Finally getting a chance to sit and read my May Locus. What? The month’s only about half over…. Anyway, the full page ad for Dead Beat sure made me smile. Pretty.
Plus — though I’d seen on the site that the trade edition of Balance of Trade had put in an appearance on the bestseller list (the hardcover was on there for three months!), I hadn’t looked up the brick-n-mortar lists. Seems Dreams Made Flesh is on the Walden/Borders SF/F list. Yay!
And in “editorial matters” : “It’s always a pleasant surprise to discover a new author. My discovery this month was Elizabeth Bear, whose first novel, Hammered (Bantam Spectra) starts out like noir adventure in a future, downtrodden Hartford, Connecticut, shifts to an advanced high-tech Toronto, and finally into space. It’s crisply written and exciting. As soon as I finished it, I asked Bantam editor Anne Groell for the sequel. She sent me two! I’ve mostly finished Scardown, and it’s just as good.” – C.N. Brown
And after reading some more reviews, I can add a couple non-client books to my “Want That” list to send to Duane out at the University Bookstore in Seattle….
Et in arcaedia, ego. 
Oh wow, you order things from the U-Bookstore here? Color me surprised and impressed! (They are a fantastic bookstore, though, and it’s my bookstore of choice when I go on a book-buying spree. Their SF and mystery sections are both huge and well-stocked!)
Well… I love supporting independents. When I can, I save up my booklist and buy them from Larry Smith at conventions (usually Boskone at the very least). I’m not as good at waiting as I used to be, so it now looks like I’m going to order things between conventions from Duane…who oversees the sf/f section at the University store. I was out there for a conference a couple months ago and he gave me a little tour — the selection was *so* much better than my local B&N. Plus, Duane is great and I love getting to hear his views on the books and the market.
Most excellent. 🙂 I’m sure I’ve actually seen Duane around the store, though I tend to have my nose focused on whatever book I’m getting at the time in a bookstore, so I wind up being totally oblivious. But one of these days perhaps I’ll be able to say hi to him! I no longer live in the immediate neighborhood, so I have to make trips to that store as special expeditions.
I love going into independent bookstores myself; there’s a great one called Third Place Books near my current house, with an enormous selection of used and new books both sitting next to one another on the shelves. I’ve been going there recently for my quick-fix, must-have-RIGHT-NOW purchases. But they tend to be a bit more scattershot about whether they will have new SF books I am looking for.
They do have Jim Butcher’s books, though! 🙂
Yay! Bear does have talent oozing out her ears… 😀