I attended the New York City Book Awards earlier this week where the winner, Gail Fenske, gave a talk on her book The Skyscraper and the City: The Woolworth Building and the Making of Modern New York. I really enjoyed the fact that she focused on personality and vision, and less on how many tons of steel were used (although I imagine the book has those statistics in it). My urge to rush out after the talk and take a tour of the building was shattered when it was revealed it is now closed to the public.

While sipping a nice wine (I know zero about wine, so my classification structure consists of yuck, nice, really nice, and hey there lady, my name is Chris…which one of us is cooking breakfast?) I met Ammon Shea, author of Reading the O.E.D. For those who don’t know, Ammon read the entire 20 volume set of the Oxford English Dictionary in one year. And no, he wasn’t stark raving mad at all, but then I’m prone to looking up a word and still be reading the dictionary a half hour later so consider the source.

The parental units have parked the rig and are now motoring about Ontario in the minivan. My mother informs me that my father kept it at or under the speed limit…most of the time. They set off to see my under-achieving brother, you know, the one that only saves kids for a living, and on their way from London to Belleville they swooped in to eight stores. Dad said it was easier because they weren’t having to locate the stores by their GPS, a handy little device affectionately known as B****in’ Betty on account of her constant course corrections – “You missed your turn. The next turn is in twenty-seven miles. You weren’t paying attention, were you? Stop scratching your head.” Actually, I think that last two were my mother.

The staff at the Chapters/Indigo and Coles stores today were as friendly as ever, and I thank them for taking the time to meet with my folks:

General Manager Cynthia Dobie at Chapters in Kitchener (Gateway Park Drive); Assistant Manager Donna at Coles in Kitchener (Fairview Park Mall); Assistant Manager Kyle Huth and Bookseller Tim at Coles in Kitchener (Conestoga Mall); Kim R. at Chapters in Waterloo; Lindsay at Chapters in Guelph; Assistant Manager Colin at Chapters in Toronto (2901 Bayview Avenue); Assistant Manager Joseph at Chapters in Toronto (Kennedy Commons); Assistant Manager Les at Coles in Cobourg (Northumberland Mall)

I received the Japanese edition of A Darkness Forged in Fire and it is just all kinds of cute. I love that they totally made it their own – format, art, etc. I’ve never been to Japan, but it’s very high on my list of destinations, and that was even before I watched Lost in Translation.

So my folks are back home in London, Ontario and the RV tour continues, minus the RV. They both had eye appointments so they managed to sneak in 5 stores between drops. I hope they were able to see all right, I’d hate to be an accessory to a fender-bender in commission of a proud parental moment. I’ve never been a co-conspirator before…and convicted 🙂

Thanks to the London booksellers today as well two stores in Michigan I didn’t mention in my last missive:

Community Relations Manager Katie Hugelier at B&N in Flint; Training Supervisor Pete at Borders in Flint; Ryan and Assistant Manager Linda at Coles in London (Masonville Place); Dan and Assistant Customer Experience Manager Brent at Chapters (Fanshawe Park Road); General Manager Joe Peretic at Chapters (near White Oaks Mall); Customer Experience Manager Kim Goldhawk at Coles in White Oaks Mall; Customer Experience Manager Sandy Shanahan at Coles in Argyl Mall

My folks made it home tonight after a very long and eventful trip up from Florida to their place outside of London, Ontario. You’d think they’d be able to relax now, but nooooooooooooo. The Canadian tour kicks off next, but before that I’ve repurposed them to meet with one of my authors. Kirsten Holmstedt, author of Band of Sisters and the forthcoming The Girls Come Marching Home, is in London for a conference and will be meeting my folks for breakfast tomorrow morning after which mom and dad will drive her to the airport. During the US leg of the tour my parents invariably talked up my military history line as well as books I have coming out from Stackpole, so it was a case of serious multi-tasking. Stackpole via me via my parents is a full service publisher 🙂

I think I could actually use the word synergy somewhere here and have it be apropos…but I won’t.

Covers are coming soon (Japanese edition and British B Format edition for Darkness, and the hardcover of Light of Burning Shadows). There’s an expanded “Publishing 101” section in the About the Author page, and a world map of the um, world, as it’s known for the first two books.

We’re still fine tuning things (which means my designer is while I send her all kinds of suggestions that may or may not work) so if you have ideas that would help make it more user friendly please let me know.

The RV tour gets back on the road tomorrow as they make their run to the border and home where they will blitz Canada. Special thanks to Kerrie Loyd at Pocket for all her help the last couple of days! And a big thanks as well to my designer, Tessa.