Name: Michele

Month: September

What books/magazines did you buy this month? Why did you buy them?

-The Witching Hour by Ann Rice, used, from a thrift store, because it’s a 1st ed. hardback of a book I enjoy

-Great Ages of Man: Ancient America, used, from a thrift store, research

-Great Ages of Man: Byzantium,used, from a thrift store, research

-Great Ages of Man: Barbarian Europe, used, from a thrift store, research

-Great Ages of Man: Ancient China, used, from a thrift store, research

-The Next Fix by Matt Wallace, new, from the publisher’s web site, because I wanted to read it

-Beauty & Dynamite by Alethea Kontis, new, from the publisher’s web site, liked short work by the author

-Exploring the Northern Tradition by Galina Krasskova, new, from Borders in store, Husband’s choice

-Essential Asatru by Diana L. Paxson, new, from Borders in store, husband’s choice

-The Complete Illustrated Encyclopedia of Witchcraft & Practical Magic, new, from Borders in store, research

-Bunnicula by Deborah and James Howe, new, from Borders in store, for kids/review

-VAMPS by Nancy A. Collins, new, from Borders in store, for review/Monsterlibrarian project

-Eyes of the Crow by Jeri Smith-Ready, new, from convention, research/interested in trying the author

-Firebirds Rising, new, from convention, interested in the book

-Bestial: Werewolf Apocalypse by William D. Carl, new, from convention, interested in the book

-Mama’s Boy by Fran Friel, new, from convention, interested in the book

-Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris, new, from Borders in store, because I like the book and never had a copy of my own

-Dead to Me by Anton Strout, new, from convention, I want to try out the author

-The Android’s Dream by John Scalzi, new, from convention, I love Scalzi’s blog

-Working for the Devil by Lilith Saintcrow, new, from convention, research

-The Good Fairies of New York by Martin Millar, new, from convention, research

Did you download any free books this month? Why did you chose to download them and where did you download them from (author web site, publisher web site, bit torrent site)?

*Books/ARCs I received for possible review this month:

-Attack of the Two Headed Poetry Monster

-Blood of the Dead by A.P. Fuchs

-Kandide and the Secret of the Mist by Diana S. Zimmerman

-Catacombs and Photographs by Brandy Schwan

-Any Given Doomsday by Lori Handeland

-Agnes Hahn by Richard Satterlie

-Killing Kiss by Sam Stone

-Death and the Maiden pt. 5

-Heaven’s Bones by Samantha Henderson

*Books Won or Given This Month:

-Dead Sea by Brian Keene, at Context 21

-Juno Books 2008 Sneak Peek

Jeez, I have so many things to do that I put off because of the con and yesterday I spend the day dealing with a family emergency, which means I didn’t get anything done (save for some reading).

Today is game day, which is good. I mean, I just stopped having dreams that consisted of me sitting or standing around talking to people. Maybe this’ll ease me back into normalacy, or what passes as it in my life.

I’ve also been distracted by the release of the new Marvel Spiderman cover with Stephen Colbert on it. How cool is that? I’ve been paying attention to how people promote their work, or themselves, and some people just seem to be naturals at it.

On more serious (read, less fun) matters I also was pointed to this report on the U.S economy. We’re constantly bombarded with doom and gloom, the economy is crashing, this is the next Great Depression, stories in every form of media. I’ve seen localized reports saying that our unemployment rate (as in Kentucky’s) is below the national average and that our local housing market never went as high, therefore never fell very far and has actually regained all its losses plus a bit. I know we’re not in any danger, but this report really put it all in perspective. If you’re feeling lost, this might help. But it might also piss you off more as you see the difference between what the media and what the government is saying and what the numbers and reports are saying.

Summed up:

Except that no market is truly illiquid. It just isn’t liquid at the price you want to sell. This summer, Merrill Lynch unloaded a bunch of bad debt at 22 cents on the dollar. There are likely plenty of buyers for the banks’ bad debt, just not at the price the banks would prefer. Enter the government, which clearly intends to purchase MBSes at some premium above the market price. That was the nature of the bailout that failed on Monday.

That just about sums up my opinions on the matter. We aren’t in nearly as much trouble as people are saying, they’re just bitching and over reacting because they aren’t making as much money as they’d like.

And with that I declare no more politics/government posts. Because I’m tired of it.

I’ve got them. I’m not surprised. I spent the weekend so hyped up. First there was nervousness and preparations for the con, then the trip there. And honestly I feel really proud of myself and my “performance” at the con. I mean, the first thing I did was had lunch as part of Brian Keene’s mob. I pitched to three different editors and only planned to pitch to one of them. I sat and had breakfast with
Paula Guran of Juno Books (not one on one, but I was there, conversing.) I spent a while sitting in a bedroom with Gary Braunbeck and Lucy Snyder talking about writing. Kealan Patrick Burke gave me the most enthusiastic greeting I had all con. There were definite lots of great moments.

And now I’m home and I’ve had to work my son through his post con meltdown (it was the first time I’d been gone for the weekend, ever. He was pretty upset, but we worked past it and I’m betting he won’t have a meltdown next time at all.) My body and mind are still on fast forward “work the crowd” mode but it’s also exhausted.

I mean, I came home and instead of watching the Dexter premiere I started cleaning the room.

But I’ve managed to work on a bit of everything today. I added all the books I got into my database and into the Reader project sheet I’m keeping. I’ve addressed all the mail that I had (I could check mail at the con, but Ohio doesn’t have Insight, so for some reason I couldn’t send mail.) I hit my word count goal for today, and updated the BookLove Index. I even dusted and reorganized one one my bookcases.

But doesn’t feel like enough and my body can’t keep up with my mind at this point. I imagine this is rather like what my son feels, like he desperately needs stimulation (his is sensory, mine is social/activity based) but nothing he tries is quite right, leaving him with a aggitated feeling.

At least I’m not sick like Brian Keene (who over this weekend has been “Brain Keene” and “Briane Keene” in my blog entries before I fixed them).

Oh yes, and I joined Twitter, because too many people I’d like to continue interacting with are mucking about there.

ETA And some people mentioned being interested in testing out the Shocklines Writers Group, which is less and less being associated with Shocklines just because it seems we’re all to busy to post there much anymore. Information on how to get in for October (deadline October 2nd) are here.