Journeyman

There I was at 4:45 in the morning, with stars overhead... and a few small meteors in the span of my ten minutes or so spent absorbing the experience. The sky was slightly bland from the humidity of the dew, and probably from the dawn too, barely imminent.

Sounds in the distance, coyotes, owls, a truck zooming along very far away on the expressway, a car on the road from Albion to Winslow, some chirpy things that were probably birds. Thankfully, no cluck from the chickens our neighbor has imported to pollute the country sounds.

A sound from behind me as I stare up: Scrabble, jumping into the kitchen window. Usually I'll take her out for a turn on the deck a couple times a day, but rarely in the dark -- and not this morning. Scrabble is very cat, sometimes chases behind me through the open door ... or struggles from my arms. In the light I can find her easily.

Meanwhile, I dunno what was up. Neither of us could sleep once Mozart jumped off the bed and began proclaiming ... something ... in the kitchen. I thought he'd caught a mouse, so got up full of chase-the critter-down energy but apparently he just needed to say something. He...went back to sleep.

Or maybe it's the excitement, since this is the "official" pub date for Duainfey. Reallio trullio, this would be a good day for you to rush off to your favorite genre shop, big box store, or local indie and buy or order a couple copies. If you've done this already, let another friend or two know, or ask your library to get a copy in.


Duainfey .. by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller
# ISBN-10: 1416555528
# ISBN-13: 978-1416555520
$24

Apparently in stock in some Borders, at some Barnes & Noble, at Amazon, at Uncle Hugos, at Larry Smith Bookseller, also at Powell's, Books-A-Million, at Chapters, and soon to have signed copies at Mysterious Galaxy. We'd like to hear reports of sightings, too -- anyone seen one at a Waldenbooks? At Tattered Cover in Denver? Toadstool Books in New Hampshire? Constellation Books (the one in Reisterstown, MD.) ... and how about Little Professor? Or maybe Greetings and Readings? Really ...get us a list of who has it an we'll post it here as time permits....

Hehe -- a search at Wal*Mart online seems to indicate they *do not* carry Duainfey. Whoa, now that's a sign of book about magic gone bad, alright. Too bad for the big-squeaky clean.

FWIW, Duainfey's been bouncing around in the amazon rankings - we've seen it in the 2000s and in the 12000s in the last week, this morning it was 8023.

And now go, spread the word about Duainfey! -- there are writers in the world and they need crunchies for their cats!

Before I forget:

robocalls on endangered list? At least some of them are ....
http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/31211?t51hb ... and notes on a movement to derail political robocalls. All those wasted electrons!

Yesterday the lily count was 7 ... haven't had my coffee yet nor glanced outside for a fresh count today yet.

The highest amazon ranking on Duainfey we saw was 9430 and I saw BN.com and 14370. Go readers! Several FoL report getting their books in the mail already! This morning's amazon rank right now is ... hey! 8261 ... we'll take it!


#1 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Authors, A-Z > ( L ) > Lee, Sharon
#1 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Authors, A-Z > ( M ) > Miller, Steve
#27 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy > Epic

Wait, did someone finally at amazon realize this is not a contemporary? Cool!

So yes, I did get to the PO yesterday. This does not mean I'm caught up. This also does not mean the house is free of coldish symptoms. Me, I'm buying stock in premium white facial tissue manufacturers, when I get my next bonus...

Partial Catch-up Time!

I had a great time in Denver but got weighed under when it came to reporting. Then, I sneezed my brains out, so I'll probably still miss stuff, but... random things I noticed or had thoughts on:

Denver Amtrak station -- help, you needz it. The great vault of a ceiling is very fancy and makes your PA speakers useless. The people shouting from floor level aren't an improvement. What you need to do is hang flags of all the states, or maybe flags of all the cities AMTRAK serves, from the ceiling to absorb some of that echo.

Denver 16th Street Mall: the thing really feels friendly and laid back until the the packs of bike-police in black come by, and then you wonder what's up. That SWAT look is *so* last century.

Denvention's Fan Hydration Device was very useful. *IS* very useful. TY!

I never got a good look at the art show at Denvention. Gah! Too busy for the artshow is *too* busy. Note to self: Must make time at Anticipation.

Question for readers -- we're looking for Safeway *store*. For argument sake let's say we live in the PO Box headquarters ... well, let's call it Waterville, ME, 04901 ... so is there a Safeway anywhere close to our route to, say, AlbaCon? There seems to be a Safeway listed in Bangor, but I think it is a ghost, or a potato-buying office.

I've had a number of birthday presents arrive today, not the least of which has been the greetings from LJ here and on other journals, and from various readers -- we have a rainy, gray day here, so cheer is good.

The most recent birthday present? Our author's copies for Duainfey arrived just ahead of a roaring thunderstorm -- entirely appropriate for the book. The cover is simply amazing in person. Even the spine is readable at 5 paces!

Dinner's next. Catch you all later.