Friday, January 8, 2010

Names And Numbers

The countdown has begun!

Of course, since the countdown is in German, I'm not sure what we're counting down to. But whatever it might be, I'm very excited that it's begun.

I have a particular fondness for countdowns that end with ice cream, cake and fireworks. None of which I'll expect, especially because if the countdown does end with ice cream, cake and fireworks, they'll all be in Germany and I won't.

I took a train ride in Germany a long long time ago, during my cute years, and the customs inspector, or somesuch person, tried to seduce me. He positively leered (my recollection of the dialogue was something like my saying, "I'm cold," and his saying, with a leer, "I'll keep you warm." Which he had to have said in English, since the only German I know is pfeffer. Also, I shared a compartment with an actual smuggler. What a trip).

On a totally different subject, I really wish my three books, Life As We Knew It, the dead and the gone, and This World We Live In had a unifying label. Amazon has taken to calling TW,
The Last Survivors, Book 3 (Hardcover). The Last Survivors is the UK title for the trilogy. Amazon calls the hardcover of d&g The Last Survivors, Book 2 (Hardcover). In paperback, it's just The Dead and the Gone (Paperback). LAWKI, in hardcover and paperback, doesn't rank as a survivor first, last, or always.

Meanwhile Barnes & Noble thinks of LAWKI paperback as Life As We Knew It Series #1 and d&g paperback as Life As We Knew It Series and TW as nothing but This World We Live In.


To further muddy the waters, Wikipedia refers to LAWKI and d&g as being part of the "Moon Crash Trilogy." That's the name I came up with, but I absolutely swear on heads of German customs inspectors that I didn't write either article. I didn't even ask anyone I know to write them.

And some people just call the books, "the moon books" or "the moon trilogy." Or don't call them anything at all.

Speaking of names and numbers, thanks to all of you who've answered my poll questions about bookplates. It's looking like I'll be ordering more plates, but I won't make the official announcement until I have them to mail out (and that will take a little while). So hold off on the email requests until I have something to send (and the stamps to send it with).

I am now going to return to my very own countdown and guess some more about what it's counting down to. If ice cream, cake, fireworks and pfeffer are involved, I'll certainly let you know!

5 comments:

Wendy said...

That countdown site is a great page. I'm thinking it's counting down until the world ends. It looks like it to me.

Susan Beth Pfeffer said...

Hi Wendy-

I've got no problem with a countdown of the world coming to an end, just as long as I have a chance for ice cream, cake and fireworks before the end actually arrives!

Nora said...

Hi Susan,

Your German story reminded me of something. In my high school German class, my German teacher taught us that you never say "Ich bin kalt (I am cold)" because that means you are a cold person, or sexually cold. You have to say the German equivelent of "It is cold to me."

Susan Beth Pfeffer said...

Hi Nora and good grief-

The German customs inspector wasn't just trying to seduce me.
He was using double entendres.

I really must have been cute.

I think it's riotously funny that my word verification is "ballock." It seems so appropriate somehow!

Lisa-Marie Jordan said...

I have the release date for This World We Live In on my calendar and pre-ordered the book from Amazon! I can't wait!