I’ve spent most of the day writing, then revising, and now my brain is mush. I like the ads for Get Him to the Greek starring Jonah Hill and Russell Brand, but I still haven’t seen Avatar or Iron Man II. I started watching African Queen the other day, but the opening church scene just bored me to tears. Casablanca, on the other hand, now that’s a Bogart movie I can watch.

To quote from another massive franchise – “Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.”

http://www.deadline.com/2010/06/will-directing-in-middle-earth-be-too-hard-a-hobbit-to-break-for-peter-jackson/

http://www.deadline.com/2010/05/del-toro-leaves-the-hobbit-and-evidently-peter-jackson-wont-be-next/#more-44536

I think he would have brought a terrific visual interpretation to Middle Earth. I wonder who they’ll get now? Sounds like Peter Jackson is already committed to other projects so he’s out.

I’ve been remiss in not saying hello to my German readers as the German language edition of Darkness just came out there. I’ve visited Germany a few times, mostly as a historian on battlefield tours and once to visit a girlfriend…let’s just say the battlefield tours had less, um, battle in them. Most of my travels in Germany followed the western Allies push into the western part so unfortunately I’ve yet to visit Berlin. It’s one of the major cities of the world and steeped in history which, naturally, makes it incredibly interesting to me.

Still deep in the long weekend here in the US. The birds are chirping in the trees out front of my building which is much nicer than car alarms and fire trucks.

If you aren’t familiar with this convention, it’s a gathering of publishers and related industries and professionals from around the world and include printers, librarians, agents, distributors, authors etc. There was a time when it was just a mass of free signed copies of new books and lots of other giveaways, but that has been dropping off the last few years. Now I’d say it’s much more business to business in its orientation. Today I’m going to scout around and check out the graphic novel area in between meetings.

In other news, Gallery (the new name of the imprint at S&S that publishes the hard cover editions) have settled on the teaser chapter from Ashes of a Black Frost to place in the mm of The Light of Burning Shadows. I was trading emails with my editor and we’ve got it nailed down…I think.