An interesting day, book-wise, on a couple of fronts.
After handling some manly, chore-like endeavors around stately Ward Manor–which included a pair of trips to the local brush drop-off site in order to deposit two truck-loads of tree limbs and other stuff I’d cut from various trees, I got cleaned up and set out to run some errands. My first stop? Dog Eared Books, a local independent new & used bookstore. I’d been contacted earlier in the week by the store’s owner, asking if I had spare copies of any of my books or any related promotional items which I might be willing to donate so that they could be included in gift baskets the store prepares from time to time. The baskets are then raffled, with proceeds going to one of several local charities they support. The current promotion’s set of baskets were being put together with a SF/Fantasy theme in mind, with proceeds on this occasion to be donated to the store owner’s young granddaughter, who was recently diagnosed with leukemia.
I wrote back, asking how many copies they might want, or if they wanted anything in particular, and the reply was that I should offer up whatever I wanted to donate. As I had some extra copies of various titles sitting in a box doing nothing, I put together a care package with four copies each of The Last World War and Counterstrike, my Typhon Pact novel Paths of Disharmony, and Star Trek: Vanguard novels Open Secrets and the just-released What Judgments Come. The box was well-received when I arrived at the store this morning, and joined a rather large pile of books and other materials which already had been donated, including a whole bunch of books from another local author you may know, the redoubtable Jim Butcher.
That was a good way to start the day.
While running other errands, I decided to stop in the Barnes & Noble bookstore (which is adjacent to the AMC movie theater that was scheduled to show the newest Star Trek film on their IMAX-ish screen. It required supreme effort not to throw off the rest of the day’s schedule for that) just to see what was what, as I’d not been there in some time. While perusing the SF/Fantasy section, I noted, among other things, two copies of The Last World War. I checked their copyright page, and smiled upon noting that both copies were from what had to be a recent ninth printing of the book.
I love being surprised by stuff like that.
And finally, upon returning to the Manor, I was greeted by a package bearing a German postmark. It was from Cross Cult, and inside were two copies of the German-language translation of Star Trek: Vanguard – Declassifed, or Enthüllungen as it’s known on that side of the Atlantic. So, thanks very much to Markus and the Cross Cult gang for hooking me up!
Also in the mail? A royalty check from Yard Dog Press, with monies earned from sales of two anthologies featuring stories of mine (along with a lot of other, better stories), Houston! We’ve Got Bubbas, and A Bubba In Time Saves None.
So, all in all? A pretty good day, book-wise.
And on top of that? A company picnic thrown by my wife’s employer at a local entertainment venue. Food, go-karts, food, mini-golf, food, video game arcade, food, kids running around and playing and pausing only long enough to make and eat Smores, and…um, food.
Yep. A good day.
Oh, and it’s not over. Once I get done here? It’s back to reading the copyedited manuscript for That Which Divides. So…back to work for me.
When the alien war engulfing a distant planet spilled to Earth through a network of hidden “portals,” humankind was plunged into an apocalyptic, generations-old conflict between the Plysserians and the Chodrecai. Now, months after the world’s most powerful military forces formed a tenuous alliance with the Plysserians and countered a devastating, three-pronged Chodrecai offensive, alien survivors continue to wreak havoc on a shell-shocked Earth. Martial law and civil unrest run rampant. Resistance cells and pockets of Chodrecai sympathizers are gathering strength. And two U.S. Marines – Sergeant Major Simon DiCarlo and Sergeant Belinda Russell – remain trapped on the alient planet of Jontashreena.
The Fog of Ward. 