Live Blogging the Storm

6:20 PM–Drizzle starting to fall pretty regularly. I bought a pump for the basement that I can employ if there’s flooding of more than an inch. Got the wrong sized hose and had to run back to the hardware store to get the right size, but now it’s all set to go. News is filled with various administration people saying that we should leave. Kind of late now; nowhere really to go. Next door neighbor and his wife have likewise remained to stay; they’re in their 70s. Still cleaning out office; how did I ACQUIRE this much crap? Living room looks like a bomb hit it because I’ve moved everything upstairs. Can’t remember saying, “Oh, THAT’S where that went” quite this many times. Getting terrific aerobic work out.

7:05–The last bus to a shelter in the area has departed. I’m officially on my own. Yes, I still have a truck I could climb into and drive away in, but there’s nowhere to go; the reports say all the shelters that accept pets are filled up, and it’s getting way too hazardous to drive further out. Meanwhile Treat, the cat who lives in the basement, is actively trying to kill me. As I carry things upstairs, he constantly plans himself directly in my path. If I yell at him to move, he moves three feet forward and remains in my path. If I trip over him and break my leg, I’m going to have a problem. Ungrateful little šhìŧ.

8:06–Totally worth staying now. Thanks to a comment below, I’ve now learned that Cablevision has FINALLY picked up BBC America, which means I can watch the new “Doctor Who” at 9 PM. Since things aren’t really supposed to go down the chute until Midnight, the cable should stay intact.

8:46–Office almost cleaned out, or at least stuff is up off the floor. Will shortly move my computer upstairs. Hope I don’t screw it up and lose the Internet connection; otherwise I’ll be doing this the rest of the time on my iPhone (which is what I’ll likely wind up doing if we lose power/Internet.) Still not much of anything happening outside except light drizzle. Time ticking down to midnight. I should do a commercial. “Peter David risks his life in the heart of the storm for the entertainment of the blogosphere, but first, this message: Buy ‘The Camelot Papers’ available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble!”

9:04–I’ll be dámņëd. I did it. Computer is now up out of the office and in the kitchen, safe from flooding…unless of course we suddenly have ten feet of water in the kitchen, in which case the computer is on its own.

9:52–I went outside to make my last garbage dump before the storm really hits, securing the can in the garage. I look up. I’ve never seen anything like it. The sky is red. Dark red. The blood of victims on Irene’s hands? I seem to remember: red sky at morning, sailor take warning. Red sky at night, sailor’s delight. So this should…what? Make me happy? Gonna go sit down and watch “Doctor Who” now.

10:50–Overall I liked “Let’s Kill Hilter.” My main problem with it was the title, since not only is Hitler not killed (which we more or less could have guessed) but he functionally drops out of the plot after the first ten minutes. Instead it’s a heavy-duty River Song episode, which is fine, but it actually could have more or less occurred at any period in time with minimal change. Basically they had a terrific venue, 1938 Berlin, and they wasted it. That said, I still think it got off to a great start. Plus I love the Doctor’s new coat.

10:54–Deathly calm outside. It won’t last.

12:20–Midnight heralds the hurricane’s arrival. Winds have picked up somewhat and the rain’s coming down hard now. The cats keep staring out the windows and mewing with some concern. Power is still up.

12:49–Finished damage control prep work. Pump is hooked up in basement; any water over an inch and I can start pumping it out. Meanwhile, although I don’t have enough plywood to cover every window, I’ve pre-drilled what wood I do have. If a window shatters I’ll be able to slap wood over it to minimize the damage…at least for as long as the wood holds out.

1:20–Wind is picking up. House is holding steady. I put on HBO on Demand and bring up “Date Night.” I could use a comedy. Still not remotely tired; too wired up.

2:11–A tree has fallen over into the street. It’s not one of ours. Emergency crews are out there working on clearing it. In my own mind, I’ve started breaking this down into hours: how many hours from midnight until 5 PM when this thing is supposed to be done. One hour at a time. Two hours down; fifteen to go.

