Friday Morning Newszine

[rolanni]

A*. As many of you know, Larry Smith, known variously as Larry!; Larry Smith, Bookseller; and "the guy in the corner of the dealers room with allllllll the books" -- Larry Smith was in an auto accident on his way home from DragonCon; the van rolled, and needs Major Repairs, or perhaps a replacement.  Larry, and Joni Dashoff, who was also in the van, were very lucky, due to a combination of seatbelts and canny packing of books and display shelves.  Larry did have to spend some time in the hospital, but he was eventually released, and went home to inventory, and take, stock.

The news now is that, while -- again, due to canny packing -- the loss of stock was minimal, Larry -- is back in the hospital.  Con-going fans are aware that this is Archon weekend, and Sally -- Larry's wife, and businessmate -- was, last heard, seriously wondering if she should even try to get to the con.

So, what we have here is:  A van to repair or replace; unexpected hospital bills; loss of expected income.  Not a good roll, on anybody's dice.

Immediately after the accident, Marcia Kelly Illingsworth set up a GoFundMe page for Larry and Sally and the poor, abused van.  Here's your link.  If you can donate, that's super.  If you can spread the word, that will help immensely.

Thanks for listening.

B.  We are approaching the end of the seventh and last! week of the Do It Like A Delm Challenge.  Entries must be received by midnight, Eastern Daylight Time (aka New York Time), on Saturday (tomorrow!) October 3.  The last winner will be chosen and posted on korval.com Monday morning, October 5.  The winning challenger will also receive a coupon for a free Baen ebook of their choice.  Full rules here.

If you've been thinking about entering your challenge pic, you are right down to the wire.  Summon your inner delm -- or always wonder if you could have.

C. Submissions are now open for The Year’s Best Military and Adventure Science Fiction series from Baen Books.  Full guidelines here.

D. I was going to write something about Writers Fugue, and Process and All.  Maybe later.  Right now, I have to balance the checkbook.

E. Y'all have a nice weekend.  If you're in the storm path, stay safe.  Even if you're not in the storm path, stay safe.

F. Here's a picture of Sprite, resting after her labors**:

Sprite, recuperating from her latest nap.

____________

*WordPress has decided to be helpful, and format every numbered list into a squinched-up, impossible to read, "standard" format.  Lists-by-letter don't seem to be on its radar.  And, so. . .

**I often post pictures at the bottom of my blog posts to make the announcement of the post prettier for Facebook, which, left to its own devices, usually posts a GINORMOUS (and ugly) G+ graphic.  For those who dislike, or are tired of, photos of cats, spare a little empathy for the Facebook peeps, and avert your eyes.  Thank you.

Comments

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

Naps can be wearing.

Pix of cats

[psw456.livejournal.com]

Who gets tired of pictures of cats? Seriously? Especially of these photogenic ones....

Re: Pix of cats

[attilathepbnun.livejournal.com]

Beats me! *scratches head in puzzlement*

Joni? You didn't say Joni was also in the van.

[ireneha.livejournal.com]

I've been following the Larry Smith bookseller problems, I've been worrying about Larry, and GoFunded the Van etc... But now you say that Joni Dashoff was in the Van!

I'm emailing her. Us short folks don't do well with shoulder strap seat belts.

I'll try to let everyone know if/when I hear from Joni.

For those of you who don't know her. Joni's Science Fiction Convention participation is mostly in the Art show.... Or at least in the Art show unless she has been drafted for Dealers room, Treasury, or assistant to the Chair.

Re: Joni? You didn't say Joni was also in the van.

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

. . .it was in the first report Marcia posted, which I think I remembered to link to.

Do, by all means, do make sure she's really fine, but the very first word was this: On Sept 8, 2015, while returning from Dragoncon in Atlanta to home in Columbus, Ohio, Larry Smith of Larry Smith Books, along with family friend Joni Dashoff, had a rollover accident in the book-laden van on Interstate 75, at the Niota exit in Tennessee. Joni was apparently unscathed. Larry was not so lucky.

Thank you

[ireneha.livejournal.com]

I sometimes cannot reach links because of "blocking". I don't remember actually reading the post from Marcia. I reached the GoFund link, but ....

Well anyway, I'm waiting to hear from Joni herself. My bet is that unscathed allows for some pretty exciting black & blues & being able to "dine out" on the story for months.

In the normal course of schedules, I wouldn't be seeing Sally & Larry until February. Hopefully Larry will be back on his feet by then.

[catlinye-maker.livejournal.com]

Not on Facebook, but I greatly appreciate the glimpses you share of life with your (elegant, photogenic) Main Coons and Regular Cat (tm).

tired of cats???

[hairmonger.livejournal.com]

If it were possible for us to become tired of cat pictures, would we be here?

Mary Anne in Kentucky, catless at home, but not, thankfully, at work.

[gerald heaton (from livejournal.com)]

I have had cats (or they have had me) for 60+ years.

A few dogs, but only if they liked cats, but mostly cats.
I like your pictures as part and parcel of your posts.