I did some Christmas shopping yesterday, and got most of the outside lights up. A few more today because I ran out of daylight, and it got chilly. And the ground's nearly frozen and I can't drive in stakes to hold down a few yard sculptures!

Last year (see icon) I had a blue tree out front. This year it's gone. It died and the lanscapers removed it one day while I was gone.

The tree is up! And decorated. Orion did a lot of the ornament hanging, and did a good job scattering things around!

I went outside earlier in the day, intent on putting up the outside lights; it was cold, but worse, it was WINDY. I had the extension ladder extended and angled for the lower part of the roof, and a huge gust of wind pulled me over with it. I was not on the ladder, I was positioning it, but man, if it hadn't been for the drain pipe on the side of the house, the wind would've blown the ladder to the ground.

So much for outside lights today. Maybe there will be a time this week, although I'll be getting home after dark the next three nights due to newspaper layout at the school.

I'd like to say this was done on purpose, but instead it was a happy surprise. Writer Keffy Kehrli pointed this out to me a while back. He has the last story in the last issue of Talebones Magazine. The last two lines of the story read: "All tales have ends. The bone dice were thrown once more."

From Thanksgiving Day: Orion and his two cousins Harper and Max.

We have a winner!

Nate Williams from Lawrence, Kansas, who chose a copy of James Van Pelt's The Last of the O-Forms.

Details about the giveaway were posted here:

Orycon was excellent, one of the best in recent memory. I car pooled down with dbara The new hotel is an improvement. This was the first year I had a table in the dealer room there. For years I've simply thrown books on Lady Jayne's table (and thank you, thank you, Jane, for all the times you've done that for me!) It was a slow first day (although I only did biz from about 2:30 pm to 6:30 pm. Then to the Endeavor Awards, where Ken Scholes' collection Long Walks, Last Flights was a finalist. The winner was David Levine for Space Magic. Congrats, David!

A better day in the Orycon dealer room on Saturday. Not just in sales, but due to some exciting possibilities. Might tell y'all about it sometime. :) Sunday, the biz in the delaer room was rocking. It's kind of cemented my decision to deal there again next year.

I closed up the table a half hour early and zipped over with davebara to Powell's Books in Beaverton for a mass SF signing. I was thinking of just driving home, but saw that Barb & JC Hendee were among the 20 writers there, so off I went to surprise them. (Although Barb said she predicted I'd be there.)

We went to eat afterward and throughout dinner I started to droop. It's amazing how fast it hit, but in the parking lot afterward, heading to my car, I got a bad case of chills. My head and throat were already hurting. Dave and I made the 2 1/2 hour trek home, and by then I was full blown sick.

So I'm home from work and in bed today. Just crawled out of bed a while ago to do a few things. We'll see how it goes.

I've not posted about this news before, but as it is mentioned briefly in the last issue of Talebones, I decided to mention it now.

Orion was diagnosed this summer with Asperger's Syndrome. By definition, it's a high-fuctioning form of autism, and even within the Asperger's scale, Orion was diagnosed as low to moderate.

For Orion, the biggest things that are difficult for him are the lack of socialization skills (he tends to get along better with adults), his inflexibility, perfectionism, and sensory integration. It is most pronounced at school, and we've seen the difficulties he's had there increase from kindergarten on. It's not surprising considering he's there with 20+ other kids and a teacher who has certain routines and changes to make each day. He is easily frustrated, and emotions will get away from him. Those of you who know Orion know he's a super bright kid, and this is often par for the course for Aspergians. His learning is not affected too much, and his teachers and counselor believe he will stay in the regular classroom and not in some resource room.

We've had a number of meetings with the school this year, the last of which happened this past week. Many of the therapies available at the school district he doesn't qualify for, but he qualified for enough to have an individualized educaion plan (IEP), and they will now start building that for him with input from us. It's not likely to be in place and implemented until January, but he really will need some help in certain areas if he is going to be successful in 3rd grade next year.

He is also likely going to need some outside, clinical therapy. The original diagnosis was made at the University of Washington Autism Center. Unfortunately, they are not preferred providers for any insurance, so my top plan Blue Cross insurance meant very little when having to pay for 4 summer sessions. So we'll be on the lookout for local venues that will take my insurance and can provide what Orion needs.