2:53–They’re still working on clearing the fallen tree. Power and cable still functioning, which astounds me. I’ve put up photographs I took with my iPhone onto my Facebook page. (I’d load them on here if I knew how.)

3:03–Three hours down, fourteen to go. House is holding up. Storm is fierce. I figure it’s good research if I ever write “Thor.”

3:30–The emergency crews are gone. The tree is still there. They’ve put up cones on either side to alert people to its presence, although I’m not sure I see the point. There’s no one else around. All the houses are dark; not even the exterior porch lights that typically dot the neighborhood are illuminated. I’m not even sure my elderly neighbor is still around; his kids may have talked him into leaving. The area is deserted, I now can’t leave even if I want to since the tree blocks the driveway, and the darkness is absolute. I’m bathed in sweat, nervous, apprehensive. I feel disgusting and need to take a shower and realize I might as well put the storm to use. So I shower in the darkness of the outdoors. The wind is actually cooling, the rain invigorating. By the time I come back into the house I feel relaxed and refreshed. “Toy Story 3” is on cable. I think I’ll watch it.

4:20–Starting to wear out, and I need to be functional for 6 AM. That’s high tide, sure to be the trickiest part of this whole endeavor. Will grab some sleep and set the alarm for 6 AM, and hope nothing crashes, breaks or floods during that time.

6:06–Unable to sleep. Too busy listening for everything and anything. Lights are starting to flicker on and off; occasional power surges but then power is restored. Keep seeing cars driving up to where the tree is blocking the street, and having to turn around and drive away. What the HÊLL are they doing out there? I mean, even the King of Rage knows better than to climb behind the wheel of a vehicle at this point.

6:13–Internet cutting in and out. If I lose it completely I’ll switch to the G3 network off my iPhone and continue to blog in the comments section.

6:29–Did some further checking. High tide actually isn’t for hours yet. So I’ve something to look forward to.

7:21–A clearer picture of the fallen tree (or more correctly, fallen tree branch) is now up on my Facebook page. I’m watching the trees on our property sway in a somewhat threatening manner. Aside from a few stray small branches, however, nothing has broken loose.

9:34–Finally fell asleep, but paid a price for it: woke up and can’t find my glasses. A neighbor called which woke me up and I sat up so quickly that perhaps they flew off my face. I’ve put in my contact lenses so at least I can seat distance, but now I can’t read; this blog is a blur to me. Cable’s just gone out; I have to admit it lasted way longer than I thought it would. Power is still on. High tide is in a little while; that’s going to be the deal breaker. The good news is that Kath called to tell me that Irene’s been downgraded to a tropical storm. I’m thinking she was taken aback when I used her as a big shower massage. Still, high tide will determine how much kick she’s still got. Plus, of course, if the trees remain standing.

10:41–Fifteen minutes until high tide. Thus far no sign of overflowing flood waters coming either from behind me (the much closer location of water) or down the street. So that’s a positive. Of course, the big problem is that if water DOES come rolling down the street, there’s a nice big dam directly in front of my house, courtesy of the fallen branch that still hasn’t been cleared away. Which means that the water would be redirected basically right at me. Naturally. Naturally the one downed branch on the street landed in front of the only house that’s got someone still in it. I’m put in mind of the words of Voltaire, who opined that God is a comedian playing to an audience too afraid to laugh. Meanwhile the rain itself has stopped; there’s just wind, and not even particularly fierce wind. However I remain cautious; too many stupid people have been in storm situations where they say, “It’s over! Yea!” Then they go for a walk to check out damage and such and suddenly discover that, no, it’s not over; they’re just in the eye of it. And the eye moves on and suddenly they’re caught out in the open with no shelter and a long and dangerous road between them and safety.

