had been trying to negotiate a deal to buy the dogs. Talks had ground to halt. Then the second, apparently failed, open rescue happened, and all of a sudden the deal went through! 

This is all a very long backstory to what I originally meant to write about, which was that I have a brand-new story in an upcoming Kickstarter for my other pen name about animal rescue and animal testing. It’s set in the near future and features someone who, like me, has some real skin in the game when it comes to medical research. Don’t worry, it’s not gruesome at all (I don’t think), but it is a heartfelt and, I hope, hopeful. If you’re curious, you can follow the Kickstarter prelaunch here and get notified when it goes live. (I really, really mean to launch it soon, like this month. I swear!).

Stay warm/cool/safe, everyone, and enjoy your reading!

E.P. Clark