So, about a year ago, we went to see Judith Berman and Joe Hill read at KGB’s Fantastic Fiction series. We were psyched because we had just met Judith at World Fantasy, and I was psyched to see Joe, having stumbled upon some of his amazing short stories. I had ordered his collection and was chomping at the bit for it to show up.

Of course, he did a fantastic job. And the whole time, I’m sitting there thinking, “That guy… that guy sounds like he’s from Maine.” I almost went up and asked him, but I can kind of dork out from shyness in these moments. So I bought a copy of his book, because after hearing him read I decided that I didn’t want to wait any longer. And we left.

Today there was a copy of Publishers Weekly in our mailbox with Joe Hill on the cover. And I’m going, “YES! The dude is getting some props and snaps!” (These things really do go through my mind. I get so excited when the good peeps start getting attention. And Joe Hill is good. Oh, my.)

When I flip to the article, the first thing to catch my eye is a namecheck of my hometown newspaper, The Bangor Daily News. It would appear that Joe Hill grew up just a few minutes away from me. We’re also around the same age.

I knew it! Hometown dude!

Joe Hill’s first novel, HEART-SHAPED BOX, drops in February. You should buy it. Because he is frickin’ good. I would say, “here’s 20th CENTURY GHOSTS to tide you over” but it’s sold out. So here’s a review from Bookslut which pretty much explains why. Pay close attention to the last paragraph. Then pre-order his new book, for the love of God. We should have a readalong. Hrm…

Damnit, I love good writers. Maybe he’d do a FROM THE LIBRARY if I asked real nice. You guys know what all my questions would be about.

That’s right. Ghosts.

As you can probably imagine, I wouldn’t exactly call myself a Hootie fan. Nonetheless, I can’t resist their cover of R.E.M.’s “Driver 8″, even if they do butcher the words, which they do. Were I a cynic, I’d say it’s just the song. I’m not a cynic. Not usually.

Anyway.

We’re back from Portland. I gotta say, my husband takes care of me. I want an ethernet cable, I get an ethernet cable. I want relaxing, I get relaxing. I want yarn, I get yarn. I didn’t get much yarn this time. I didn’t come close to finishing the Besotted Scarf. I don’t have a whole lot of time for knitting right now. Or beading, for that matter, but that didn’t stop me at Dava. Portland’s craft resources knock me down.

Speaking of yarn, I came home to my second care package from my One Skein Secret Pal. The lass is spoiling me rotton.

I did come home with a lot of stationary, though, because I’m sick of not having an appropriate notecard when I need to lay my hands on one. Red Horseshoe Paper has a new fan.

Let’s see. The Chemistry Set has a Livejournal feed here.

I’m not looking forward to the rest of my week. I should probably get some sleep so that I can deal.

In other news, I need some red crushed velvet. And a little bit of elastic.

… is back, looks like. (Yes, I know you all were paying attention.)

This is notable, as the link (and all of the Scryptic website) has been broken for at least a couple of weeks, or so it would seem.

Anyway, huzzah. I’ve been thinking about archiving the columns over at Gather.com, yet another social networking site that I’ve been playing with recently. It’d be nice to have them in more than one spot for safekeeping. Or something.

Hi from Portland, Oregon, by the by. We’ve been here since last Wednesday.

If I had a million dollars, I’d hire Greg Ruth. Over and over and over again.

Behold, our table…

MoCCA madness, day 1.

Pattern is here. If it goes well, I’ll make one for my mother. She digs on this kind of stuff.

So, yeah. Lameness with a vendor has me at work late, annoyed. On the way home, B&N beckons.

This happens a lot, actually.

Ah, well. Home to go write in them.