At least the mystery of my missing glasses was resolved. I now realize that I had not, in fact, been wearing them when I drifted off. I’d put them on Kath’s sewing machine which was at the foot of the living couch. Why was I in the living room? Because previous attempts to fall asleep in the bedroom hadn’t succeeded. And apparently one of the cats walked across the sewing machine and casually knocked them off, sending them clattering to the floor in the narrow space between the sewing machine and the couch. If I hadn’t been wearing my contacts, I’d never have found them. I swear, the little šhìŧš are trying either to kill me or at least make a concerted effort to make my life as difficult as possible. If we’re ever told to evacuate again, I would seriously consider saying, “So long boys; good luck with your next lives.”

11:23–I’m now able to see clearly the further hazards presented by the fallen branch. It took power lines down with it. First rule of storm survival, superseding even the aforementioned “You might be in the eye of the storm,” is “Stay the hëll away from fallen power lines.” For all I know, LIPA will have to shut down the whole area in order to deal with it. Meanwhile, there is a sudden flow of vehicles heading from the south, down by the water. Timed with high tide, this cannot be coincidence. I rolled the dice in staying because I was sure that I’d be outside the flood zone, and apparently I bet right on that. But apparently there were people down by the water’s edge who simply thought that the words, “Get the hëll away from the water” was just Governor Cuomo kidding around. Well, no, he wasn’t. And they’re finding it out now, which is why there’s a flood not of water, but of cars heading our way. Except they can’t come up our street because of the fallen branch. Ðûmbáššëš. If trees had fallen at either end of their streets, which would have been entirely possible, they would have been blocked in with water bearing down on them. They would have had to drive across lawns to get away…super-saturated lawns covered with fallen branches. It’s one thing to gamble based on odds that are in your favor. It’s another to be reckless, especially when your family’s at stake. I sent mine to high ground; I’m seeing people coming halfway down my street, before realizing they can’t go further, and they have youngsters in the car.

Schmucks.

I’m not loving the way the tree in the front of the yard is swaying. It doesn’t look like the roots are starting to come up, but I can’t be sure. If it does topple, the wind will carry it to the left. It would miss both my house and my neighbor’s, but it would take down a bunch of power lines with it. Plus it would be a crying shame to lose the tree in the waning hours of the storm. Fingers crossed.

I take one more look out the back window to see if there’s high tide water coming from in back of me. Nothing. I do, however, see my car in the back, so desperately in need of a wash that the dirt is thick on the windows. The message that I wrote in the dirt last night remains intact: “Bring it, bìŧçh.”

12:19–The wind has died down to a strong breeze. High tide has come and gone. My office is bone dry. The power never went out, and even if it had, my generator would have kicked in. The bìŧçh has fled to Massachusetts. Yes, I have no cable, but the DVR still functions, so I’m duping over episodes of “The Green Hornet” onto DVD. The one token of Irene inconvenience to me still blocks my driveway, but I wasn’t going out anyway. The hurricane is gone and I’m still standing. For I am the King of Rage. And it is, it is, a glorious thing, to be the King of Rage.

5:58–AFTERMATH. I felt myself passing out about 1:30 and trudged up to bed. This time sleep came easily; the next thing I knew it was 4:45. I decided to go for a stroll. The fallen tree limb outside remains at the end of the driveway, the rare case of an immovable object created as a result of an irresistible force. I take the opportunity to examine it closely and discover not only a tangle of power lines, but also that a second limb had broken free and landed on the lawn of their next door neighbor. The absence of cars makes it clear these people aren’t home, but when they do return, I suspect there’s going to be a serious case of, “Why me?” since everyone else’s trees remained largely intact. I walk down and around the immediate neighborhood, sidestep a few more downed cables. Random people pass by and wave, and I wave back, in silent acknowledgment of the common shared experience that we’ve come through in one piece. Once I return home I walk the property, congratulating the trees on having endured, and picking up assorted fallen branches, some of which are bigger than me. I drag them out to curbside and dump them there, as I notice other neighbors have been doing with theirs. There is still a steady, cooling wind, the exhaust fumes of the long-departed bìŧçh. Ah well. She gave a great shower.

