Further afield. Some things beginning to unwrap.

So: making a bit of a regional and further push as I put the wraps on issue #2. (Which includes another box, though I have to decide how many.) A lot (lot!) of the regional pushes (Acme Comics in Greensboro, Barnes & Noble of Burlington, Black Bear Books of Boone, etc.) are pending, but a few further afield places are giving me a shot.

CHICAGO: Quimby’s Bookstore will take anything, so I’m not special. But it was nice to get an e-mail receipt from them, so I know they’ve received the books. So, my fine Chicago friends, give me a stock check, will you? (And see if you can resist that cover for #2, eh?)

PORTLAND: Powell’s took a look at an evaluation copy, and I doubt they’ve received their shipment yet. But maybe tomorrow. So, my fine Portland friends, give me a stock check, will you?

And I’m still looking for places in Charlotte and Wilmington to be willing to even take a look at an evaluation copy. If you’ve got ideas, let me know!

And something which has been a bit under wraps for a bit is starting to leak out, so I’ll go ahead and put it out there. Soon I’ll be making a bit of a push for benefactors, patrons, etc. There have been more than a few folks who have been incredible with their support, not just in terms of money for printing copies and buying words, but deliveries, flyering, time, etc. So I’m going to recognize a few of them, and shamelessly invite more folks to join in on that side of things. (Particularly since I’m burning through the last of the convention sales to print that last box of #2.)

Two new homes for Bull Spec! Also, flyers! Also, a brief aside on selling out.

I’m very happy indeed that there are two more places in the Triangle where folks can get their hands on a copy of Bull Spec #2: The Durham County Library’s Southwest Regional Branch on Shannon Road, and Duke University’s Gothic Bookshop.

I want to talk about the library first, not only because it was there first chronologically but because, well, it’s very awesome for me on a personal level to know that somebody can walk into the library and discover worlds, as I did all through my youth at my “home” public library in Marion, Indiana. The magazine was already at the Durham main branch’s North Carolina Collection but the hours there are a little more limited, and it is primarily used as an archival and research room. Now, folks can come in, flip through without tweezers, etc. And I love this. I absolutely love it.

Secondly, I’d been trying to figure out a way to approach Gothic Bookshop for a while. It’s in the heart of Duke campus, so it’s not a place I generally pass by on the way to or from anywhere, I’m not a regular customer there, and it’s been a good long while since I had a serious connection with Duke. But, from the world of random events, I saw that they were looking for somebody to hand out flyers at NASFIC for the upcoming William Gibson book tour, and, hey, I was driving to NASFIC from not too far from campus… so I ended up with a stack of bright yellow flyers and finally that random connection to the store; now it’s in stock, so, “Let’s Go Duke!” and head to Gothic, eh?

Thirdly, flyers. While versions will come and go, here are some flyer links:

• Current Bull Spec bookstore locations flyer (updated for Gothic!)
• Current Bull Spec guide to late summer events flyer (updated for Stephen Messer at Quail Ridge Books on August 19!)

OK. Lastly, selling out. Of issue #1, that is. All I have left which aren’t spoken for (I do have a Northeast Raleigh local delivery loop to make, very sorry for the delay out there, folks) is a very short stack of bookstore returns with bookstore stickers on them. So when I get a chance (ha!) I’ll be removing the ability to order print copies of issue #1 or start subscriptions with issue #1. Lesson learned? Get issue #2 while it lasts… UPDATE: another box of issue #1 has arrived! It is in stock in a few local stores and, of course, online.

PS: All the local folks who were very disappointed indeed that copies of Raleigh native (alas, now Portland’s own) Mary Robinette Kowal‘s Shades of Milk and Honey could not be found? Yeah. I think there’s a pretty good chance that The Regulator and Gothic might have some copies soon. Just saying.