I wanted to remind you about the Pages & Places Book Festival on October 2nd in Scranton, PA. Christoper Hitchens is a definite "yes," the C-SPAN Digital Bus will be there,and I will be there too! What a perfect wave, huh?

Seriously, this is a lovely book festival. And advance copies of THE PRESS 53 OPEN ANTHOLOGY AWARDS, in which my first-place novella MAY-SEPTEMBER appears, will be available, a few weeks' ahead of the press 53 ceremony and rollout. Along with press 53, Dzanc Books will have books for sale, along with jmww and The Baltimore Review.

Tickets are $12/advance, $15/day of event. Full day passes are available for $50.

I'm finally taking a vacation this week. Thursday through Sunday we'll be in Rhode Island, relaxing in Newport, looking at neighborhoods around Providence. This moving to Rhode Island thing seems less sure than a year ago, with the economy the way it is (why endanger our two stable jobs, low rent, here?). However, it's still a possibility. Sometimes one needs a change of scenery. I've needed that change for the past several years. But sometimes a vacation is enough to quell the wanderlust for a little while.

I probably won't get much writing done. I hoped to have 200 pages by the end of the month, and I have 180 now, so it's possible, but perhaps not likely. I will probably bring a few books, though, most notably Justin Kramon's Finny (lots of good buzz around this one--if you want to hear him read in person, come to the 510 Readings at the Baltimore Book Festival on September 25th) and Norman MacLean's Young Men and Fire (I want to include a firejumper/Forestry Park Service chapter in my novel. I'm not sure I will, but it's giving me a chance to read this great book.)