Book... boook... booook... GOOSE!

Alright. So I've been enjoying some not-quite-so-stressful time. Been spending time with really good friends, including ones I haven't seen in quite a while. Been selling quite a few books (which is a good thing because I ordered a lot for my book reading and so I have a lot left over still). Been working on getting the websites I've designed back up to their potential.

Oh, yeah. And one other thing...

Been workin on A NEW BOOK!

Yeah. Still think of the current book as my new book, but actually Anna Walsh and I are very close to having a NEW new book. Called The Poetry of Anna Walsh and Alex Mead: Invisible Fire. I have been reading it a LOT as I've been working on it and I have to say I am just all kinds of proud of us. Our stuff is awesome.

It will be nice to have a less intimidating book to sell. People look at the thickness of my novel and think of how busy they are and shy away. Our little poetry book will be nice, thin, inviting, POWERFUL.

Can't wait!

be Peace,
-Alex

T'was a pretty good event...

My first booksigning ever. Went pretty well. Had an old 716BBser show up, then a few activist friends, and some people I didn't really know and a few more activist friends and it was a good group. Too bad it was so hot yesterday. Overall, the event could'a been better, could'a been worse. Had some fun reading and talking about the book and talking a little bit about the next book.

However, I bought a lot of copies for this book event and I didn't happen to sell a lot of copies... so... Let's talk. What do I gotta do to get you to buy a book. Or just read the book? You need a discounted copy? They're all already signed and numbered, but I'll write a special inscription to whomever you like. And draw on it. Whatever you like. I'll call you on the phone and read it to you in person. You think I won't? You live in biking distance? I'll bring it to your house.

And seriously. For my Opus people. My UUYANs. What can I do to get more of you to get my book and to read my book? I'm grateful to the three of four OpusFolks that have bought my book, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't expecting a bit more than that. There's a whole OpusLike Chapter in the book.



How many other sci-fi books will you ever have a chance to read that have you in it? I promise you. If you read chapters 1 through 7, and then you get to chapter eight, chapter eight will be like pure joy. Easily worth the cost in terms of entertainment, information and enjoyment. The book's got a chalice as a focal point on the cover --for YOU.

Anyone who just wants to read it, I can give you a supercheap eBook version (online access), and if anyone wants to borrow a copy library style, lets just figure out the shipping. I have copies laying around that will take a while to sell through.

In all honesty I will be a very sad person if the first day of Opus rolls around and Hether is the only one who's read my book. Do you want me to be sad? Seriously.

Let me know how we can make it happen.



-Alex

Tomorrow Night...

Okay, this is it. Tomorrow night is my first in-store book event. I've talked it up on the radio, I've put leaflets on cars, hung flyers on bulletin boards, Talking Leaves bookstore has put up notices all over the store and in the ArtVoice local indie weekly. So, all that's left is to show up and read tomorrow.

It's been a good week of selling the book. I had hit a slump and then all of a sudden I sold a couple at dinner co-op last week. Then the next day I went out to visit a book club on Grand Island and read my book to a really cool group of ladies (retired school teachers and nurses and such) and we had a really good time with the book. Then I had a few people hand me money that owed me money for the book (kind of like a pay me when you have it kind of deal and they happened to have it). Then I sold a copy at work. It's been a really nice week like that.

But best of all has been reading the book to my new coworker Richard. He's an older Italian guy and the book has been prompting these really amazing discussions. And we got to the part in the book with the Eric Davis speech and he was moved nearly to tears, and I hadn't even read it as passionately as I usually do, but he was really very affected by it.

Anyway, I love this book. I love reading it to people. Hopefully, tomorrow, I will get to read it to a lot of people.

Buy my Book

be Peace,
-Alex

All night source code sessions

All night source code sessions

(this news item posted on June.02.2005)

Well, I was right. This week had no choice but to get better. This has been a pretty good week. Performing at MAP Open Mic was pretty fun. Community dinners have had really cool people to talk to this week. Work hasn't even been so bad lately. But the best news of all has been...

...Programming.

Well, what can I say? I'm a programmer. Or at least that what that college degree things says. I haven't had a really good programming week or constructed anything particularly compicated since... since... I guess the last one would be when I wrote the Shared Calendar Project software. And that wasn't quite as complex as what I've been writing.

For the last week (when I haven't been asleep from being really ill) I have been burried in source code and programming manuals. I've been furiously scrawling notes on papers and humming to myself while I've tackled complex logic problems. The end result is that I have finally engineered the software that will help many of the local non-profits and social justice organizations to update their own websites. The software that in some cases I promissed them one and two years ago. The software that I started writing as soon as I was done writing the shared calendar project and which has, in all honesty, been at the top of my priority list that whole time --Hey, can I help it if I'm kinda flighty and scattered and sometimes I have to drop everything and write a couple books or organize stuff or join roving bands of performance poets? I mean there are a bajillion things that we have to do to fight the power and I find that I usually have to do all of them.

But I digress. Or if I haven't digressed, I'm sure I meant to at some point. Okay, so I was talking about the fact that I'm finally finishing. I had promissed the directory of the WNY Peace Center that it was all but done (yet again) more than a month ago. And it was. And I got clobbered with sidetrackitis again. But finally I had some software ready to roll yesterday. So I got really excited. And called him. And he's out of town doing some peace stuff or something. D'oh! But PaxChristiWNY and a few others are having it rolled out to them this morning.

So, trust me, this is very exciting software. I can't show it to you or you'd be able to change everybody's websites. But the even better news is that so much of this code can be dropped directly into so many of the other programs I need to write. Like how about that upgrade of BBS software that I've been promissing on 716BBS.com for four years for example? So, yeah, lots of my websites are about to get a lot better. And I'm enjoying being a programmer again for a while.

be Peace,
-Alex