This morning we made our getaway. It was a 5 km run in the River Valley in support of Cops With Cancer. It was fun- the idea was, everyone was supposed to dress like an escaped con. Only thing was, Michelle and I were the only ones who did! But that's okay, we won the Running Room gift cards for best costumes. It was a good time.

Then a friend of Michelle called us up and invited us to go to a book reading. Kenneth Oppel, whom I had only vaguely heard of, was in town reading from his new book Darkwing. So even though we've never read him, we thought it would be interesting to go- especially since Michelle as a grade 7 teacher has marked umpteen million book reports on Silverwing and others of his books. I'm glad we went- he was a charming and personable guy and I think I will really enjoy his books- we bought all the Wing books, which are about bats. Should be cool!

Did you know that Philip Pullman has a very . . . unique signature? I discovered this today when I found a signed copy of The Amber Spyglass in Strathcona Books. I was curious if it was a first edition and found that it was in fact a signed first (American) edition. Whoa, I thought, and flipped to the signature. I was a bit suspicious because it almost looked as if somebody just scribbled "Philip Pullman" to pass it off as his autograph. I asked the lady if it was genuine, and she didn't know. I bought it with the understanding that if it turned out to be fake I could take it back. I checked the internet, and it's real! Nice!
Michelle and I are starting to build a decent collection of signed books- last month I got A Feast For Crows signed by George RR Martin. Michelle has some Nick Bantock (from the reading we went to, remember gabrielle? Someone pawned their copies and I found them!) and Diana Gabaldon books. Oh yeah and gabrielle found a signed copy of House of Leaves when we were in Wellington and she talked me into buying it.
Do you guys have any?

George RR Martin was in Edmonton today, doing a book signing for A Feast for Crows. Luckily he didn't do a reading since I am a few hundred pages short of finishing A Storm of Swords, which comes after A Game of Thrones and A Clash of Kings. I kind of expected the signing to be A Herd of Nerds but there was a good cross-section of society there. Martin himself is the epitome of what you would expect a fantasy writer to look like- kind of hobbity and a little wizardy too. He spoke for a bit and then answered questions. He was engaging, funny and generous with his time. His main writerly advice was that you must write, and you must finish what you write. Also he recommended you hone your craft with short stories. Oddly, he never said anything about the importance of writing many poetic odes to bears, but I know he would've had he remembered to- his own bear poem turns up repeatedly, though in fragments, in Swords:

The Bear and the Maiden Fair

A bear there was, a bear, a BEAR!
All black and brown and covered with hair

It goes on from there. It's very good. I forget what the rest of the book is about.

Sort of related, the trailer for Beowulf and Grendel is online now.

And speaking of the Second Coming, I was introduced today to an author/painter from Vanpoover who does some amazing work, which apparently draws at least some influence from Yeats: Nick Bantock. Check out his site- or even better buy one of his books. Yesterday as the Goddess and I were walking downtown, we poked our heads into a local bookstore and she saw that this guy who I never heard of, but who she adored, would be here tomorrow (tonight) so we made plans to come hear him do a reading. It was really cool- he's a real down-to-earth guy, quite funny. But his books are so amazing- they are postcards and letters (actual letters stuck inside the envelope that you pull out and read) with this amazing artwork and a fantastical/ metaphysical storyline. Since I have only found out about him I don't really know much more than that, but seriously- it's very unique.