My design guy and I have both had a pretty hellacious couple of weeks related to various and sundry real-life issues. Unfortunately, that means The Devil’s Due is not likely to be ready to debut early next week as planned.

I’m sorry to disappoint those who may have been itching to find out what happens next to Taylor Smart. I promise, you won’t have to wait too much longer.

In the meantime, however, I thought I’d give you a free sneak preview of The Devil’s Due. Here, then, are just a few of the 86,000 or so words you’ll soon be reading:

• hiking
• zombies
• reality
• bragging
• froze
• kittens
• weekend
• animatronic
• Hebrew
• naked
• chocolate
• bounded
• flailing
• maelstrom
• exasperated
• toothy
• farted
• crypt
• trouble

And there’s plenty more where those came from! Stay tuned!