Hi All! We’re in beautiful Billings, Montana, between airplanes. As of yesterday afternoon we completed the awesome task of signing 9,200 copies of PEOPLE OF THE THUNDER, PEOPLE OF THE W0LF, PEOPLE OF THE FIRE, AND PEOPLE OF THE EARTH. We didn’t break our long-standing record of 9,881, but boy-howdy do our backs and shoulders hurt today. We want to send our deepest appreciation to Marianne and Angie, the hearts and souls of the Michigan News Group agency. They allow us the privilege of signing such huge piles of our books. And, yes, it is a privilege. For those of you lucky enough to live in the midwest, keep your eyes open. Your friendly local grocery, airport bookstand, or drug store should sport a Gear book with a big yellow sticker saying “Autographed Copy.” When you find one, check out the signatures on the title page. Yep, them’s ours. The other good news is that many of the backlist titles are in the 4.99 edition. Cheap. With great new covers. And a signature, too. For those of you keeping track: PEOPLE OF THE FOREST, the sequel for PEOPLE OF THE LONGHOUSE, is complete. For the rest of you keeping track: The sequel to CONTACT: THE BATTLE FOR AMERICA, COMING OF THE STORM has also been turned in to Pocket Books. Tentatively the title is THE FIRES OF MABILA. On that note, we’re off for two weeks on a real, honest, really true, actual, with no work, vacation. Not only that, but after signing all those books, we’ve earned it. The next entry will cover where we’ve been. Oh, and sometime soon we have to report on Red Canyon Jake, scourge of the puppy world. He’s almost a novel in himself. Bye for now. Wish us sunshine, tequila, beer, seafood, and palm trees. Mike and Kathy