The Chapters Poster saga continues...

Short post today. I had a ton of meetings, running around to do.
Conference starts for me in a matter of hours.

Passed the ONLY Indigo in town without posters -- they are never sent them, as they have no window space.

Still no winner in my contest.

People.

For the love of all things kc [kanadian and crazy]

...somebody PLEASE get me a picture of my book cover on one of these Chapters posters.

And remember -- if you get a picture of the poster and it is actually up on a window -- DOUBLE the prize!


~kc, dsp*


*kc, deperately seeking poster...

CONTEST! [and protest, while you're at it...]

For those who don't follow my twitter posts [@kcdyer], I just found out this evening from a friend [the astonishing Kari-Lynn Winters] that a picture of the cover of my latest book, A WALK THROUGH A WINDOW is featured on a poster at Chapters.

Now, I haven't seen this picture, but I love Kari-Lynn and count on her veracity...so I am having a sudden, twitter-inspired Canada-wide contest.

To win a signed copy of the book, be the first to send me a picture [camera phone or otherwise] of the poster at Chapters.

But wait...there's more!

If you can get a picture of the poster actually up on a window -- bonus kc dyer book, signed, sealed with a kiss and sent to anyone you love through Canada Post.

I'm excited! Any takers?

******

I've missed a few significant things lately what with all the to-ing and fro-ing, and I'd like to redress one of these omissions right now.

The BC Arts community is reeling after a series of stealth cuts have decimated Arts funding in the province by as much as 85%. Read a great article by Crawford Killian on writer Loranne Brown's blog HERE.

~kc

Battling the Germ...

... and I'm winning, so far, but at some cost to my energy levels. Thus, a brief (and yet somehow entertainingly informative) blog full of fascinating information, not all of it arcane.




Apologies to all whom I owe email. (There are at least 159 of you out there...) Will be back to you as soon as I can!

And now, the news...


Darby has a new contest up at her blog. Full details will emerge tomorrow, but apparently she's looking for a haiku -- featuring a skateboard. Prizes will be good, though, guaranteed! (I stole the cherry tree pic from her, too...)

A few April events to note:

April 18, 2009. My friend Linda's birthday. (She'd kill me for that, but she never reads my blog, so I'm safe. Ha! Some friend, eh?) Also the soiree for the BC Book Prizes. I'll be there along with a whole pile of other local BC authors who like free parties. (You'll need a ticket to attend the actual prize banquet). At the Metropolitan Hotel on Howe.

April 20, 2009. 7 pm. Science Fiction phenom Robert J. Sawyer will be signing (and reading, I believe) from his new book WAKE at the White Dwarf bookstore in Kits. 3715 West 10th Avenue.
I'll be there!

April 25, 2009. 11 am. Chapters is opening a new store in White Rock this month, and I'll be joining in as a part of the celebrations. Love to see you!


And to finish, a dogblog, of course. I've seen canine singers, but never one who accompanies himself on the keyboard... (tip of the hat to a Raincoaster tweet for this one)




~kc

A Warm Kamloops Welcome

Rocky Mountain Chocolate & Chat Tour, 2008: Day One

In which the intrepid authors brave the Coast Mountains, make minor detours in Merritt, have a great time in Kamloops and fall afoul of a few technical problems....

I'm writing this the morning after the night before, due to the aforementioned technical difficulties. As you might well determine from the fetching self-portrait (courtesy of Photo Booth), I discovered last night that I had left my camera cable at home, and was thus unable to bring to this blog all the pix I took yesterday of :

• the beautiful drive through the Fraser Valley
• the extent of the Mountain Pine Beetle damage (and repatriation efforts) in the interior
• the astounding ability of James (that would be my partner in this particular crime, the author James McCann) and kc to get _lost_ in Merritt, BC (a city of fewer than 7,000 souls) wending our way to a heli-pad airport before finding the highway once again...
• a fantastic gig at the Chapters in Kamloops, where we met some wonderful folks who all made us feel truly welcome

Then, I sat down last night after discovering the missing cable and wrote a lovely blog post, complete with Comic Life illustrated panel, only to have my system crash. I took that as a sign from the tech gods, and gave up, hence this morning missive.

One other technical note -- I have also discovered that my home email address will allow me to collect emails but not send them from the road -- so apologies to all those who have recently tried to communicate. I've received all your messages, but cannot send unless I use webmail, which first removes your messages -- so I will do all my replies when I get back. In the meantime, my gmail address is working just fine, so that's the best way to reach me these days.

James and I head on to Banff today, where I hope to find a computer cord and will post a more colourfully illustrated blog entry this evening. And if you'd like to read James' take on our day today, you can find it here.

~kc

Holiday Gift Ideas

This idea is courtesy of MotherReader (http://www.motherreader.com/), and a great one it is...

Looking for a great holiday gift idea? Give a copy of MS. ZEPHYR'S NOTEBOOK with a ticket to your nearest planetarium (or the Vancouver Space Centre!), so that your young reader can learn more about the world of telescopes and astrolabes and Carl Sagan.

Or how about a complete set of the Eagle Glen trilogy (SEEDS OF TIME, SECRET OF LIGHT & SHADES OF RED) along with a bag of peppermints -- sure to settle the time-travellers tummy!

Looking for more great ideas to make book-giving fun? Check out CWILL's blog this week. The link is just over there -- to the side of this posting, and when you hie yourself over there, you'll find a lot more ideas for BC book giving, courtesy of Adrienne Mason. (Thanks, Adrienne!)

If you'd like to get yourself a signed copy of any of my books, I'll be at the Park Royal Indigo store this Friday afternoon (December 14th) from 2:30 to 5 pm and at the Surrey Strawberry Hill Chapters store Sunday, December 16th, starting at 1:00 pm. As a special bonus, James McCann will be signing his books PYRE and RANCOUR right beside me. A great way to cross off a number of those difficult-to-buy-for teens on your list!

~kc