Okay, so, with the release of the latest Swartzwelder novel, the Million Dollar Policeman, I have declared National Bookorderin’ Day in the Nation of PDR. But this year I have a complication: I already bought my books for this year. I did it months ago.

So, in addition to my new Swartzwelder, I’m getting the Black Panther Masterworks, which collects that characters appearances in Jungle Action. I’ve read these some time ago and they were quite excellent. Even saving a bit for a sale price, I’m paying more than I ought to spend these days, but owning this is going to make me happy, so there’s that to consider as well.

On top of this I got the cheapest of the used copies of the Space Quest Companion, which as far as I can tell is a prose retelling of the Space Quest games narrated by Roger Wilco. I would like to read that.

I will not be buying more books this year. This is all the money I can spend.

First this:

Then this:

Nothing, whats a grackle for you?

Anyway, a grackle is a bird which I had heard of over the years, but apparently I had never seen one because when I saw one this week (twice) I was like “Does that crow have a blue head, what’s the deal?” The Internet helped me to know what it actually was (it was a grackle, in case you haven’t been paying attention) and I think they’re neat. They look like this:

I don’t know how exactly I have lived in the city for so long without seeing one, but now that I have I can say I am a grackle fan.