I’m leaving for the ALA conference in Chicago shortly, returning middle of next week. Do not attempt to break into my house in my absence. It is safely guarded by a fierce MyGuy^TM and our rabid attack cat, Mr. Syphillupagus.

Before I go, I leave you with this thought:

Why is there no single word meaning “to give someone a drink?”

I might say, “I’m going to feed you now.” ‘Feed’ is a short way of saying I am going to provide you with sustenance. But there’s no equivalent for supplying a beverage. The closest I can come up with is “I’m going to slake your thirst now” and that just seems a bit over formal and you can’t say, “I’m going to slake you now.” Because, let’s be honest, it sounds dirty.

Any nominations for a word that will do this job?

UPDATE: Three words–Tauntaun sleeping bag.

Look, everyone. It’s simple.

From Dictionary.com:

My buddy Quinn wrote a book.

It’s being published this fall.

This is the book trailer.

I can’t tell you how excited I am and how I can’t wait to read this book.

You should read it too.

That is all.

I wish this had been around when I indulged in online dating.

Borders in the UK launches online dating service

I just think the guys that hang around a book-centric web site would be of higher calibre than the ones who slum it on all the other meet-up sites.  Of course, I lucked out and snagged a biblio-phile anyway.  But this new development does make me regret the time I’d spent trying to find somone on the internet. I would have settled for someone willing to use the word ‘date.’ (No, really, this was a problem I had.  If you got along online and wanted to meet in person, 95% of the guys I talked to would freak out if you called it a date. “IT’S JUST COFFEE!!!” they insisted, as if use of the word ‘date’ indicated some sort of unbreakable commitment.  That was the first red flag that things were NOT going to go well. In fact, I should have just ended things right there. “Hi, if you’re too chickenshit to call it what it is–a date–then I can tell you right now we’re not compatible.”)

I appear to have some residual hostility to burn off in this regard. Huhn.

Remember that Win a Wedding contest with Lavender Magazine where I asked y’all to vote for us?  Well it worked.

WE WON!!!

The official announcement will be in a July issue of the magazine.  The prizes are pretty awesome and will go a long way towards defraying our costs. We’ve been waiting for the results before we decided on a few key issues (like where to hold the reception) but now plans can proceed full speed ahead!

Thank you to everyone who took the time to vote (and for those who may have voted from more than one e-mail account)!  And special thanks to those who passed it on via e-mail or blog and got others to cast their votes.  MyGuy^TM and I really appreciate the support!

I’ve always loved the song “Africa” by Toto.

This is highly, highly cool.

In my teens, when I first discovered DOCTOR WHO, my family had a Friday night ritual. We’d go to the Ponderosa Steakhouse in town and, after dinner, I’d run over to the Rapids Mall to the B. Dalton Booksellers.  It was a small store but at the time, being an ardent geek, the sci fi section was all I ever cared about.  In particular, the small selection of DOCTOR WHO Target novelizations at the end of the section.  This is where I made my beeline each week and if I’d saved up enough money, I bought a new book each week. (Back then, they ran $3.50 to eventually about $6.00…. Oy, listen to me. ‘Back then.’  Next I’m be reminiscing about my first Geritol.)  They got to know me by name at B. Dalton and they happily got out their cobalt blue microfische to look up and order any WHO title I requested.  To this day, I worry that booksellers can see “Easy Money” written on my forehead.

The Target (the name of the publisher) books were adaptations of the stories that appeared on TV, not unlike movie tie-in books.  They were helpful in that I was able to read about the Doctor’s prior adventures that I’d never seen on TV (I started watching in the mid-80s and by that point, DOCTOR WHO had been around for almost 25 years) or I could get ‘backstory’ on recently screened eps.  This was how I came to enjoy the concept of work. I had to babysit and clean my heart out to earn money but I knew that when I did, it meant being able to get a new WHO book every week. (Note: This did nothing to teach my fiscal responsibility or the virtues of saving.  How could it, when there was the potential for a new WHO book every week?)

