These are pictures I've had on my phone for months and have been meaning to upload - finally got around to getting them off my phone last night. Sadly, most are a little out of focus. But beggars can't be choosers y'know, I'm glad I have some kind of pictures even if they aren't the best.

First from Capitol Books (I think that's the name) in downtown Lansing:

I only noticed last night when looking these over that I was right next to jimhines  book, Goblin Hero, on the shelf! Very neat. This was sometime during the summer and I went back into the store and this copy was gone, so hopefully that means someone sold it. They don't have any more copies at the moment but I'm very happy they sold this copy.

Next, these are at Schuler Books at their Eastwood Towne Center branch:

This was actually a few months ago, I think in mid-summer. They recently got a couple more copies (which I have signed) but they aren't on display like this at the moment, at least not the last time I was in there. There is one in the Sci-Fi/Fantasy section and another in the local author section (or Michigan section, whichever it is called).

Close-up (I guess) of the book at Schulers.

At some point I was at the Potter Park Zoo and looked over their Animal Adoption Honor Roll list. For those that don't know, I adopt an animal at the Zoo whenever I sell a certain amount of copies of the book. You can learn more about it at www.magicofeyri.com/cares.

This was after I adopted the Screech Owl and White-Eyed Assassin Bug. Either I wasn't on the list for the Pelican (my first adoption) or I forgot to snap a picture of it. And unbeknown to me - there is another me adopting animals! That is why I made sure to specify they list "Eyri Cares" after my name. See, those advertising and public relations classes paid off. There are too many Daniel Hogans out there, I honestly think that I'll have to use a different name if I ever get published by someone else.

Yeah...my camera phone ain't the best.

Now I need to get these on my websites in the near future.

I finally started writing my steampunk fable short story that I want to submit to Shimmer's call for entires for their issue called Clockwork Jungle. I went out to Starbucks last night (I had a gift card) and got the hardest part of writing out of the way: starting.

One venti peppermint white mocha drink later, I had around 300 words finished (the limit is 3500 words). I would have kept going, but Microsoft Word crashed on me in mid-sentence. The only program that crashes on my both my eMac and on my iBook? Microsoft Word. Big surprise. I hate Microsoft. Annoyed and my train of thought derailed, I walked over to Schuler Books and bought a new Moleskine pocket sketch book (I prefer blank pages for writing, in case I want to sketch something. I also like the thicker paper stock).

I'm already thinking of things I want to change in what I started last night, but I'm not going to worry about it just yet. Get a first draft done, and then make changes. That's how I do it. If I keep making changes as I go, I'll never get anything accomplished.

I stopped in at GameStop, considering looking for a used copy of Resident Evil 4 since my 16 year-old cousin told me while chatting about the Resident Evil series over Christmas dinner  "Do yourself a favor and pick that up." But the place was jam-packed with people, so I'll save that adventure for another day. I love the RE series, and I've played them since the first one came out for the first Playstation in the late '90s. Not wanting to get stuck in line or to fight a crowd, I left and trekked over to the theater to enjoy the cinematic masterpiece that was No Country for Old Men. 

I came home tonight to find a comment on a post over in eyriblog which didn't really make much sense (it was on my post talking about how excited I was when I found out Barnes & Noble had some copies of The Magic of Eyri for sale). It was an annomynous person but they left a name and on a hunch I Googled it.

Looks like I wasn't the only one hit up today.

All of the people in the thread above had the same comment applied to their blogs and I had the exact same message " very interesting, but I don't agree with you" from someone calling themselves Idetrorce. Although in my case I guess it could kind of make sense, because I mentioned that Barnes & Noble having my book is pretty neat and how uncommon it is for them to carry Print on Demand books - and I know from personal experience that it is uncommon - I've had several stores tell me right out no way because it was POD and I even submitted the book to Barnes & Noble's Small Press Department for consideration to get the book in B&N stores. I got back a very nice rejection letter. You can however, special order it through any B&N store and on their website.

I guess it was either just a prank or some kind of spam thing, so I deleted it just like the others in the link above mentioned. Heh.

I should also mention that the first "big" book store to actually order my book for their shelves (that I know of anyway) was Schuler Books in Lansing at their Eastwood Towne Center branch. They are a great store and just as good  as Barnes & Noble (actually better because they are independent). I stop by whenever they have my book in stock and gladly sign them because I appreciate their being one of the first to take a chance on me (along with Everybody Reads).