Good news first. I have found the first store that has agreed to take "Dying Embers" on commission! It is a sci-fi/Fantasy gaming store in Salem, OR. They have agreed to carry three of the books once they come out. It is a good, small first step. :)
It was a funny story actually. I was in Salem for Cherry City Comic Con and had been working the convention center promoting "Dying Embers". I heard something scrunch under my foot at one point and looked down to see a business card one the floor. Now working even a few seasons in the National Park Service ingrains picking up litter very deeply in the psyche so I dutifully picked it up and glanced around but couldn't spot the booth it had come off of. Nor was there a trash bin nearby  so I shrugged and slipped it into my pocket. After I left the Con I needed to stop off at the bank so I parked a few blocks away and walked. I passed a gaming store with a sci-fi Fantasy vibe so I popped in on a whim to see if they would carry "Dying Embers". The bright eyed ginger behind the counter said the boss probably would and just wait a moment while he found him....oops he just stepped out the door and is getting into his car...no here he is coming back in.
Turns out the boss had just gotten back from the con himself and remembered me even though I hadn't talked to him and accepted three books on commission on the spot. 

Today's big adventure was over at Cherry City Comic-con in Salem, OR. As usual I was marketing "Dying Embers" and I met several fascinating people.
One gentleman was a  fleet commander of the U.S.S. Destiny , the local Starfleet chapter. 
He explained that one of the booths was staffed by a woman who did the backgrounds for the Star Trek novels. That sounded fascinating to me. I assumed that she had to do hundreds of hours of creative research to craft the official back story that the authors used when writing the novels. That would be a connection to make so I meandered on over only to discover this...

Apparently "backgrounds" refers to the artistic spacescapes that adorn the covers of the official Star Trek Novels. Still a good contact though. Ali Ries aka Mrs. Hubble was quite friendly. We talked for awhile. It turns out that she got started by accident. Her spacescapes were so good that people were assuming that they were Hubble photos from NASA and she had to track them down and forbid them from using her work without paying. Most people were astonished and perfectly willing to either pay or take down the art while singing her praises. One of those people was the official at Star Trek who decided that she did better space imagery than NASA did. 

Things I have learned today.
1) Stores don't buy their own books anymore.
2) Distributors cover a lot of ground.
3) Not all cooperate big-wigs  sound all that perky when you call them  up in the middle of the day.
4) Malls don't have bookstores any more (therefore reducing my reasons for going there by 50%)
5)  My Publisher is very patient. 
6) My Publisher does awesome book covers! 

First an UPDATE.  "Dying Embers" Will release on August 19th instead of Aug 17 to coincide with  the opening of Worldcon in Spokane. Which I will be attending and working a booth at. 
Also. With the book set to come out I have decided to get a store page started. It will be simple at first. What I have to offer at the moment is postcards and bookmarks. It might take a few days but the store page should be up by the end of the week. 

There is really no way for an inexperienced author such as myself to do full justice the timeless classic by American author Samuel Clemens "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn".
It is an adventure story, and a scathing critique of the social practices of the time. It is a comedy and a tragedy. It is a drama and a farce. 
This is one of those old classics that almost must be read not only in hard-copy but in one of the older editions, hard bound and fraying at the edges, with the scent of old library wafting off of every page. 

So for tax purposes I was gathering up my receipts from Norwescon.  I put them in a pile and glared down at them with rather a lot of acrimony. They will all be legitimate writeoffs and will save me quite a bit of money come tax time. But actually recording the income and expenditures from being an author will make my tax like far more  complex.   ICK.

Well Norwescon 38 was a blast... a fascinating...exhausting...fun...nerve-wracking blast. I met a lot of fascinating people. Everyone was really nice and very supportive. There were a lot of service dogs there in their bright red vests and "service dog" badges. Most of them were for anxiety attacks. Fortunately for this reclusive author most of the owners were perfectly willing to share their puppies for therapeutic petting. :) 
It helped to focus on individual people instead of the crowd as a whole. Taking picture helped with that a lot. 

The greatest thing about networking is meeting all the people! Seriously after only my first day here at Norwescon 38 I have met so may wonderful authors, cos-players, artists, and of course the most wonderful service dogs. I even met a blacksmith apprentice who is not only the very first woman to be accepted into the program but the very first person ever to pass the test on the first try. The test being... "See that anvil? Pick it up!" 
Fist thing I learned: If you don't watch you hands someone will stick a swag-bag into it when you aren't looking. I got a free book. 
Now to convince my boss that I need the latter end of a week off in Aug to attend Worldcon with the awesome writers group who found me. :) 
Pics of the Con later today!  

Alright! My publisher had given the release date for "Dying Embers". It will be ready to go on the shelves on August 17, 2015! I am hoping to do a live book signing at Powell's in Portland if they agree to carry my book. Here's hoping I can get that baby placed!