Just a quick note to mention that I’ve put a new story up on my website: “The Afghan Code” is my little spoof of The Da Vinci Code, which I loathed. I found it pretentious, pedantic, and fundamentally absurd; honestly, it was like looking into a mirror.

I was inspired to write “The Afghan Code” one day after my wife told me a story about a scandal involving a knitting store in a nearby town. Because I’m always inspired by the dark underbellies of the most banal activities (think David Lynch but with more quilting bees), I had to wonder what espionages and conspiracies could be found in the dark underbelly of the knitting community. And since I had just recently finished teaching a class at my church on “The Truth Behind the Da Vinci Code”, this story just seemed to come out of thin air.

Sadly, though, I was never able to get past the prologue. A spoof like this can only go so far as a spoof; at some point it has to have its own story, and I was never able to develop one. I’m open to suggestions.

“The Afghan Code” is not one of my Stories of the Week. It’s just a bit of flash I cooked up a few years ago.

Enjoy!