Hi this is Michael, Chris’ brother…I will be filling in for him while he is away.

ironelves.com is now officially online. The links and a lot more are yet to come, but the main page does link back to my blog here.

Yesterday was a busy one as I got ready to fly tonight to London. Among many things I spoke briefly with my publicist here in NY and my publicist in Canada (I’m going to love saying that.)

If you’re following the ARC-RV tour my parents passed through Texarkana yesterday where dad met with Patricia, the assistant store manager at Walden Books. Next stop is Little Rock then on to Memphis and possibly Nashville by tonight.

Sounds like the storms have moved on and my folks are in the clear, for the moment. They met Joleen at the B&N in Waco, then drove on to Dallas where the followed the ring road around it. Dad had a chance to visit with Linda at the B&N in Cedar Hill, Tim at the B&N in Garland, then on to couple of Borders stores, one in Plano where he chatted with Allison and then Mesquite where he met Melinda, the Merchandise Supervisor. I think the next stop is Little Rock.

My website is close. If all goes well it will debut tonight.

Severe weather continues to rock the south. My parents made it as far as Waco yesterday then back tracked a bit to Temple. The day before they were in Austin where they met B&N Community Relations Manager Frank Campbell who graciously offered to take an ARC to the regional managers’ meeting. Here in NY I’m fighting a cold and wondering if American Airlines will have a plane ready for me when I leave for London on Saturday.

In other news, Tessa, my web designer, is hoping to have my website up tonight, so stay tuned. We’re going to start simple and then expand over time.

My parents are now on their way back to Canada from their winter digs deep in the south of Texas right on the Mexican border. Unlike their normal migration, this year they’ll be making a few detours as they stop off at bookstores along the way to hand out ARCs for A Darkness Forged in Fire which Pocket Books were kind enough to ship down to Texas before they left. My folks got as far as San Antonio yesterday and stopped in at two Barnes and Nobles. Many thanks to store manager Melissa at the B&N on the NW Loop outside of San Antonio, and to assistant store manager Marisa at the Bandera Road B&N. Oh, and a big thanks to Conrad at the 4050 N 10th St McAllen, TX B&N. Conrad, tell your wife the second book will be out next summer.

A severe weather front is moving throughout the area so my folks are going to take their time heading up to Austin. We’re still fine tuning our system, but essentially I’m acting as tower control passing along vectors to my mother who acts as navigator while dad pilots the RV to the next destination. On Saturday I’ll be passing control over to my brother in Belleville, Canada as I’ll be flying to England for the London Book Fair.

You know, I’m fortunate to have parents who love me enough to try something as odd-balled as this.