Mother of Mercy...

...Is this the end of Niko?

Sorry. I can never resist a Cagney reference.

But, alas, it seems to be case. Work on Killing Castro appears to have stalled, and now, in the latest version of his frequently mutating LitKicks profile, NasTim says he is leaving writing behind altogether. Now billing himself as a "digital video artist," he writes:

I have quite happily left publishing and relocated. I am now producing videos and am involved with doing video installations in a number of galleries. The work is charged with a visual and narrative creativity and I am having a lot of fun. The people are young and up and forward-looking and being around that is invigorating... My new work takes me to many new and far away places (filming deserts is a secret passion). I won't be publishing and I won't be on the Internet like I used to be. I am now that strange guy you see (or rather don't see) behind the camera. I am now the Old Man surrounded by much younger blood. I have a lot to learn and that is a big part of the creative challenge. No artist should ever get all that comfortable. -- Tim Barrus

I suppose it could happen.

And I will be good, restrain myself, and not, based on what has been seen of this new work, make any cracks about not quitting his day job. He has a good ear for pop, I'll grant you that.

Selfishly, I kind of hope he has, writing/publishing-wise, Left the Building. I think I've pretty much mined out my interest in the man and his work, and can happily, barring further fascinating new discoveries, put him to rest. It's been a useful and interesting exercise, thinking about identity with Timothy Patrick Barrus as a prism, but perhaps it's time to speak of other things.