Sunday, June 28, 2009

This Week in Technology!

This week I have joined the world of Twitter. This is truly a great thing. It's got all the best elements of IM, email, and chatrooms with the bonus that it does all three functions at once. I've been following people who are longtime users, so I've learned about the functionality by watching them.

I also updated my author links page significantly. I thnk I had about a dozen before; 64 author web sites and a ten-author blog now await the click of your mouse.

Tomorrow I'm taking three teenagers to the beach, then it's back to listing.

NEW THIS WEEK:
An Enchanted Season -new trade size paranormal holiday anthology
On a Wild Night/On A Wicked Dawn - 2 in 1 hardcover by Stephanie Laurens
Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes
The Yiddish Policemen's Union
The Dragon Chronicles-new oversize hardcover illustrated "journal"
The Merlin Trilogy by Mary Stewart - 3 in 1 hardcover
Robert Jordan Wheel of Time series in new hardcover:
New Spring
The Eye of the World
The Great Hunt
Fires of Heaven
Lord of Chaos SIGNED
Crown of Swords SIGNED
The Path of Daggers
Winter's Heart
Crossroads of Twilight (Knife of Dreams will be up this week)

Sunday, June 21, 2009

A Change in Personal Lifestyle

So Tuesday, like so many other people these days, I was laid off from my day job. It was a complete shock; I had been there over nine years and could picture myself retiring there. Given the economy and the unusual nature of my day job, my husband and I both expect I will be out of work for at least the rest of the year. Thus, I'm looking at a change of lifestyle.

I had been planning a vacation for the week of July 4th, and I was quite in need of one. So rather than stress, I decided to make this week a vacation week and not worry about job hunting. I went to the beach, the pool at the Y, took lots of naps, took walks, and all that relaxing stuff. And I was able to list a LOT of books, which was very satisfying. I expect to be able to list many more books than I could before even with job hunting, and I'm excited about that even if I'm not thrilled at the reason.

I've been listing only new books lately because of a 6/30/09 change for sellers uploading to Google. We will have to code all of our items as new or used. I'm hoping we will be able to edit en masse, in which case it will be easier if most everything is one or the other, and I picked new.

I also set up a Twitter account this week to send tweets as books are listed: http://twitter.com/buythebookcvcom


NEW THIS WEEK AT http://www.buythebook.com/

Paranormal
Cheyenne McCray Magic series in paperback
Jacquelyn Frank's Nightwalker series in paperback
Hot Spell anthology by Emma Holly, Lora Leigh, Shiloh Walker, and Meljean Brook
Hot Blooded-rare large print hardcover-Christine Feehan, Emma Holly, Angela Knight, Maggie Shayne
Mystery/Thriller
The In Death series by JD Robb (Nora Roberts) in paperback
The Falcon at the Portal by Elizabeth Peters, first hardcover edition

Contemporary Romance
The Love Potion by Sandra Hill
Sugar Daddy by Lisa Kleypas, first hardcover edition signed (I also have unsigned)

Fantasy
The Black Jewels Trilogy by Anne Bishop - 3 in 1

Monday, June 15, 2009

Reading on the Road

Congratulations to ROBIN from AUSTRALIA, winner of a free copy of SKIN TRADE.



My daughter belongs to a choir that got to perform at Disneyland, and I took her and a friend down. We left home at 6am, got to the park around 8am, they sang at 930, they got changed and reunited with parents around 11, and then we had the rest of the day to play. She's done this for several years now; most years it's very hot, but this year it was perfectly, pleasantly cool.

She and her friend went on 15 different rides (yes, they counted), and I went on 11 or 12 of those, some multiple times. I am not averse to roller coasters (I LOVE Splash Mountain), but I am averse to standing in lines, plus I did mom stuff like get food and fast passes while they were on some rides.

They changed the FastPass system since I was last there. A fast pass is a free ticket to go right on the ride--no line; the catch is that you have to come back about two hours later. You used to be able to go around the park and collect fast passes, have a snack, then go around the park using your fast passes on one ride after another without waiting in lines. Now the deal is you can only get one at a time, so if it's noon and your fast pass says to come back after 2:15, you can't get another fast pass on any other ride until 2:15. And some rides, like the Matterhorn and Pirates, don't have fast passes at all anymore. Matterhorn has long lines all day and night, but Pirates has short lines later in the day and no lines after dinner. If you get there early, go to Space Mountain first, as it is the hardest ride to get on. It does give fast passes but the return time will be later than for other rides--and there are still long lines late at night.

Speaking of which, my two charges decided to wait in line for Space Mountain at 9:45 at night. I saw them again around 11pm. In the meantime, and a few other times while I was waiting for them, I pulled out The Immortal Highlander by Karen Marie Moning. I have read this series over a long stretch and woefully out of order (the first one I picked up was Dark Highlander) but it hasn't made a big difference. The Immortal Highlander takes place just after The Dark Highlander. Adam is an arrogant fae. His offer to substitute himself to spare a mortal's life was altruistic but also grounded in the certainty that his queen would never punish him. Surprise! She sends him to earth without his fae powers. He can't see other fae, and mortals can't see him--except for one sidhe-seer (pronounced she-seer) named Gabrielle. Once he realizes she can see him, he determines to charm her with his mad fae charm skillz so she will help him. Another surprise: since she was raised to believe that the fae only want to harm her, she fights back. But Adam has an enemy who thinks that Adam's defenseless gives him an ideal opportunity to get rid of Adam--and Gabrielle, once he learns about her. So the two of them are forced to work together.

I brought along a paperback to read (I have the whole series available in paperback) but I also have this book in new hardcover. This is a good one to read before the Fever books because it gives you some background in sidhe-seers.