Support your local wizard

"Some authors should be paid by the quantity NOT written."

What's on my mind today?

--Local authors: I'm reading this book called A Cup of Kindness, by a Mr. John Conlee, who is a professor at my local college, William & Mary (ten points if you can guess where I am). It is an arthurian tale, told from a very unique viewpoint, that of Arthur's dog, Cabal. Now, as cheesy as that sounds, the book is actually really good, and brings up some interesting twists to the legend; like, Merlin and Taliesin are not one and the same, as they are in most books. The point is, you should read this! Support your local authors! He's also written a companion to this, which I forget the name of, but the publisher is also local:Pale Horse Productions. Why do people always assume that local authors are somehow insignificant, that they are not as good as nationally published authors? Perhaps they chose to keep their books published locally; there ARE some people in this world that care about things besides money. Take the author of the Ghosts of Williamsburg books--he has been writing those books for who knows how many years, and he has gained a large following, despite the fact that these books are not widely published. They are interesting and well written, and that's all that matters, right? No? You want to see a shiny cover with a catchy title and a big name imprint? Fine, but you'll be missing out. Just try it, try reading the work of a local author; if you don't know any, ask a librarian--I know, I know, they scare me too with those glasses hanging off their noses and solemn faces but really, they would know. If you do read something, let me know, whether it's good or bad or so-so, or even if you didn't read something and just want to talk, write me!

--Lyra