I thumbed through this book to see if I could detect who the author might be. If my Spidy sense  is correct, this appears to be another Boot novel.

Oh, let the complaining begin!

I went down to the mall tonight, stoked about grabbing this book.  So I get there, head right over to the section where it usually is, and no book???

Not to be deterred, I head over to the computer, and do a search.  The book pops up, but much to my chagrin, I find out I'm a week too early!!!

But then I see something below - it's a note about how the same book store in the next city over having 8 copies available NOW!!!

So I ask the cashier, who makes a call, and sure enough, it's true!!!

I drove 15 minutes, and now have it in my hands!!! Hopefully this is a regular occurence - waiting an extra week is usually no big deal, but after the last book, I am anxious to dive into this one!!!

Oh dear mine arrived in the post this morning. Its number 4 on my "to be read list" so it will be a week or so before I get to it.

Its a Boot job I believe so thats not good for a start.

Sad thing is LJ thought he would be a worthy replacement for him...

Posted By )3az )3aziah on 12 May 2010 03:25 PM


Sad thing is LJ thought he would be a worthy replacement for him...

Baz,
Why and when did LJ think that?
AP

I, too, know that LJ suggested that Andy would be a worthy successor.

Inquiring minds want to know: were the two personally acquainted prior to Boot getting hired? Did Boot mow LJ's lawn? Or is Boot famous in his own right on the other side of the Pond?

LJ told me both in a letter and face to face that Andy Boot had been asked to take over the writing and he had submitted several draft "shorts". All of which he said were well written and in a style that matched his own.

So who knows ?

As for famous this side of the pond -I had never heard of him prior to LJ's mention

and mowing his lawn, who knows maybe he did

Baz,
Been over on your side of the pond for a couple of weeks, just got back, lawn here at AP Manor has gone knee-high wild in my absence. Think Boot still cuts grass? (Considering what GE pays per DL, can’t see how he could give it up. Until I started editing for another company I was collecting aluminum cans to make ends meet.) I know it’s unrealistic to think he’d pop over just for a three-hour mow between DLs, but I could pitch a tent on the back forty, or rent a portapotty (which could serve double duty: shelter and shitter), and keep him busy for a couple of months until the damn green monster dies off. Another inducement: the beer is better here. Don’t want to start another national identity argument or anything, but I couldn’t find a decent ale in London. Maybe I was looking in the wrong places but it was all pallid, characterless industrial swill.  IMHO, and based on admittedly limited anecdotal experience, anymore the profusion of microbreweries in the U.S. (my town of 8K has two of them) do a far superior job. Single malt is another story, of course. And the Indian food was, as always, stellar.

Hey Wordsmith, I’m pretty sure I flew over your house going and coming. Loved the garden gnomes.
AP

The sad thing is, Boot is capable of writing good books (witness: Thunder Road). I wish he would write more books like that, and fewer books like Salvation Road.

Alan, I am an accomplished lawn mower myself, and even have experience in mowing for published authors. As a teenager I had a summer job mowing Tom Robbins' lawn, and by all accounts he was very pleased with my work. Of course, I only lived a few miles away so I did not have to live in his outhouse. These days, however, my real house has lost so much value in the brutal Central Florida housing market, and I might seriously consider ditching it for a better opportunity. Is there any chance you have wi-fi that would reach all the way out to the crapper?

Ron,
I'll have to check the wi-fi connectivity issue. One downside I failed to mention (and I hope this doesn't put off you--or Boot), I have an 85-pound dog who loves to dump in the tall grass. "Cutting the lawn" invariably entails a lot of post-mow sole scraping, unless because you'd be living in a privy anyway, that wouldn't be a concern.

Interesting to hear about you and Tom Robbins. I thought for sure he mowed his own.  Another fantasy shattered.
AP

Bite me, Al. It was the neighbor's house you spied. We have flamingos.

Posted By Wordsmith-reprise on 16 May 2010 04:40 PM
Bite me, Al. It was the neighbor's house you spied. We have flamingos.

Sorry, my mistake. The flyover was at 38,000 feet. I couldn't see your boundary fence. I thought the long pink things were PART of the gnomes.

Posted By AP on 16 May 2010 02:36 PM
Baz,
Been over on your side of the pond for a couple of weeks, just got back...
 Another inducement: the beer is better here... I couldn’t find a decent ale in London. Maybe I was looking in the wrong places but it was all pallid, characterless industrial swill.  IMHO.
AP

Alan,

Thats London for you. There is much, much more to England than the cess pit that is London, I hate the place and even living some 175 miles from it is too close for me.
Most of the types that live and work in the good old capital drink LAGER, a chemical mix of various types of shite that is cheap and easy to produce but will sell at crazy prices to those fools in the city.

What you need is REAL ALE and there are pubs in London that sell it but you have to know where they are.

Check out here

http://www.camra.org.uk/

which is the UK campaign for Real Ale (hence CAMRA) there site list almost all the real ale pubs around the UK (I hate that phrase by the way) and many of the small breweries that produce the wonderful nectar.

I can't compare your beer with ours as I've not so far been across to your side of the pond, something I hope to correct in the future (economy allowing).

Next time you get over try to get out of the city and into the rest of England -you won't be disapointed. Drop me a mail and if your close enough I may even travel over and buy to a pint or two

Baz,
Thanks for the reference.  I will check it out and take down names. Next time I will e-mail you in advance. This was a very short jaunt, not enough time to take side trips out of London and still do the things there we wanted to.
I read about the Real Ale Movement when I started homebrewing, years ago. Gave that up eventually, even though I'd mastered a couple of styles to my satisfaction--the washing and sterilizing of bottles got to be drudgery and then the two microbreweries opened in town. They are really brewpubs, make their own selection of ales. One of them bottles a small quantity.
Best,
AP

I started to go through my letters from LJ to find the reference to Andy Boot and got sidelined. I began by scanning them for the word boot and ended up reading each and every one of them from start to finish. I've still got a good few to go through though and I am amazed at all the things he said that I had forgotten about.

He had several colourful things to say about another author that picked up the JA pen...

When I find the letter I will let you know.

Baz,
You keep holding out these tantalizing threads from the past. If LJ's remarks were about MOI, please PM me. I may want to add them to the tombstone inscription already composed by my Mrs.: He loved every dog he met and he never missed a meal.
AP

No not you.

I'm not saying any more and regret typing that as anything I type further could (WILL) start another Flame war here.

im rapidly getting fed up with anything boot does.this is just the latest crap on a list of crap