Administrivia

[rolanni]

. . .some administrivia, anyway. After I unburden myself by saying that I saw a motorcycle accident on the way home — the bike went down essentially at my feet. All parties seemed to be all right, though I think that that the girl driver who cut them off, and kept saying to the cop, “But he hit me!” may be in for a rude sort of surprise somewhere down the line.

And the sad, scary part was — he damn’ near missed her, through no fault of her own, just clipped the very, very backest bit of her rear quarter-panel, but it was enough. The passenger jumped clear, but the bike took the driver down under it.

Ambulances arrived, also police officers, and several helpful strangers, at least two on motorcycles. I pulled off to call the cops and to wait, since I’d practically been in the guy’s pocket when he fell, but turned out nobody wanted to talk to me.

Just as well.

In any case, I’m still a little rattled.

So! Administrivia:

1. As previously announced in this blog and elsewhere, Uncle Hugo’s has received the signed* copies of Ghost Ship very early. If you pre-ordered a signed copy of Ghost Ship from Uncle Hugo’s and you want your book mailed to you RIGHT NOW, write to Don Blyly at unclehugoATaolDOTcom and tell him so. If you want your book personalized**, you must tell Don that, too, by July 15. Books that are to be personalized will be held until Sharon and Steve are in Minneapolis in late August. Signed books will either be released RIGHT NOW, if you write, as above, and say so, or after July 15, if no order has come through for personalization.
—
*Signed means that Sharon and Steve signed their names on (in this case) a page that was then bound into Ghost Ship. The signatures are authentic; the paper matches that used to print the rest of the book. The books are SIGNED with the authors’ names only.

**Personalized means that you want Sharon and Steve to write something more than their names in your book, to make it, yanno, personal.

I had no idea when the original call regarding the early arrival of Ghost Ship was posted that there was, or could be, any confusion at all between “signed” and “personalized”. Live and learn.
—
2. Splinter Universe is slowly coming together.  Right now, there’s a “splinter” up as a dry run to test website functionality.  A “splinter,” as is explained on the site, is a piece of novel or story that was for whatever reason never completed.  The current splinter is the first two chapters of a novel that died just short of 20,000 words in 2003.  I’m perfectly happy to post the rest, in chunks, but it must be understood that when those 20,000-ish words are done, that’s it.  There’s no resolution to the story, nor will there be.

…and now I need to sign some books and maybe get a glass of wine.

Originally published at Sharon Lee, Writer. You can comment here or there.

Comments

Re: Motorcycles

[samrobinson.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty familiar with motorcycles also. I don't really feel that there's any good excuse for not seeing a bike unless it's hanging in someone's blind spot. I don't know the specifics of this incident other than what Sharon has shared, but the admittedly aged guy who hit my vehicle at about 70mph on a clear road said the same thing. I don't think he belonged in a car anymore.

There are some crazy riders out there, but for the most part we get damaged because people in cars are not paying adequate attention to the complex task of driving.

On a more positive note. I must commend Uncle Hugo's. I just received my copy of Ghost Ship, and it was obviously packed by a bibliophile. I have never seen a more thorough and careful packing job. The book is nice too...

Re: Motorcycles

[elektra.livejournal.com]

I are a biker too. And I will be until they pry the handlebars from my cold, dead hands. I've been to safety school, and I ride with helmet, gloves, boots, etc.
That said, unfortunately, the law (and insurance) often will side with "who hit who." It is damn hard to prove someone cut you off . . . .
Sucks.