Heh. I stopped reading Altercation sometime during the long Pierce drought, and never picked it back up... but I'm always glad to see his work wherever I run across it.

I actually saw that particular edition when someone else linked to it; one thing I like about Pierce is the small (I hope) percentage of his jokes that go over my head. I had to Google just now to find out what "bowling agate" meant--on my previous read I just sort of blipped over it.