Newsletter 12/10

December 2010

First, belated Happy Hanukkah to all my Jewish friends and fans. My two older children read Hebrew and I’ve given them the Hebrew translations of my novels, which as you may know, read back to front and right to left. No, you don’t read the ending first—it’s…hard to explain. Also, my kids tell me that four letter words sound funnier in Hebrew.

On another subject, the paperback edition of The Gate House continues to sell well through this holiday season, and I’ll remind everyone that all my paperbacks make great stocking stuffers if you take your foot out first.

On a more serious note, the world could possibly end on December 21, 2012, which is only a year away now. But as I mentioned in my Archived November Newsletter, there may have been a miscalculation of that date, depending on how you read the Mayan calendar. For sure it’s December 21, the Winter Solstice (except in Australia) but the “End of Days” may be in the year 2062, or 2112. In other words, it could be 50 or 100 years from 2012. So, how did these bright archaeologists screw this up? I was in Chichen Itza a few years ago and I saw the Mayan calendar carved on a temple wall, and I have a theory; the calendar, which is round, should be read back to front, and right to left, like in Hebrew. If you do it that way, it’s A) funnier, B) more accurate, and C) it contains a secret recipe for chopped chicken livers. Chichen Itza. Get it? The Mayans were one of the lost tribes of Israel! Check it out on Nat Geo. Case closed.

Nothing new on the Beanie Book Blaster or using nano-bots to download your brain onto disks (Archived October Newsletter), but when I get more info, I’ll pass it on here—or send you a brainwave. Meanwhile, buy a book. Any book.

I’m reading my four-year-old son Clement Moore’s Night Before Christmas, and the kid has a lot of problems with the fat guy getting down the chimney. Problems, too, with the flying reindeer, and the elves making the toys at the North Pole, then labeling them all “Made in China.” Right. Well, a little skepticism is good, but we all have to believe. That’s what Christmas is about—belief, wonder, magic and hope. I explained all this to him, and he’s okay with Santa and the chimney, and even the flying reindeer, and all the rest of it, but he’s seen China and the North Pole on his globe, and he’s not buying that it’s the same place. Maybe I should explain outsourcing to him.

On the subject of Christmas, I and a lot of other authors were asked to write a holiday blog for Bookreporter.com about receiving or giving a book for Christmas. This was a nice topic and these blogs will be running through New Year’s Day—a different author each day—my blog will run on Christmas Day. Please check them all out at Bookreporter.com

I will now sign off for the year with best wishes to you and yours for a very Merry and blessed Christmas, and a New Year of hope, happiness, and health. And don’t forget our men and women in uniform serving around the world.

 

Sincerely,