Yes, the three exclamation points are appropriate or apropos, as the Latinese say. Fall has arrived! The weather is cooling, the breezes are picking up, the sky is turning that wonderfully ominous slate gray, and squirrels are selling hot chocolate in Central Park. Ok, maybe not that last one, but oh wouldn’t it be grand if they did.

In publishing news, I received the countersigned contract and the first part of the advance for Ashes Of A Black Frost today which makes everything extra official and means I can order those tiny little marshmallows for my hot chocolate now (the squirrels will be soooo happy). Thanks especially to Deputy Publisher Anthony Ziccardi, my editor Ed Schlesinger and all the nice folks at Pocket Books, and my agent, Don Maass, and his wonderful staff. Oh, and I would very much like to thank the incredible efforts of Sneak Attack Media and the publicity and marketing folks at Pocket for the exceptional job they did in promoting The Light Of Burning Shadows. Writing might be a solitary endeavor, but it’s about the only part that is in publishing.

To celebrate I was going to offer hot chocolate for everyone, but then you’d all want the little marshmallows, too, and that’s where the squirrels get you when they jack up the price for “extras”.

If you click the link and scroll down a bit you’ll see the video featuring Sting promoting a new drive to save the rain forests of the world. A great cause (and a great song).

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/30/message-in-a-bottle-sting_n_303993.html

At the end of the interview I did with Jackie at Literary Escapism she has a contest set up which I forgot about. Here’s the link:

http://www.literaryescapism.com/2009/09/22/4462/

In other news, I’ve been writing like a fiend while sitting on a bench overlooking the East River here in New York City. Now that fall is here the breeze is cool and makes for the ideal writing conditions for me…once I figure out how to keep the pages in my note pad from fluttering. I sort of angle into the wind for a more stream-lined writing style and for the most part it works, but every now and then a gust swirls in from a different direction and my pages go flying. If this keeps up the third book will be one constant wind storm.

As a Canadian – Mounties, polar bears, maple syrup, hockey – I grew up with universal health care or socialized medicine. Somehow, I survived, and keep in mind, I wasn’t that good of a hockey player (broken tailbone, broken jaw, cracked rib, torn knee ligaments and that was just sitting on the bench). So I’ve been amazed at the vehemence leveled against the public option here in the US. Then I saw this video and it changed everything…

http://www.suvudu.com/2009/09/winners-light-of-burning-shadows-by-chris-evans.html

* Barbara Elness
* James Coyne
* Tiffany Ginn
* Pamela Shockley
* Rose Roberts

Congratulations!

And another big thanks to the very nice folks at Suvudu.com who made this happen – Shawn Speakman, Camille Collett, and Kyle Munley.

I just got back inside from a nice walk along the East River here in New York. I found myself a bench, sat down, and wrote down some more ideas for Ashes Of A Black Frost. Between the cool wind and darkening sky I found my thoughts drifting to cold and forbidding, but then this third book was always going to be a bit on the dark side.