We're very lucky in many ways, because he's so high functioning but still, he will need the extra help, and it's probably a good thing I decided to close up the magazine when I did.

In a random copy of the last issue of Talebones, I put in a single dollar bill with a post-it note with our web address and no other information. If you received a single dollar bill in your copy, with a post-it note, simply email me the serial number of that dollar bill, and you win a free copy of any Fairwood Press book in the catalog at www.fairwoodpress.com (excluding hardcovers and limited editions). Use the CONTACT by EMAIL form to enter the serial # and the title of the book you'd like to receive! These same instructions are on the website at www.talebones.com.

I don't know what envelope it went into, or what address label was affixed to it!

Here's a little rleminder about the reading/signing at the University Bookstore in Seattle on November 13, 7 pm. It includes two Fairwood authors, Louise Marley (The Singers of Nevya) and Jack Skillingstead (Harbinger). as well as Brenda Cooper (Wings of Creation). Comeon by and support 3 great writers! 

Since many saw the cover of the pre-pub copies of the last Talebones at World Fantasy, I present it here now. The copies have shipped from the printer and I'll be getting them mid-week. Then it will just be a question of getting them out in the mail to subscribers, contributors and stores. Names in the reddish brown color are the contributors for the last issue.

The cover includes every contributor to be in Talebones from its humble beginnings in 1995 to this last issue. The names are in order of appearance and include writers, poets, artists, and reviewers. It's quite the list, don't you think?

There are some special bits inside, too, including 5 pages of appreciations from Talebones alums.

It'll be up on the website a little later. www.talebones.com

At the Flickr page:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/13106848@N03/4083270777/in/photostream/

Hey, an upcoming event at the University Bookstore reading/signing schedule includes two Fairwood authors. November 13 (Friday the 13th!) at 7 pm, come see Brenda Cooper (Wings of Creation), Louise Marley (The Singers of Nevya) and Jack Skillingstead (Harbinger).

I have nothing pressing I need to do for Fairwood or Talebones!

That doesn't mean I don't have things upcoming that will take time, including the Seattle Bookfest (www.seattlebookfest.com), and World Fantasy. I've shipped books to WFC so they could get there in time, and also ordered books from the printer to ship to my OWN address so I could have enough in time for Bookfest.

The only question mark yet is the new Talebones. I hope I get the okay to make an order tomorrow to ship to WFC. Looks like I'll have to take the extra hit on the cost and ship 2nd Day Air to get them there on time.

I'm now part of a conference call joining in on the San Jose WFC convention meeting. (I'm on the committee, having helped with the program book) 

This....

Will definitely be at World Fantasy!



Or you can preorder it:  www.fairwoodpress.com

The final Talebones was scheduled to be a-ok'd by the printer, except for a little problem with the back cover. Freaking space needed for the barcode (that's not an ISBN barcode). In my haste putting together the super sekrit cover, I forgot the space. This adds another two working days to the process. WFC is still a possibility, but I'll have to probably pay an arm and a leg to get copies there. We'll see...

Hey, everyone. Did you know about the new Seattle Bookfest? Remember the old Northwest Book Festival at the waterfront? 

They're bringing it back, and it will be in the Columbia City neighborhood on Oct 24 and 25 (Sat and Sun) 10 am - 6 pm both days. I've got a table in the exhibitor's section, and there'll be about 70-75 exhibitors all together. Over 100 authors and speakers are attending. ADMISSION IS FREE! (A $5 donation is suggested.)

I was told there'd be a full event schedule up on their website by the end of the day, so check it out, and if you get there either day, make sure you come and say hello!

http://www.seattlebookfest.com/index.php

I had 1st quarter progress report grades due this afternoon. I finished them on time, returned some sophomore honors essays (first big one), and the students definitely were shell-shocked. But hey, they can rewrite.

Got back home at 9:00 after scoring some volleyball games. Luckily the Ravens won 3 straight (best of 5) so we got out of there a little earlier.

Yet....with the busy day today, I  still managed about 300 words on WIP. Haven't missed a day of writing at school yet this year!

Forgot to mention that I went to pick up the first issue of the school newspaper on Friday (I'm the adviser, for those who don't know) and they shorted us 900 copies (out of 1700) and printed it on the wrong kind of newsprint. Have been in limbo all weekend because naturally the printer is closed down during that time.