This blog brought you by…THE CAMELOT PAPERS. The best book published by Crazy 8 Press this July and most of August. Available in eBook and trade paperback through Amazon and Barnes & Noble, but NOT in your local bookstore, so for God’s sake stop looking there

102 comments on “Live Blogging the Storm

  1. In West Babylon here, a block north of Montauk Highway and the “Mandatory Evacuation Zone” here. Roomie has gone into full survivalist mode and surrounded the garage with sandbags. Hatches are well and truly battened, so we’re just going to curl up with the Doctor now that Cablevision’s caved and added BBC America.

  2. That’s what kitties are for…to keep you on your toes. We are near the Delaware River (in New Jersey), and the wind is picking-up. Been raining for a long while now. Hubby has confiscated the remote and is now making me watch NASCAR. (Thank you, I Love the updates.)

  3. Stay safe and charge your laptops and cell phones while you have the chance. Once power goes out many of the gadgets we need and take for granted will quickly run out of power.

    1. Iphone is charging up right now. And remember, with any luck, my generator will be working, so I won’t be without power-up resources.
      .
      PAD

      1. Do you have your generator inside or outside the house?

        If your generator is a gas powered one and inside the house you’ll fill the place up with Co2 from the exhaust. In the Rochester area we have at least two or three fatalities a year because people put their gas powered generators in the house and end up getting poisoned.

      2. CO2 is carbon dioxide – while one would have trouble surviving in an atmosphere of nothing else at all, it’s not actively poisonous.
        .
        What jason is CO – carbon monoxide. Which is poisonous.
        .
        Personally, i’d put the generator inside with the exhaust routed to the outside. Or, even better, since you have a garage, in the garage (with the exhaust still routed to the outside).

  4. So, if you’re live blogging anyway, can we count on hearing your running thoughts on Let’s Kill Hitler? 🙂

    Good luck on the storm, by the way, sir. We’re definitely starting to get some rain here in Western Mass…

  5. I am trying to get Doctor Who via Dish network tonight. I hope I can get a signal for the hour.

    1. Good luck; we gave up. When I tried to watch the last half-hour of “A Good Man Goes to War” via DISH earlier, it was dropping out at least every 2-4 minutes. I’m not watching the new one that way; hëll no. I’ll watch it via DISH online tomorrow.

      1. Definitely lucky to get Doctor Who Saturday night. I’m glad I watched it live as we lost power at 1 AM and it still hasn’t been restored.

    1. I was just thinking that.

      Red sky in the morning=sailors take warning.
      Red sky at night=sailor’s delight.
      Red sky over comic book writer’s house=Crisis on Infinite Earths.

      So, if you don’t get taken out by the storm, you may just get rebooted and revamped with a brand new origin and backstory.

  6. “ed sky at morning, sailor take warning. Red sky at night, sailor’s delight.”
    .
    My favorite old wives saying was “Mackerel sky: soon wet or dry.” Way to hedge your bets, old wives.

  7. Doctor Who and Hurricane Irene in one thread?

    [insert joke about “The Oncoming Storm” here]

  8. well, the Doctor delivered (except in, as you pointed out, Peter, accuracy of title & setting), and it seems like the storm is starting it’s deep breathing. Wondering if it’ll be too noisy to sleep?

