I do know I bought the British edition of Monbiot's "Heat" from Amazon Canada before the U.S. edition was out. Don't know if that would work for fiction.

Smart words from John Scalzi about Amazon and MacMillan authors.

I'm now having a crisis of conscience. I dislike the way Amazon has behaved. I want Connie Willis' new book in my hands right this minute. Amazon is significantly cheaper than anyone except *shudder* Walmart, if the local store has it in stock.

Ginger, Barnes and Noble is currently offering Blackout at the member price ($15.21) which is the same as Amazon's price, to everyone.

Thanks, Barb! I had not only forgotten about B&N, but until you mentioned it, I had also forgotten about a Christmas gift card. Willis is on the very short list of authors whose books I buy new in hardback.

Seattle-istas and NoCal-isatas, a friend of mine, Carrie Jones, is book-touring in the areas next week and she writes YA that I think might appeal to many of you guys.

Her two most recent releases Need and Captivate just hit the NY Times Bestseller list. Her earlier books, Tips on Having a Gay Ex-Boyfriend and Love (and other uses for Duct Tape) were critically lauded, but it's really the Need series that's taken off.

She's a total sweetheart and I'd love to get her some support-- she's also touring with another author, Alyxandra Harvey-Firtzhenry. I don't know much about her, but she's written a vampire YA that seems to be getting some buzz as being different from the rest of the pack: Hearts at Stake.

Anyhow, details of the tour are at Carrie's LJ [link]

But here are the dates and times as well:

February 8th Third Place Books 17171 Bothell Way Lake Forest Park, WA Time TBD www.thirdplacebooks.com

February 9th Barnes and Noble 19402 Alderwood Mall Parkway Lynwood, WA Time: 7 p.m.

February 10th University of Washington Event Time: TBD

February 11th Copperfield's Books 140 Kentucky Street Petaluma, CA Time TBD www.copperfieldsbooks.com

Not Your Mother's Book Club Valentine's Bash @ Books Inc 601 Van Ness San Francisco, CA 7 pm www.notyourmothersbookclub.com

February 12th Keplers 1010 El Camino Real Menlo Park, CA Time: 5:30

So Emmett and I have been listening to the audiobooks for Harry Potter and are almost done with HBP.

I was poking around and was charmed by the story of Alice Newton, as it relates to the series finally finding a publisher with Bloomsbury:

It's not every exec who turns to his 8-year-old daughter for advice. But that's what publisher Nigel Newton did when he received a manuscript from an unknown children's author in 1997. The founder of Bloomsbury Publishing PLC handed Alice a sheaf of papers and asked her to read them. "She came down from her room an hour later, glowing," recalls Newton, "saying 'Dad, this is so much better than anything else.' She nagged and nagged me in the following months, wanting to see what came next."

Here's a picture of her at age 19 reading Deathly Hallows.

Attention Ginger: I have here a copy of Peterson's Magazine, 1880. It's a big fat damaged book with lots of nice pictures. The bookstore was going to recycle it. Does this mean to a true bibiliphile such as yourself, that this book has become fair game for a book-carving project?

I hate to do it and might not.

Katie, have the plates been stripped? They're worth $10+ each, although I think there's a special hell for people who strip books. It depends on whether you think it's salvageable as a book. Even damaged, it's probably worth $20 to $60.

Worth what you say? Really now? Good thing I checked.

I don't really want to keep the book, just scan a few of the more beautiful engravings. It has lots of semi-color fashion plates, some foxing, the spine is detached but included. Do tell me who would want the thing.

I really enjoyed the four page article about Mary, Queen of Scots.