It's the subconcious (or fate) interacting with the genetic code for time-travel, somehow, which boggles me.

But there may be a point at which one is overthinking this. Not that I'm ever sure where it is.

I'm pretty sure that every time he goes to the meadow is, in his timeline, after he's already met Clare, and since she tells him about the meadow the first time (in his timeline) that they meet, he's known who she was every time he went there. (Wow, this is confusing to try to phrase.)

Hil, yeah, I think you're right.

I have here a 20-page booklet inviting me to join the Science Fiction Book Club. Page 3 is dedicated to LKH's "A Stroke of Midnight." They've included a pull quote which begins "Yesterday we'd tried to be discrete about the weapons..."

I understand that LKH cannot spell, does not run spell check, and it has never occurred to her nor her minions that maybe they could try giving an English teacher $20 to proofread the material before it goes to the publisher, which doesn't seem to care about issues concerning proper language use either. All these people with good jobs, and none of them care that they look dumb! (bangs head with aura of utter frustration)

Could be worse. It could be like that cover of Ms. Magazine, which went out worldwide with big letters:

The Future of Feminisim

So sad. Everybody sort of laughed and said, "We got this week's edition of the publishing bad-luck special."

I forgive a small number of typoes in print (more inside a book than in press materials or cover copy), considering how many I have missed in my lifetime.

the publisher, which doesn't seem to care about issues concerning proper language use either.

That's what gets my goat the most (yes, I have a goat, and ita, STAY AWAY) -- the freaking PUBLISHER. I mean, I have contempt for authors who are too lazy/arrogant to run spell-check (though spell-check wouldn't catch "discrete," since it's a correct spelling, just an incorrect usage) or hire a proofreader (who would catch usage issues like "discreet/discrete").

But publishing companies who let more than a few mistakes get through? I'm appalled.

When publishers started making severe cutbacks in their budgets back in the late 1980s, the first thing to go was the proofreading departments. They just relied on spell check and making the editors do the proofreading, in addition to all their other work. I could probably tell you the exact month when Harlequin got rid of their proofreaders, since I was still buying their books on a fairly regular basis back then.

Maybe they are trying to artificially increase the collectibility of the books in question. I mean, there's almost no secondary market when you've got a print run of 43 gajillion, but someone read an anecdote once where the first edition of "Banjo the Pony Dog" fetched $250 at auction because of the famous typo on page 28, where Banjo barfs at the intruders, scaring them off.

Hmm, works for turkey vultures.

Matt, you're a genius! A children's book about a brave turkey vulture. I'd buy it.