Letter of the Week

Recently in this blog I complained about how when a book comes out it can feel anticlimactic. Well, I take that back. This weekend I received an e-mail from Morgan, who wrote to tell me that she and her friend are planning to spend their babysitting money on Miss Smithers. They are pooling their hard-earned cash! To buy my book! I can’t even begin to express how cool that is.

There are a lot of consumer items available in this world. Morgan and her friend could have bought a leg-warmer apiece, gone to a movie, bought two bottles of Sally Hanson (with TeflonTM) nail polish, or rented three videos. But they chose to buy my book. That’s an honour. Also, it makes me feel all happy inside to know that there are still people who spend their babysitting money, allowances, birthday money, trust funds, mortgage payments etc. on books. Yay books and readers! What a great thing reading is. (Can you tell I just got home from my second book club meeting and I’m all jacked up on literacy and the four brownies I ate while discussing The DaVinci Code?) Anyway…

Morgan, I hope you and your friend enjoy Miss Smithers. Thanks again for your e-mail. It totally made my day.

They Kill Goldfish Don't They

Dear Hotel Monaco Seattle,

You are a nice hotel: colourful, comfortable, convenient. So why the wanton destruction of goldfish? Have you noticed how those fish in the small bowls placed in the lavish rooms and common areas keep dying? That's because goldfish cannot live in small quarters with no filtration. So what looks like a decorative little display is actually a poor bastard goldfish quietly dying.

It's really kind of awful and depressing. I think you can do better. And my comment card said as much.

Hey! Is it weirdly warm where you are? Check out the following excellent website by the Union of Concerned Scientists: www.ucsusa.org/index.cfm
Please note that on the Climate Star page there is a large picture of Kevin Bacon. He makes environmentalism look fun, doesn't he?

News!

Miss Smithers is now available! It's on the shelves in Canada and Australia and should hit the shelves in the U.S. next week. It's very exciting in a not-much-actually happening kind of way. There should be some kind of event to mark the release of the book. (A book launch doesn't count. I'm thinking more of a big, world-changing kind of event in which I get stuff--balloons, free cars, charity concerts, wings of hospitals named after me, etc.)

Anyway, I'm going to cruise all the bookshops this weekend to see if they've got copies. If you see someone lurking near the Js (where there may or may not be a new Juby on the shelf) come over and say hello! It'll just be me quietly celebrating and straining to hear the faint sound of bagpipes.

Spotted!

One portly rollerskater, complete with long, curly grey hair, short-shorts and a baby blue T-shirt. He was the best roller skater I've ever seen. Actually, he was the only rollerskater I've ever seen.