My summer schedule of insanity (which, unless I've miscounted, has led me to nine different states) concludes tomorrow as I leave for my last trip of the season. I will be co-leading an intense seminar on the collected writings of 18th-century moral philosopher
Adam Smith at Hope College in Michigan. While I'm away I will be online, but I'd like to go ahead and wish an early happy birthday to my friends
wiccagirl24,
febobe, and
ghani_atreides. May your next year be your best yet!
I also have a couple of news items to share:
* Amazon.com now has copies of
J.K. Rowling's The Tales of Beedle the Bard available for preorder in two versions, a collector's editor and a standard hardback edition. The proceeds for both will go to the Children's High Level Group, a charity co-founded in 2005 by J.K. Rowling and Emma Nicholson to make life better for vulnerable children. The books will be available in December.
* My latest (and longest to date) podcast narration, an unabridged dramatic reading of Jeff Carlson's science fiction story "Frozen Sky," is now available
here at StarShipSofa or under "StarShipSofa" at iTunes. My reading begins approximately 18 minutes into the podcast and runs for about 1 hour and 20 minutes. Links to all of my podcast work are collected
here.
"No benevolent man ever lost altogether the fruits of his benevolence."
- Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, 1759