I can't tell if that means you got your copy, or that you're excited for the dramatic readings.

A belated answer: dramatic readings are awesome, but I got my copy

Yaaaaay! Hope you enjoy it, Tevish.

Anyway, I believe that, at this point, all the books I mailed should have arrived at their myriad destinations. (With the exception of CKY's copy, thanks to a shipping foul-up on my part.)

So, I'll just blast the trumpet one more time -- if you aren't named CKY, and you were expecting to receive a book, and it hasn't made its way to you yet, please let me know, and we'll figure out what's what.

So, here's a thing: ShadowOfCygnus contacted me today, and gave me a few tantalizing hints.

He's admitted he's doing three of the stories from the anthology. That's THREE. 3. Tres. San. One plus one plus one.

And to quote our quixotic new friend, it's "looking increasingly like I might be convinced to do readings for the entire anthology".

At present, he's hoping to get these uploaded "Sunday-ish".

Well, slap me silly, because that's exciting!

I haven't listened to it yet because he just uploaded it while I was asleep, and he had to fight life and his own electronics to get it uploaded. He also left it unlisted for our benefit, basically wanting us to... I guess vote on it? Like, I'm not sure how difficult it would be for him to change anything even if we weren't happy with it.

That was positively excellent, and was easily the best part of my day. Even though this has nothing to do with me directly, it makes me insanely happy that this exists. Bravo.

Luna, I sort of don't have words for how this made me feel.

Yesterday was... a rough day. I spent most of the day slipping in and out of tears, and feeling like I was in a bad dream that I couldn't wake up from.

Mrs. OL was doing a little better than I was, but she had me to deal with, which can't have helped.

So, last night, we turned out all the lights here in the apartment, sat together on the sofa, held each other's hands, and we listened to this.

And, for really the first time all day, I started to feel like, maybe, things are going to be okay.

"Thanks" isn't strong enough to say what I want to say. But thanks, Luna, for making this happen. Thank you so, so much.

And if you can please convey that same sentiment to the gentleman who did the recording, I would be deeply grateful.

Is it okay for me to share this with people? Because I want to shout about it from the rooftops.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say yes. You're being happy with this seems as official a seal of approval as we can get, and in turn I am going out on a limb and giving our intrepid narrator permission to post these publicly.

I really don't deserve your thanks, though. This was your wonderful pen meets Mr. ShadowOfCygnus's wonderful voice. I've passed your feeling on to him, though it may be a little while before I hear back.

But, real talk? Listening to that reading last night myself, I got CHILLS. Something about the way he delivered those lines really highlighted he wonderful writing, and it all coalesced into a wondrous ball of fantastic. Hearing Saxifrage actually say "race you to it" was just... Mwah! I can't describe.

I just got my copy of the anthology after trekking to the end of the island and back. And it was totally worth it.

OL, from the bottom of my heart, you are awesome.

CKY, good, you're here.

We have a dramatic reading of Love and Theft! I told the reader it would be okay to use your marvelous art for the video, and I want to make double-triple sure that's okay? I figured it would be, but upon reflection you never did specify whether you wanted that art to be public or private or what-have-you. If I've overstepped my boundaries, I'm terribly, deeply sorry.

Check out that video here (it's about an hour long):

Go ahead. You can use that for anything as long as you provide attribution to me.

Glad to hear, because that was a major lapse in judgement on my part. Sorry for not consulting you sooner.

Phew -- I am so happy to hear that you got your book, CKY! Given my mess-up with the address, I was worried it might end up in that warehouse next to the ark of the covenant.

("Top. Men.")

Anyway, I'm sorry to have sent you on the runaround, but I'm glad that the book made it to where it was supposed to. Please enjoy it -- you earned it!

Ladies and gentlemen:

It's, like, not even fair, how happy this makes me.

Thank you again, Luna, for instigating this! And thank you again to ShadowOfCygnus for continuing to make these awesome recordings!

I got a paper cut while reading this

I consider this an act of aggression

OL, prepare for war

I swear to you, my intentions were good!