If You're Not Ready To Die, Then

Not Everything Has To Mean Something. Some Things Just Are.

You Know How We'd Get Along Better? If Everybody'd Just Remember How We're All Related. White, Black, Asian, Skin. No Difference. All The Bloodlines Go Back To That One Old Mama In Africa.

... We Chase After Ghosts And Spirits And Are Left Holding Only Memories And Dreams. It's Not That We Want What We Can't Have; It's That We've Held All We Could Want And Then Had To Watch It Slip Away.

The Only Real Reason For Self-referencing Is The Fun Factor. It's Fun For The Writer, Getting Little Peeks At What Old Characters Might Be Up To. And It's Fun For Readers To Spot A Familiar Face, Or Pick Up On A Made-up Book Title Or Something From An Earlier Story. I Don't Know That It Does -- Or Even Should -- Contribute To The Story In Hand Being Any Better Than It Would Have Been Without It.

It's Not All About Getting Your Own Way. Sometimes There's A Bigger Picture.