Just a quick note as I pack for San Francisco, where I'll be doing a signing tomorrow. Please drop by if you're in the area:
San Francisco, CA
November 22, 2003
4:00pm to 5:00pm

Borderlands Books
866 Valencia St.
SF CA 94110
Tel: (415) 824-8203

On Monday, I'll be participating in the ALAN Workshop (Assembly on Literature for Adolescents of the National Council of Teachers of English):

November 24, 2003 - 1:35pm to 2:30pm
1:35—2:30 FANTASY PANEL: Dia Calhoun, Charles de Lint, Donna Jo Napoli, Tamora Pierce

http://www.ncte.org/library/files/Profdev/conv/FactSheet.pdf

If you're attending the ALAN Workshop, please introduce yourself.

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On a different topic, I'm just finishing up my novel for Viking. It's always a mixed blessing to end a book because the satisfaction of completing the project is oddly paired with the fact that you suddenly miss all the characters you've been hanging out with for the past year or so. But I've had a lot of fun writing this book and look forward to turning it in.

And the Refinerytown chapbook is now available from Subterranean Press. I just got a couple of copies of it this morning, and it looks very nice. Since it's not something that will show up in most bookstores, here's where you can get more info about it:
http://www.subterraneanpress.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=SP&Product_Code=delint7

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Just to share one of the best things that's happened to me lately: I got an e-mail from Alice Hoffman telling me that I'm one of her favourite authors. Given that I've loved her work for years and years, it was an absolute thrill for me to hear from her. If you haven't read any of her books yourself, you really should give her a try. For a taste of how very good she is, you can't go wrong with her two most recent ones: Green Angel (Scholastic Press) and Probable Future (Doubleday).

Other great books I've read lately include A Stir of Bones by Nina Kiriki Hoffman (Viking). Nina just keeps getting better and better as an author. She's a delightful person and deserves all the admiration and recognition that's recently been coming her way.

And then there's a new discovery for me (well, probably for everybody since it's her first novel), Audrey Niffenegger's The Time Traveler's Wife (Knopf). It's a delightful concept—this fellow has a disorder that keeps sending him back and forth in time; he has no control over when it happens, or when he goes. I was glued to this book for days.

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MaryAnn and I had an excellent time at the World Fantasy Convention in D.C. We got to meet several of you, which was an absolute pleasure. We had great fun playing music with Nina Kiriki Hoffman, and Patrick & Teresa Nielsen Hayden. Some of the other luminaries we got to hang out or chat with included Charles Vess & Karen Shaffer, Jane Yolen, Jane Lindskold, Holly Black, and of course our dear friends Julie (her Julieness) and Kenny Bartel from Salt Lake City. There's never enough time at a World Fantasy Convention to get to see everyone that you'd want to spend time with, but it's always a real highlight of our year.

We didn't get to see much of Washington, but we did manage to take in Whistler's Peacock Room at the Freer—don't miss it, if you ever go—and Charles V. took us to the Kelly Collection of American Illustration—an art museum in a private home that was simply astonishing.

Next year WFC will be held in Tempe Arizona. The weekend prior to that MaryAnn and I will be at Milehicon 36 in Denver. It'll be great to go from Denver right to Tempe and get a bit of a desert fix to fill our spirits along the way.

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On the home front, MaryAnn's resumed eBay again. She recently raided a box in her office and found a few Triskell Press rarities that she pleaded with me to let her auction. There are some original Triskell Press titles presently there along with signed this 'n that. Little Miss Irrepressible (ha) had better get me a nice Christmas present with the proceeds... To be fair, she also has some lovely jewellery and decorative items. Here's the link for the curious:
http://cgi6.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewListedItems&userid=reclectica&include=0&since=-1&sort=2&rows=25

As if that weren't enough, in just over a week, MaryAnn's will have a booth at a tremendous Vintage Clothing Sale here in Ottawa at the Chateau Laurier Hotel Ballrooms (beside Parliament Hill). She usually just attends the sale, so I wonder whether this means that she'll come home with many purchases as usual. Maybe she'll be too busy selling to shop? As if. She invited her sister Jane to do the show with her and no doubt they'll take turns manning the booth. For those of you who are close to Ottawa, and want to feel like you've stepped back in time, the show takes place on Sunday, November 30th, and the doors open at 10:00 a.m.

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Well the suitcase beckons and I must obey. Music I'll be listening to on the plane includes new discs by Paul Thorn (Mission Temple Fireworks Stand)—we just saw him opening for Blackie & the Rodeo Kings and he puts on an amazing live show; Music from the Four Corners of Hell by the reformed Woods Band which doesn't include Gay Woods, and Terry only sings one song, but it's a fun, Pogues-ish disc and the singer they have is very good; and Pink's new Try This, though I'm not so sure I like it as much as the last one. It needs a few more listens where M!ssundaztood got me right from the start,

For all our American friends, MaryAnn and I wish you a happy Thanksgiving.

Take care of yourselves, and each other, all.