Yes, I'd like to pre-order one copy of Untitled, by Anonymous. That's what you get when you type in the ISBN 0743227123 at Amazon.com , at this moment anyway. I imagine that when this book comes out on May 13, the actual title will be put in there.
The reason I know about this book is that MY COMPANY IS STUPID. In an e-mail, they sent out a heads-up to the stores, saying we should watch for this book because it has a strict on-sale date, but that the title and author are SECRET and they can't tell us. What's funny is the introductory sentence of that same paragraph clearly gave the author's name, the title, and the ISBN, even though on our Web site it comes up as Untitled by Anonymous. I was going to brag that I know the name of the secret book (it's some political thing), but it scares me that I do searches for this book online and I come up with NOTHING AT ALL, so it really must be some kind of giant secret and it's not really worth it to lose my job because of the wrong people finding out I leaked it on the Internet, even if it was the company's fault I leaked it in the first place. So I won't say what its name is. Not worth it!
Work has not been very entertaining lately. Rather boring, in fact. No more Neil antics to giggle over, because he got fired last month (well, FINALLY). Cliff has more or less taken his place at register, which is amusing because he comes to me and tells me all the stupid customers he gets. He is as annoyed by stupid people as I am. Together we collected a pocket full of stupid.
I took a clip out of an I Feel Sick comic, where the main character was being asked how she liked the "post-retail life" now that she had a job as an artist. She had a little comic flashback to being told by a customer that he was looking for a book and he thought it was blue. The flashback ends with her holding her head in her hands and visualizing a gun. She immediately replies that the post-retail life is much better. I, unfortunately, do not have the option of answering the question of how that feels, so my little revenge was to take this comic strip and post it at our Customer Service desk. That and the collection of stupid-people stories to post on the Internet.
I was on the bus the other day and I appeared to have landed in the middle of a revival. Three bus patrons, plus the damn DRIVER, were talking about how wonderful the Lord is (and they were the kind of people who say "Lord" so that it has at least two syllables), and basically appearing (from a distance) to be having a conversation but in fact just hurling Bible verses at each other and voicing their agreements with "Ay-men." One guy appeared to be a bit off, as the joy of the Loh-wurd was making him bounce in his seat as he said things like "And the Loh-wurd made ME, and then he looked at me and he said, 'That's GOOD!'" and started going on about how amazing it was that the Loh-wurd made him. Okay, there's a time and a place for that, but my tiny Pagan ass was craving to crawl under the seat. Not because I object to expressions of joy, but because with all the quoting going on, it was apparent that they needed words backing them up in order to feel that it's true.
"When I want to take God at His Word exactly, I take a peep out the window at His Creation. Because that, darling, He makes fresh for us every day, without a lot of dubious middle managers." --Barbara Kingsolver, The Poisonwood Bible, said by an ex-missionary talking to the daughter of a current revivalist preacher.
I was amused today, reading Everworld book 2, when an accidental mangling of speech caused a character to say something to his brother that sounded like an admission that he was gay. His brother called him "Tinky Winky" after that.
Speaking of gay, our Hallmark girl quit so they were looking for someone to fill the position (without hiring someone else because they're tight-asses), and they decided to give the department to this guy Mario. Mario has multiple piercings and very uhm . . . stylish hair, and though I haven't talked to him much because he is usually on the closing shift, most of the other employees say out and out that he is gay. Probably. Anyway he agreed to take Hallmark, which is a first in our store since before that it was always done by a female. I had to laugh because apparently you have to be kind of nit-picky to do Hallmark, so in order to determine whether Mario was good for the job, our manager asked him, "Well, how anal are you?" Rather twisty question for a gay man if you ask me.
The reports say he kind of winced at the question.
Artemis Fowl book 3 comes out tomorrow. It's called The Eternity Code, not Untitled, and it's by Eoin Colfer, not Anonymous. That was a damn good book.
I wrote a pretty bitchin' new chapter of my book, now that we're on the subject. It took me a really long time to write it but I didn't feel it. (I sure felt it in the morning, though. It caused me to get about 3 hours of sleep.) Only a minor part of the chapter is devoted to forwarding the plot, but I thought it was a really neat character moment. Oh yes, and you get to see Ivy slam Zeke up against the wall. Yes, again. She lets him out of the doghouse but he does end up having to cook her breakfast.
Mmm, breakfast.
Notes:
Whoah, you are quite busy. :) Still time for lunch? :) Greetz Random reading : [Abyss]
Aaaaah! I Feel Sick! I love that book! I have both issues. Heh. That little strip would be the perfect thing to put up at a customer service desk. "I'm looking for a book." "Okaaay . . ." "I think it was blue." Cool, you're a writer, too. ^_^v I'd write more if I had the time. :( [QueenSabaera]
"Sing a song of customers, a pocket full of dumb." Eoin Colfer is incredible. I want to read his other books - so far, I've got the names of two: The Wish List and The Supernaturalist. But, while looking on The Wish List's Amazon paeg, this sent me careening into an anti-Eragon fit. "Buy this book with Eragon (Inheritance, Book 1) by Christopher Paolini today!" Nooooooo! [katqueen]