You're Cordially Invited...

...to the wedding of Frankenstein and his Bride. Where? Book Expo America 2008, at the Harcourt Children's Books booth (#1400). When? This Friday, May 30th, from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. Will there be cake? THERE WILL BE CAKE.

I will also be signing my new picture book, Frankenstein Takes the Cake.

Gordon!

Had a great time at the Philadelphia Book Festival last weekend. Thanks to everyone who came to see me. And Brian Biggs and I got our picture taken with Sesame Street's Roscoe Orman! As Brian said right before this picture was taken, Sesame Street had a lot to do with people our age getting into this business.

Has he aged a day since I watched the show in the seventies? I don't think he has.

Hulk at the Tropicana, 1965

EDIT: It's been pointed out to me that readers may not realize I made this short myself. So, for what it's worth, I made this short myself. There is no one else to blame.

Magic Carpet, R.I.P.

I just learned via BoingBoing that beloved Tucson institution Magic Carpet Golf closed for good recently. I'm in Philly right now, but I lived in Tucson for ten years, and never failed to appreciate Magic Carpet's funny/scary magnificence while driving by. Even in the nineties it was a thing of beauty that was nonetheless cracking up and falling apart, like Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire.
I guess this is the problem with a lot of beloved institutions: in my ten years in Tucson, I think I only played golf there twice. Like the ice cream truck or reruns of Are You Being Served?, I always expected it to be there even if I never wanted to partake.
There's a beautiful flickr set here, taken after it closed.

Post Post

I was itching to post something, so here's something–a book cover, copyright Wizards of the Coast.

TRIVIA CHALLENGE! Name the monsters in the background. Extra credit for both the Type number and the common name. The winner will receive the admiration that always accompanies knowledge of Dungeons & Dragons ephemera.

Philadelphia Book Festival

I'll be stopping by the Philadelphia Book Festival on Saturday the 17th at 3:00 for some reading and signing. Come see me in the Story Hour Room of the Main Branch of the Free Library at 19th and Vine.
It'll be the day after my 35th birthday, so I'll finally be constitutionally eligible to kick off my campaign for the Presidency. So feel free to ask me to shake your hand or kiss your baby.
I'm the kind of candidate who thinks that hard-working Americans shouldn't have to read a whole blog post without getting to see a picture of a cuttlefish stuck to a puppet head, so here you go: