This story is a fantasy, set in present-day Chicago, and stars Yonnie and Mara, a pair of witches. Witches are very long-lived, and economic outcasts, relying on charity and their wits. Mara is also pregnant with Yonnie's child James, and will be for several more years. This requires a furtive livestyle. To make matters worse, she needs whale meat, which is damned hard to find in Chicago in a cold March. As I said, it's an interesting story, in which both witchcraft and calculus, the "mathematics of change" have critical roles to play.

Jeff tells me that the initial impetus for the story was his struggles with calculus as an undergraduate, a problem I share with the author. At any rate, I highly recommend Whale Meat and wish Jeff the best with his experiments in digital jukeboxes.