Target continued to produce these books, often written by the episode’s original writer, right until the very end of the Doctor’s original run (1989 with Sylvester McCoy’s final story, “Survival”). Recently, Mark Gatiss, the English actor and writer who has both written for and appeared on the most recent incarnation of DOCTOR WHO, wrote a loving tribute to this era and the books it published.  With an air of nostalgia and a gentle mockery, he notes how the books were very much a product of “house style” writing, employing stock descriptions for each of the Doctors and broad characterizations of the Doctor’s most familiar enemies.  Here’s one of my favorite lines form Gatiss’s piece:

“The hissing, green Ice Warriors were always described as ‘a once proud race’. I love that. I still long to create a race of aliens that were ‘once proud’ and are now… not.”

At one point, I had quite a nice collection of these books.  They do prompt a certain nostalgia for the “old days” of DOCTOR WHO.  I enjoyed reading the Gatiss piece, knowing that I wasn’t the only one with fond memories of these books and their (occasionally) cheesy covers.  Today, I can’t stomach tie-in books.  In the 90s, a series of “new” WHO adventures came out from a couple different publishers (today, the BBC has taken over publishing all new novels) and I gave up on them quite some time ago.  I realized that they just weren’t canon and, therfore in my mind, not worth my time. Oh, it sounds like some interesting things have happened in these books. Gallifrey was destroyed (somewhat prescient of what would come to pass on the revived TV show) and some highly questionable “facts” about the Doctor’s past was revealed.  But I stand by my own timeline which states if it didn’t happen on TV, it didn’t happen. (Although, I’ll admit to being quite fond of Big Finish’s audio adventures which use the original actors playing the Doctor and his companions to make all new stories. These I consider quasi-canon because I love hearing Peter Davison, Colin Baker, and Sylvester McCoy recreate the roles I came to adore on TV.)

Still, I keep coming back to my fond memories of the Target books.  They nurtured an almost insane amount of love for a property that, to this day, stokes my imagination and makes me proud to be a Whovian.

Does anyone else get this vibe from Iran?

So here’s a little project I should mention.

At work, I’ve launched a monthly podcast for Flux, the line of YA books for which I acquire. It’s called Eye on Flux and while ostensibly a marketing tool, it’s turning out to be rather fun.

For those who’ve never met me and have a burning desire to know what I sound like, check it out.  So far, I’ve interviewed a few of our authors, given away some free books (see, if you send questions about publishing, Flux, or almost anything and I answer your question on the podcast, I send you a free Flux book), and had a good time making a jackass of myself.

It’s been kinda neat. I get to use my (nearly long forgotten) training in audio/video production (although I’m still trying to get the hang of this modern, new-fangled equipment).  Right now, it’s only available via the podcast’s blog but we’ll soon be expanding and be available through iTunes (which is where it’s all at, don’tcha know). There are currently three available for download and each one runs about 30 minutes (although we had special guests in June so that one’s a bit longer).

So, yeah. If you know anyone with an interest in young adult literature, spread the word about the podcast.  If you know someone who wouldn’t mind a free YA book, tell them to submit a question and maybe they’ll be lucky enough to have it answered (instructions on how to submit questions are on the sidebar of the blog). We’re small but growing.

It’s time to do the Dance of Joy!  Do I go with this one?

Or this one?

What’s with all the dancing merriment?  I finished draft 1.5 of the middle grade book I’ve been working on.  Wheeee!

It’s (tentatively) called THE LIBRIMANCER’S GRIMOIRE and it boasts the WORST LAST CHAPTER IN THE HISTORY OF BAD LAST CHAPTERS.  But that’s where my beloved writing group comes in.  They will get out their +2 Vorpal Blades of Sucky Writing Slayage and put this bad boy in his place. And I will thank them for their cruelty and carnage.

Work has commenced on the next project. I can leave LIBRIMANCER alone for a while, waiting for the group’s feedback. I’m feeling blessed to be in the zone right now and getting lots of stuff done.  Huzzah!

I think I need a reward.  I know. 

BIKE RIDE!!!