LAST CHANCE to order SIGNED COPIES!!

Today is the LAST CHANCE for you to order your signed copies of books by seven fantasy authors from our Waldenbooks signing!! If you'd like signed copies for yourself or as a gift for someone for the holidays, just send an email to April, the manager of the Waldenbooks, at fireun3@gmail.com or call the bookstore at (607) 798-7452 with the titles of the books you'd like, how you'd like them signed, where to send them, and then if you'd like the gift wrapped by the authors. The shipping will be free. Or, if you live close enough to Binghamton, NY, you can come to the signing and meet the authors and pick up the books yourself! Here's the info on the signing:

The "Last Hurrah!" Signing

Waldenbooks @ The Oakdale Mall
Reynolds Rd., Binghamton, NY
December 5th, 2009
Noon-4pm
Gift-wrapping available!
Featuring:
Patricia Bray; S.C. Butler
Barbara Campbell; Laura Anne Gilman
Jackie Kessler; Joshua Palmatier
Anton Strout


And if you aren't certain what books are up for grabs, here's a list of all of our books in print and available through the store:

Patricia Bray: The Sword of Change series: Devlin's Luck, Devlin's Honor, Devlin's Justice; The Chronicles of Josan series: The First Betrayal, The Sea Change, The Final Sacrifice

S.C. Butler: The Stoneways Trilogy: Reiffen's Choice, Queen Ferris, The Magicians' Daughter

Barbara Campbell: The Trickster's Game series: Heartwood, Bloodstone, Foxfire

Laura Anne Gilman: The Retrievers series: Staying Dead, Curse the Dark, Bring It On, Burning Bridges, Free Fall, Blood From Stone; The Vineart War series: Flesh and Fire

Jackie Kessler: Hell on Earth series: Hell's Belles, The Road to Hell, Hotter Than Hell; Black and White (with Caitlin Kittredge)

Joshua Palmatier: The Throne of Amenkor Trilogy: The Skewed Throne, The Cracked Throne, The Vacant Throne

Anton Strout: The Simon Canderous series: Dead To Me, Deader Still

And there you go! A long list of great books to browse from. I hope to see you at the signing, but if you can't make it, definitely send April a message with what books you'd be interested in.

What I Did Today Instead of Writing

So, today I ended up spending the entire day preparing the guest floor for . . . well, guests. Tomorrow, my brother and his wife will be arriving, probably late, followed by my mother on Friday. (We're having the family Thanksgiving on Saturday.) This required that change the sheets on the guest bed and then move a bunch of the furniture and plants around so that my mom has something to sleep on in a somewhat private area, since the fourth floor is all one big open space with bookshelves sort of sectioning things off. So I started moving things. But moving plants usually means things fall off of the plants, such as dead leaves and blossoms. More things than you would imagine the plant could be carrying in the first place. So this required the vacuum cleaner. I'd move, rearrange, then vacuum that spot. Then move, rearrange, and vacuum another spot. Etc. Then I'd return to the first spot and see that the plants had managed to drop more material onto the floor. This prompted me to attack the plant and remove as much material as possible from the stems and branches and whatever (which put even more stuff on the floor) and then vacuum.

Which of course led to the idea that I needed to vacuum the entire floor. So after everything was moved and the plants rearranged, I vacuumed everything. But one of the plants must have oozed some kind of sap or something, because the floor near where it used to be was sticky. So I got down on my hands and knees and scrubbed the floor. This appears to have made the stickiness worse. I've abandoned this sticky project for now.

But since I'd vacuumed, I felt the need to dust. So I started dusting. I'm not a duster, especially with as many bookcases as I have, so dusting didn't last long, but I did hit all of the major non-bookcase furniture.

This dusting/vacuuming idea led to general cleaning and rearranging and the putting out of all of the food I'd bought that isn't in the refrigerator in preparation for tomorrow. Because what am I doing tomorrow instead of writing? I'm going to cook whatever I possibly can make ahead of time. This may include the first ever apply pie, some pumpkin-shaped cheesecakes with Oreo cookie crumb bases, and some dips. I really think I need to make the dips because dips generally taste better if they'd had some time to sit and flavor. I'm going to make 4 dips: my famous artichoke dip, bacon-bacon dip, beau monde dip (a holiday tradition), and a spicy dip I can't remember the name of currently.

In the meantime, my partner is going to make our own Thanksgiving meal. And sometime late tomorrow, my brother and his wife will arrive and all of the festivities will begin.