NEXT APPEARANCE:
Saturday, March 27th, Virginia Festival of the Book, 2:00
I'll be sitting on a panel entitled Publish and Flourish: Networking through Readerville.com, along with an ever-shifting group of my online chums: M.J. Rose (Sheet Music), Roxana Robinson (Sweetwater), and Andrea Buchanan (Mother Shock: Loving Every (Other) Minute of It). Readervillean, writer, and radio commentator Janis Jaquith (Birdseed Cookies) will moderate. Visit www.vabook.org for more information.

LBJs

*I'm writing this from my parents' house in Beaufort, SC, having spent a week on a whirlwind tour of Florida with my dad. After I get home, I'll be settling in to write about the trip at more length. For the moment, let me just note that Florida offers the casual observer a bewildering variety of contradictions, but the bird life is pretty cool. Oh, and the Key Lime Pie is good.

*I've finished two good books on this trip: David Quammen's Monster of God, a fascinating look at the last remaining man-eating predators around the globe, and Dan Simmons' Hyperion, a sprawling science-fiction epic that takes a cool approach to the the basic job of setting up the conflict and characters of the story: the main characters tell their stories to one another while we play eavesdropper. It's a classic trick--Chaucer, anyone?--but underused in this day and age. WARNING: Simmons' story is not self-contained, but is continued in the second book, The Fall of Hyperion. Don't expect closure on page 475.

*And if you were wondering, yes, I found a copy of The Fall of Hyperion at Books Ahoy used books today, so I'm ready to go.

*I'm very happy (and a little relieved) that my Tar Heels made it past the first round of the NCAA tournament, defeating Air Force in a game that could have been a lot closer. We face the #3 seed, Texas, in tomorrow evening's game, and I would very much like to win. For one thing, it would mean beating Rick Barnes, the former Clemson coach for whom I do not feel much affection. For another, it would mean that my dream can continue: I want all six ACC teams to make it to the Elite Eight. It's the best basketball conference in the country, period, and I want some results to reflect that. All six teams (UNC, Duke, NC State, Georgia Tech, Maryland, and Wake Forest) won in the first round, so we're on our way.

*I've decided: I like all kinds of seafood (well, not raw oysters), but the best kind is shrimp. If it's done well, there's simply nothing better--not lobster, not crab, not crayfish, scallops, clams, oysters, mussels, or fish of any kind. If it's mediocre, it's still pretty good. Call it the pizza of the sea.

*I have discovered THE most annoying name for a business ever created. It was on a sign in Florida, and I presume the state found it couldn't legally shut the joint down, though I'm sure all right-thinking people urged it to do so. It's a campground, and its sign reads (Oh, lord, I can't believe I'm typing it) Kountree Kampinn.

Isn't that just 2 Kute 4 Words?
6:33 PM

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