I woke up yesterday to a very nice surprise, and no, it wasn’t the Terminator boot. A panel of 21 booksellers (clearly some very fine and wonderful people) at Waterstones, the big UK book chain, read and then vote on books every month with the purpose of choosing a few to promote. I really am thrilled to say they voted A Darkness Forged in Fire their Booksellers Choice for the month of July in the Science Fiction/Fantasy category. The edition they’ll be promoting is the A Format version of Darkness as seen a few posts below in my blog.

Thank you, Waterstones!

Me before seeing the orthopedic surgeon:

Me after seeing the orthopedic surgeon:

The good news is I won’t have to be put down. My days of running the Preakness, however, are over. Nope, it’s out to stud for me…

The really crazy thing is I potentially have stress fractures in both legs, but as the left one is worse that gets the boot, although I can switch over to the right if it starts to hurt more. I’m actually relieved that they’re getting to the bottom of what’s going on. I love running and don’t want to lose it. Next up are some NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) MRI scans and no running at all. The doctor was very adamant about that and I know why. My brain is already craving the endorphins from going out on a run and the need is trying to overwhelm my logic.

The part that’s a little freaky, though, is that Private Alwyn Renwar lost his left leg in book one. I wonder if my subconscious was channeling that?

And I have some really spectacular news I want to share with everyone, but I’ll save that for tomorrow and just wallow in my pain and misery tonight 🙂

Friend, historian, and fellow author CC Finlay’s second volume in his Traitor to the Crown series goes on sale today. I was planning to show a cover image, but I can’t figure out how to load the .pdf I have. In the meantime, you can find it here:

http://www.amazon.com/Traitor-Crown-Revolution-C-Finlay/dp/0345503910/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1242738865&sr=1-3

This is brilliantly realized history shot through with deft touches of magic giving a new luster to the American Revolution and the creation of a more perfect union where not only are you guaranteed life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, but also the odd spell.

Chris likes. A lot.

The franchise is alive. I watched the movie this afternoon and it had it all. I won’t give anything away except to say the casting choices and the style were terrific. Some of the characters were uncanny in how close they were to the original actors, yet at the same time they made the parts their own. Simon Pegg is a comic genius. Chris Pine truly became Capt. Kirk. Zachary Quinto breathed new life into Spock and really fleshed out the character. I could go on and on, but instead I think I’ll go see it again. Oh, and I really admired the restraint shown in not putting too much focus on the Enterprise itself, but instead keeping it on the characters.