    1. I may have missed something. Did they ever let Hitler out of the cupboard?

      1. Not to my knowledge. What was preposterous was the notion that shots could be fired in Hitler’s office and guards didn’t come running.
        .
        PAD

      2. Except that the guards most likely never heard a thing. The robot did tell Hitler that the room had been soundproofed, or “soundscreened” as they put it. Unless that piece of dialogue was cut from the US version? I hate the idea that they cut out a few minutes from each episode to make room for extra commercials; I’m just glad that I have access to the UK versions.
        .
        Raphy

  9. just as a side note with generators. if you hook electronics up to one you should use a power/line conditioner & surge protector as generators generally have tendency to “cycle” up &down which can damage electronics

  10. See… all I get is tornadoes… no Red Skies, no eerily calm weather, no “Holy Crap, We’re All Going To Die.” Stuff, unless they’re newcomers to Oklahoma. Or if you live in Moore.
    .
    Just funnels of death that the city gets hours of warning before-hand.
    .
    You guys get all the fun.
    .
    TAC
    (Yes, I’m joking. Hope PAD gets through allright.)

  11. I went through Hurricane Allen in Jamaica, years and years ago…a rare almost head-on hit (most hurricanes veer away from the island), probably because the storm itself was so powerful. We had my parents, me, my girlfriend, my girlfriend’s family all crammed into the hurricane room for a while…until the close quarters got to me, and I split to the living room, followed closely by my girlfriend (cu the wash-wah guitars.) My Dad gave up and took off to his bedroom (windows boarded up), and slept through the main part of the storm.

    Through the night we had the joy of avocados bouncing from the roof, and god know what bouncing from the walls and window boards, but the house was built on a rise, and we were up in the Dom Figueroa mountains, in Mandeville, so flooding wasn’t an issue for us (downtown Mandeville, on the other hand? They brought out the boats again.)

    The day after it looked like a woodchopper’s convention had been through, engaged in a drunken brawl. Just mind-boggling. Nature came through and kicked civilization’s áršë.

    1. I remember Allen–I was still a kid at the time, growing up in Jamaica (and would soon be immigrating to the US), but I do remember the power outage….slept through most of the storm, but the next day, driving around with my parents, I was stunned by the devastation.

      However, it wasn’t until many years later that I was able to see more photos of the storm damage. It was a lot worse than I had seen.

  12. Showering in a hurricane? I wouldn’t have believed it if I read it in one of your books. 😉

      1. Sure. It was pitch black, there was no one around. What point was there in modesty? Although I did take the precaution of keeping my house keys in my hand just in case, for some reason, the door locked behind me.
        .
        PAD

      2. …for some reason, the door locked behind me.
        .
        And, by “some reason”, I presume you mean “feline conspiracy.”

  13. Mornin’ –

    last post at 4:23? Sounds like a rough night. Hope you got some sleep, and all’s still okay.

    1. Just spoke to him. So far so good. Only hiccup will be high tide sometime after 11:00AM.

      Irene has been downgraded to Tropical Storm so the winds are a little less but with all the rain we have been having, doesn’t take much for trees to topple right now.

      1. It’s not so much how p[owerful the storm is at this point – it’s how big.
        .
        And Irene was one big storm. So its storm surge remains/remained powerful and high, even as the storm was downgraded.

  14. You probably already know this, but if your DVR is anything like ours, even with the cable out you should still be able to watch any recordings you still have.

    1. No worries. Actually I’m going to work on “X-Factor” since I don’t have any cable to distract me. I’ll make my own show, so to speak.
      .
      PAD

      1. Somehow, “I’ll make my own show” creates an image in my head of you plotting out X-Factor stories with finger puppets. Then I giggle as I run with the idea and picture one hand with a Madrox on each finger, and as many of the rest of the cast as you can fit on the other hand.
        .
        Chuck

  15. Glad you made it through the night and, apparently, the morning as well. On the plus side, if another hurricane comes to Long Island you’ll be completely prepared. And between the storm and darkness, it seems very unlikely photos of your naked outdoor shower will come to light. Then again, you never know what pops up online…

    “Keep seeing cars driving up to where the tree is blocking the street, and having to turn around and drive away. What the HÊLL are they doing out there? I mean, even the King of Rage knows better than to climb behind the wheel of a vehicle at this point.”

