Once again, I've let forever go by with nary a word to those of you kind enough to have signed up to this newsletter. And there are all sorts of things I could and should have been telling you.

Like how a new book is coming out next spring from Penguin Canada, my first Canadian publisher. Under My Skin (book one of The Wildlings series) should be on the shelves (in Canada) in March 2012.

We expect to be at the Ontario Library Association meeting in Toronto February 3rd and 4th to promote it, and we'll also attend the Canadian Razorbill launch (in Toronto) April 19th and 20th. We'll put a cover image and details about those events on my website when we have them. For those of you elsewhere in the world, we don't yet know who will publish this series beyond Canada's borders (it's hitting editors' desks as I write), but we're hopeful that it will find a fantastic home in the States and abroad.

We'll go to Toronto again later next year because I'll be a guest at the World Fantasy Convention from November 1-4. We've missed attending WFC these past few years so it'll be great to catch up with readers, friends and colleagues next fall.
www.wfc2012.org

In February 2012, Tachyon is publishing a trade paperback of my early novel Eyes Like Leaves, minus all the errors that plagued the hardcover edition. I'm still not sure why all the typos and such weren't corrected by its first publisher, but thankfully, Tachyon has gone through the text with a fine-tooth comb, so it's sure to be a far more pleasant read.

The past year has been good to us in terms of travels. Besides having visited Tucson last March for the Tucson Festival of Books, MaryAnn and I have especially enjoyed meeting up with the faerie community at FaerieWorlds and FaerieCon. These lovely folks have welcomed us with open arms and their gatherings are the most positive events that we've ever attended. The music alone is fabulous. Last summer, among other great acts, FaerieWorlds in Eugene, OR had Solas on stage, and we've just heard that this year Lunasa will play. These events are musical festivals with faerie aspects attached, and it's the perfect blend of music and magic.

In fact, we'll see Abney Park this coming February when we'll fly to Seattle for FaerieCon West for more music and merriment. There's no formal schedule yet, but I expect during the weekend I'll be on a couple of panels, we'll play a set of music and also have a booth in the marketplace where we can meet people and sign books. With luck I'll have copies of the new Eyes Like Leaves on hand, and perhaps even Under My Skin, but that's a long shot as I'm not sure what date it's being released in February.
www.faeriecon.com

MaryAnn and I will probably also make at least one public library appearance while we're in the Seattle/Kirkland area. Details are still being worked out, so we'll update the appearances page on my website when we have them.

Speaking of my website, we're having a Christmas sale there. Until December 9th, you can buy our CDs at half price, just in time for the holidays. This sale price is only available for purchases made via my site. MaryAnn and I will happily dedicate and/or sign your CDs if you wish, but do remember to include the name of the recipient with your order (use the "Instructions to Merchant" box at Paypal). By the way, you don't need to join Paypal to use it to pay safely by credit card.

Also in music-related news, I'm delighted to mention that "Cherokee Girl" -- the song I wrote for Terri Windling -- has had more than 8,000 views thus far. You can view it on the main page of my website (link above).

We would love to get back into the studio to record more as soon as we pay off expenses associated with Old Blue Truck and Crow Girls. You are helping us get there, so thanks for your support for our music.

Back to book news, this summer I completed a massive expansion of my picture book A Circle of Cats, adding some 40,000 words to Lillian's adventures, and giving it a new title, The Cats of Tanglewood Forest. The novel is now in Charles Vess's capable hands, where he is creating 50 new paintings for the novel. The book will be published by Little, Brown as a middle grade novel in January 2013. That's some time down the road, but the other Charles needs time to make his own magic. Let me show you a teaser: a preliminary sketch that Charles did of Lillian (as a kitten) encountering the bottle witch, Old Mother Possum.

MaryAnn and I have contributed several items to The Color of Angels: Magick 4 Terri -- a benefit auction for Terri Windling, who has been coping with health and legal issues that have drained her financial resources at a critical time.

So many people are coming together to give back to Terri, who has been the most important influence on the fantasy community of our generation.

Our friend Shane Odom created a lovely art video using Terri's imagery and MaryAnn's music to spread the word about the auction. You can view it at my public Facebook page:
facebook.com/profile.php?id=516395849&ref=tn_tnmn#!/pages/Charles-de-Lint/218001537221
The Magick 4 Terri auction is here: www.magick4terri.livejournal.com

A last note about books. Many of my readers have been asking when my older books will be available as e-books. Some are already available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble, but many aren't. MaryAnn and I are working on rectifying this when we're not writing and editing, but we want to do it properly. There's a sharp learning curve in designing an e-book that meets professional standards, so it's taking some time. But please be assured that we're not ignoring the e-book enthusiasts and we're doing our best with our limited time and resources.

For those of you who remain steadfastly committed to paper books, we feel your pain and sympathize, but I fear that the days of the paper books and independent booksellers may well be numbered. At the very least, we'll try to ensure that future e-books will also be available as print-on-demand books.

Thanks for your patience and we'll keep you posted on our progress.

So that's about it for now. I won't make promises that I'll suddenly turn a leaf and produce a series of timely newsletters from now on. But I will try to be more proactive with it.

In the meantime, for more up-to-date information on a regular basis, you can find me on Twitter, MySpace, or the public page that MaryAnn and I maintain at:

facebook.com/pages/Charles-de-Lint/

If I don't get back to you before the end of the year, MaryAnn, Johnny, Clare and I wish you and your families the best for the season and a new year filled with health, happiness, hope and peace. Remember to make time for play, and be sure to take care of one another.

cheers

Charles