And in his spare time...

A renaissance man of the revolution, Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos, leader of the Zapatistas, former philosophy professor, is co-authoring a serial detective novel with Paco Ignacio Taibo II, Mexico's most popular crime writer. The two men alternate chapters which are being published in La Jornada. The Guardian gives a brief synopsis (via Metafilter). The novel begins with two detectives (one apparently dead) who will meet in Chapter Nine:

Taibo says he has no idea where the story will go from there but, for the moment, he is more concerned about what to do with a gay Filipino with a Basque surname who worked in a Barcelona garage. Marcos introduced him in chapter three, playing football in Zapatista territory.

And I'm thinking to myself: if Marcos can find time to write a novel while leading an insurgent movement. . . my excuse is what exactly?