    Could be worse: Down here in North Carolina — the state every single news report said would be the first place hit — there were some people who decided that a hurricane was the perfect time to go surfing. And ya know what? Some of those folks are now missing. While I feel bad for the families, I also feel that this is Darwinism in action; and you could literally not pay me enough to go surfing on day one of the arrival point of a hurricane.

  16. YAY!!
    glad you’re ok!
    hope the family makes it home safely as well.
    you need to tell them about all the horrors though and make up some great story about going to oz and making it back just in time to feed the cats or something like that.

    glad you’re ok.

  17. Thanks for the updates! Glad to hear you, the house and the street are still relatively in tact.

  18. PAD,

    Glad you made it through the storm and I enjoyed the hëll out of you blogs. I hope you guys dont have to go through that again. BTW when was the last hurricane to come through the upper east coast like that? Stay safe and with the Title of King Of Rage I think you should be nominated for the dos equis Man Of The Year. Stay wet..errr..dry my friend. 🙂

  19. I was posting some titles for some of the song parodies going through my head when we lost power five seconds before my power went out. They included Come On Irene, King of Rain, and I Wish It Wouldn’t Rain down. I thought about trying to do something from Earth, Wind and Fire, but I thought I’d quit while I was behind.

  20. You have stood naked bathing while the storm rampaged
    The red sky it turned circles blowin’ ’round your cage
    A fallen tree keeps you trapped but the storm assuaged
    And it left you standing ’cause you’re the King of Rage

  21. Glad that you survived safe and sound.

    Interesting that you showered in the storm. There is something very calming, to me, about being out in a heavy downpour on a summer night. One of my happiest memories is sitting on a freshly paved blacktop, still hot from the day’s sun, in a real frog-strangler of a rainstorm at around 2am. The saved warmth of the road against the cool power of the rain was amazing, almost spiritual.

    And yes, cats are always plotting against you. It’s their nature.

  22. I thought I posted already, but I don’t see it.
    .
    Anyway, the storm passed over us here in the Dominican Republic last week. We thought it would be a big deal and were wondering if we should evacuate or not, but it turned out to be pretty minimal in my area. Then I got the e-mail from my Mom in North Carolina saying it was headed her way and I started worrying again.
    .
    I hope everyone comes out okay.

  23. Glad to hear you are safe, PAD.

    And should the writing thing ever dry up, you can make good coin travelling the world and “downgrading” hurricanes!

  24. Well done, sir — glad to hear you came through (mostly) unscathed. I think all the prep paid off — even though Irene wasn’t as bad as anticipated in this area, it absolutely could’ve been.
    .
    Get some rest.

  25. Living in a hurricane common area in México, it is somewhat refreshing/morbid to see how “rookies” react to ´canes.

    1. The obvious response, of course, is that we’re rookies because we avoid living in common areas for hurricanes.
      .
      PAD

      1. What I never really understood is why people living in flood-hurricane-prone areas build their houses out of wood. I live in a fairly climatologicaly safe are but here all houses are made of brick and concrete.

      2. Agreed, El Hombre Malo. I mean, houses here are made of concrete and cinderblock, so most ´canes don’t bring down too many houses, but I see tornado reports in the USA, and the houses are made of… wood? C’mon!

      3. People build with what’s available to them.
        .
        Not to mention, the cost of materials for building with wood are always cheaper than building with brick.
        .
        Having lived in tornado and flood prone areas most of my life (including along the Mississippi during the Flood of ’93), it’s just the way things are for most people.
        .
        But the East Coast is certainly getting a wake up call with that earthquake and Hurricane Irene both coming in short order.

  26. YOU MOONED A HURRICANE??
    o.0
    (Seriously, though, glad to see you got through it intact, and with some interesting stories to tell.)

