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Happy Birthday to Me

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awarcoversmall

I don’t often post about my birthday here, but when the mail came yesterday I knew this would have to be an exception. Or rather, several hours after the mail came, to be quite honest.

Last year the first two novels in the new series by William C. Dietz were released, Andromeda’s Fall and Andromeda’s Choice. I reviewed both novels for SF Signal and enjoyed them both. I was aware of, but had not previously read, any of Dietz’s Legion of the Damned series, and this prequel series had looked like an interesting place to start.

I am quite hooked on Andromeda McKee’s story, and earlier this year I circled the December 2nd release date for Andromeda’s War. As the time has gotten closer, I’ve been anticipating a trip to the bookstore to pick this up.

As you can see, it is not December 2nd, and I have a copy of the book. This is thanks to John DeNardo, the fearless leader of SF Signal. He sent out an email with a list of books up for review copies the other day and I quickly snagged this. I was very excited when it arrived yesterday to see it was a pristine copy of the novel and not an ARC.

I certainly considered it an early birthday present, but even more so last night when I picked the book up again just to glance at it as I was telling Mary about my excitement at its arrival.

awarcover2

When Mary arrived home from work I was telling her about what came in the mail while I casually flipped the book over and was glancing at the “Praise for Andromeda’s Fall” quotes and thought, “Hey, that sounds familiar…”. It was then that I had my Homer Simpson “Doh!” moment, realizing that was my quote on the back.

Needless to say I am thrilled. It is a great pleasure to write reviews for such a respected repository of science fiction happenings, and to see my words with the “SF Signal” tagline on the back of a book that I’ve been jazzed about reading for the past year is a pretty freaking cool birthday present. You can see these words in the “Pros” section of that review here.

Thanks for the opportunity, John! And “thank you!” Ace Books. Look for the review to pop up on SF Signal soon.

As for my actual birthday today, Tori is coming over to go see Mockingjay, Part 1 with us at the noon showing. We will be putting up the Christmas tree (a relatively recent birthday tradition), complete with our new Doctor Who lights, and will be going out with friends tonight for dinner.

Hope everyone else has as wonderful a Friday as I hope to have.

34 thoughts on “Happy Birthday to Me”

    1. Thanks Lynn! I hope it is good. I haven’t read the books, and thought the first film was just okay, but really liked the second one a lot.

  2. Happy Birthday old man! Cool news on the quote. Enjoy the flick. See you soon.

    1. Thank you sir, looking forward to seeing you tomorrow and having lunch with Cameron.

    1. I do too, the first two have my expectations pretty high. And thank you!

    1. It was quite the surprise, and a pleasing one at that. I have been enjoying the day so far and will continue to do so, thank you!

  8. Happy Birthday! And what a wonderful birthday surprise, not only a book that you had been really looking forward to but to discover your own quote on the back! Congrats!

    1. It was so fun…and funny that it wasn’t until hours later after opening up the package that I noticed it. Thanks Stephanie.

    1. Thank you, Kristen, it was a great way to get an early kick-start on my 46th.

  11. Happy birthday, Carl, and best wishes for the coming year. How wonderful that you received such a surprise. Life’s full of them, but not all are so felicitous!

    1. Thank you so much, Linda. Great to hear from you. Now I need to come visit you!

  12. What a lovely post. Hope you had a fantastic time. Belated birthday wishes and congrats on the quote!
    Lynn 😀

    1. Aw, thanks Lynn. It was indeed a wonderful day spend with family and friends.

    1. These books were my first go-round, and I will be going back to read the rest of his Legion of the Damned series at some point.

  15. Happy belated birthday, Carl! It’s wonderful when a book lives up to our expectations and delights us, isn’t it? One of the best ways to celebrate a birthday (along with loved ones, which is number one).

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