Friday, May 18, 2007

Update

Well, I got a lot of writing done Tuesday and Wednesday, and was happy with my progress. About fourteen pages of final draft stuff. I took off today because the Psychology faculty at Xavier traditionally have a French Quarter-crawl to celebrate the end of the school year. Some of us used to end up doing some serious crawling, but most of us these days do a bit of strolling and go home early with only a minor buzz to show for it. It was a beautiful cool day, however, and we had a lot of great conversation.

While in the Quarter I stopped at my favorite used bookstore, Kaboom Books, which has the biggest selection of used SF and Fantasy in the city. I bought a few things but was very disappointed to learn that they are going to relocate to Houston. It seems business has just not come back since Hurricane Katrina and they're not making ends meet. Was very sad hearing that.

In other news, a new Illuminata is up with a column from me on "The Mechanics of Suspense." I've also been invited to present at Babel Con in Baton Rouge in August. That should be fun. I'll talk more about it later. Right now I think it's bedtime.

8 comments:

Drizel said...

Kewl about the babel thingie:0)
Also kewl that you got so much done.
Have a great weekend:)

Bernita said...

Losing a bookstore sometimes feels like a personal affront by a malignant Fate.

Sidney said...

A walk through the Quarter sounds like it would be fun and energizing from a literary standpoint. Years ago I took one of those walking tours of the area - they showed us where Jack Kerouac went to score H and other interesting asides as well as spots where Marie Laveau hung out.

Randy Johnson said...

Losing a bookstore is always a bitch.I've always been one of those people incapable of walking past one without stopping and looking around. I might not have a dollar in my pocket, but I still have to stop. They closed our only bookstore, a Waldenbooks, several years ago(the nearest is about ninety minutes away). These days I do all my buying over the internet. It's just not the same. SIGH

LaDonna said...

Hey, Charles, thanks for stopping by Magical today. I read your blog from Kate's post too. So glad you're riding that book sale high too.

The "crawl" sounds fun in the Quarter. We visited there years ago, and it's definitely original and full of life!

miller580 said...

A friend of mine was recently down in your neck of the woods. She told me that the detestation is still apparent and she was shocked that she was turned away from certain areas...still. She was very angry at what she saw.

Charles Gramlich said...

etain, yes, I love SF/Fantasy cons.

Bernita, Randy, we already have too few bookstores and it just isn't the same finding something online as when you discover a treasure on the actual shelves of a store.

Sidney, I think they still sell H at that same place. We hung out mostly at the Jean Lafitte Bar, which has a long history.

ladonna, yes, I wish I had a place in the Quarter, not to live in year around but to visit and hang out on weekends.

Miller580, a lot of work still needs to be done and it'll be many years before New Orleans gets back to its old self. If ever.

Erik Donald France said...

Now that's discipline. Sorry to hear about the book store, though.