    1. YOU MOONED A HURRICANE??
      .
      More or less. At which time, according to the local weather reports, Irene promptly started to lose velocity and power.
      .
      You’re welcome, New York.
      .
      PAD

    1. Well, yeah. The wind had died down to a degree so that it was cooling rather than violent, so there was no physical threat (I carefully opened the door first to check; any sign of jeopardy and I would have shut the door and forgotten the whole idea). I was in pitch blackness so I was unseen, in a neighborhood that was evacuated. The only people who might remotely have been around were the senior citizen couple next door. If the nice old lady was so desperate to see a naked guy that she was up at 4 AM with night vision goggles, fine, let her look. Furthermore, I was right next to the side door of my house, so if there was a sudden wind resurgence or any sign of danger, I could be back inside in a second. I had a clear escape route, if you will. Nor did my actions risk family members.
      .
      As opposed to people who did risk the safety of their families in a situation where they quite possibly might have had their escape route blocked.
      .
      As I said, there’s a very great difference between careful calculation and recklessness.
      .
      PAD

      1. While I doubt a sudden gush of wind would have carried you away, you could have been hit by a falling branch or loose piece of a neighbour house. Pretty dangerous, it doesnt take that much wind to turn a roofing tile into a dangerous weapon.
        .
        Imagine the poor rescue worker who finds your naked, wet body under a big branch on your backyard. Alive but freezing cold and too ashamed to call out for help… Like out of a Tom Sharpe novel.

      2. While I doubt a sudden gush of wind would have carried you away, you could have been hit by a falling branch or loose piece of a neighbour house
        .
        Very unlikely. What wind there was was steadily coming from the south, so the tree from the neighboring house was swaying in the opposite direction. Plus I would have heard it cracking, and I’d also had a tree service come in and they’d cut away all deadwood that might have posed a threat.
        .
        So remember that, kids: If you’re going to shower in a hurricane, get serviced first.
        .
        PAD

  27. Glad you’re not just okay, but you’re well enough to plug your book! (I got my copy through Amazon.com, BTW.)

    The only suggestion I’d make: Whether you’re planning to endure a hurricane or just moving some furniture, lock up your pets beforehand. (If you have a pet crate big enough for them to relax in — I crate my dogs — that’s ideal; if not, use a room they can’t escape from and you don’t need to go into.) There’s some type of universal animal instinct that whenever you’re doing something important with heavy objects, an animal will decide to be underfoot or darting around you. Locking them up gives you that many fewer things to be worried about.

    1. Glad you’re not just okay, but you’re well enough to plug your book! (I got my copy through Amazon.com, BTW.)
      .
      Well, when you don’t have a publicity or marketing department, self promotion is the only option you’ve got. According to studies, it takes on average about eleven exposures to a new product just to get a consumer’s attention. And even then it’s often not enough. I’ve been hammering home that it’s an on line endeavor available exclusively at Amazon and B&N as eBook or trade paperback, and I’ve STILL got people going, “I haven’t bought it yet because I went to my local bookstore and couldn’t find it there.”
      .
      Thanks for buying it.
      .
      PAD

  28. If you ever write a book, comic book story or short story based on this but, of course, some things added in for the suspense, I’d buy it! Especially if it dealt a little more with the cat conspiracy 🙂

      1. Huh, I googled “Peter David Facebook” and it sent me to a generic info page that I “liked” anyway. You got alike anyway, PAD, in online terms that is total currency.

  29. For you are the King of Rage
    (You are, huzzah for the King of Rage!)
    And you write, you write a glorious page,
    You are the King of Rage!
    .
    I’m with you PAD! I GET YOU!!!
    .
    (What that says for both of us, I dunno… ‘cept that we do loves us some G&S, maybe.)

  30. I liked the comment on the UK radio this morning that Irene had been downgraded to “Scottish Summer”

  31. Such an odd storm. NYC/LI didn’t get what was expected, but NJ and upstate NY and VT are disaster areas. Albany County is a federal disaster area, though there was less damage in the city than in the rural areas.

Comments are closed.