Ok, when they said podcast I thought they meant video and audio. I went into S&S today to do the interview and due to the heat I thoughtfully brought along an extra shirt and comb so that I wouldn’t look all sweaty and disheveled for the interview. Brilliant. I was shown into the recording booth and sat down in front of a mike on a table. I didn’t actually ask ‘where’s the camera?’ but I came close before I clued in. It was a lot of fun. Amre of S&S audio asked me the questions while Terry, the sound engineer, handled the technical side. And I managed to answer everything in one take…maybe two…ok, no more than five. Terry assured me he’d make it sound great, so I imagine they’ll bring a voice actor in later to redub the whole thing.

Just got back into the city a couple of hours ago from my trip to Stackpole. Three days of meetings, lunches, dinners and my first official book store event. Huge thanks to Jeff Young, the asst store manager, for setting everything up and giving me a wonderful reception. Thanks, too, to my many co-workers at Stackpole who came out to see what I’d been up to in my spare time. Col. Robert Black and his wife, my second mom, Carolyn, were kind enough to put me up, feed me (glorious home cooking!) and treat me like family and for that I am touched and honored.

I wish I knew how to post photos here because OMG (yeah, I said it, OMG) Janelle Bender and Mark Zug created the t-shirt of all t-shirts and IT ROCKS!

There’s tons more, but I’ve got to get some rest so that I look halfway presentable for my podcast tomorrow. I think it will wind up on S&S’s site, but I’ll find out for sure tomorrow.

I’m in Pennsylvania at the moment visiting the Stackpole Books home office. While here I’ll also be doing my first signing and talk at the Camp Hill B&N tomorrow night, Wednesday, at 7pm. I’ve been told that if I’m nervous I should just imagine everyone naked, but that kind of thinking just gets you into all sorts of trouble…or so I’ve heard.

I also heard some wicked cool news about A Darkness Forged in Fire in Australia that I’m almost certain I can’t divulge, but my desire to go Down Under just went Way Up!

I can divulge that I just received my first ever starred review from the very nice folks (well, after giving me a star how can they not be?) at the Library Journal.

…is a bustling restaurant in Chinatown here in New York City. I met friends there for lunch this afternoon. The specialty is dim sum, and the dishes are wheeled around on carts by waitresses. You simply hail one over to your table, point to the dishes or corresponding photos helpfully pasted on the front of the cart and your order is served. The great fun was in trying to get something off of every cart. I counted at least seven and each one specialized in different areas. I know we had shrimp dumpling, bean curd, some kind of steamed, leafy vegetable, some kind of pork…something, and other items I have no idea at all, but everything tasted wonderful. I went chopsticks all the way and got at least 87% of my food to my mouth, a new record. If you haven’t tried dim sum it’s a lot of fun. And the Golden Unicorn is well worth the wait to get in should you ever find yourself in New York and hungry.

I’ve popped into two B&Ns here on the UES side and the Borders in the Time Warner Building at Columbus Circle to sign copies of my book and each time I was greeted with smiles and very helpful staff. At no time was I asked to provide proof of authorship. I imagined something like this:

Staff: “How much dragon on knight sex is in this book?”
Me: “What? None! Wait, is there? No, I’m pretty sure there isn’t.”
Staff: “Security!”

Well, something like that. Anyway, the book’s been on sale since Tuesday and the first serious numbers will be available this Monday. Naturally, I’m a wee bit curious, but as I tell all my authors, the best thing you can do is always be writing the next book. I am and enjoying it immensely. I think we’ve also nailed down the title.