Scarlet Letters

The hits just keep on coming for poor Borders. I've been waiting to see the bookseller go under for ages, not with anticipation, but with dread. We all know they are closing a zillion Waldenbooks , and while at first they intended to pulp the unsold books, apparently they are now donating them , so bravo there. But now CEO Ron Marshall is leaving (to head up the A&P? really?) after only one year on the job. His chief merchandising officer is the interim CEO. Meanwhile, Borders' holiday sales were dismal , even extending the definition of "holiday" from Nov. 1 to Jan. 16. Sales were nearly 15 percent below last year. Worse, they have been accused of delaying payments to small publishers , because small press has more shallow pockets and doesn't have the wherewithal to sue the hell out of them like Random House or Harper Collins. I might point out they still owe me a check for a signing I did in 2008, so clearly something is wrong here. This attitude toward sma...

So, if I were to write another story set in the world of THE COLD ONES, which would you prefer? A sequel, with the surviving character(s) facing new challenges? A prequel, with the original team before they met up with It? Not saying I'm gonna do what you say, but I am curious which would be of greater interest. If you delve into COLD ONES spoilers in the comments, please tag! Not everyone's read it yet, despite my best efforts. :)

Due to circumstances beyond our control, the Ottawa booksigning has been postponed. We're talking about late February or early March - the Facebook event has been altered to March 20, but that is NOT set yet, it's just that Facebook doesn't have a "maybe" button. :) My apologies for any inconvenience. I do intend to wend up Chicago way at some point this year!

Time to vote in the CultureGeek Readers' Choice Awards! Never heard of it? That's because we never did it before. Ah, the power I wield. Seriously, I got sick of the same old lists popping out on all my competitors, lists that made me think these guys were so not watching the same stuff I was watching the last ten years. AMERICAN IDOL is the best TV show of the 21st century? I do not think so. So regular CultureGeek readers nominated their favorite books, movies, TV shows and comics of the past decade, and I created a poll for them to vote. On day one we had hundreds of responses. I'm hoping for a lot more. :) I contacted as many of the authors as I know or could find to let them know they'd been nominated. Including Neil Gaiman's publicist, since at the moment he is trashing all the competition with AMERICAN GODS. I'm sure he is too busy to give a quote to a mid-size paper like mine, should he win, but it's worth a try. Go forth and vote. For the record, I...