Book Barn loot!

Yesterday was perhaps the world's most perfect day ever. The weather was absolutely gorgeous, not too hot, but very sunny. The books we sold to the Book Barn got us $24 in credit, and we spent another $14 on top of using our store credit. Although I'm sad to report that, for the moment, the Haunted House (where the SF/F, horror, and mystery usually live) is shut down due to governmental asshattery bureaucracy and thus, the SF/F section is in about three different places including the downtown store.

Still, I got some great finds. In no particular order, our book booty (for, yarr we be lit'rary pirates, matey):

The Hidden Queen - Alma Alexander
Thomas the Rhymer - Ellen Kushner
Dime Store Magic - Kelley Armstrong
Nightlife - Rob Thurman
Touched by Venom - Janine Cross
Ill Wind - Rachel Caine
Kindred - Octavia E. Butler
Eifelheim - Michael Flynn
Towing Jehovah - James Morrow
The Ghost Brigades - John Scalzi
The Last Colony - John Scalzi
Queen Isabella - Alison Weir
Rome: Past and Present - L. Cozzi (picture book)

I got Queen Isabella because I can't resist history, and it's about a person I know little to nothing of. Plus, the writing caught my eye. I've been trying, as of late, to make sure I stretch my horizons beyond the SF/Fnal, at least reading wise.

This is to say nothing of my amazement that I've been able to find excellent condition editions of both Swordspoint and Thomas the Rhymer. I looked for them both in bookstores for a while after I read Privilege of the Sword, and couldn't find either.

Also? Score on finding "Ill Wind". I've been wanting to get into the Weather Warden novels for damn near ever, but couldn't. Trying to get into a series is a crapshoot at book stores. They never have the book you need but have fifty copies of the ones you don't. Or the publisher didn't label the books very well, so you have no idea which order things go in. There's a certain Big Name Publisher who does this a lot, I've noticed.

Seriously, publisher dudes, would it kill you to label when something is a sequel? Because it would help me out immensely when I'm deciding whether or not to give you my money. Which I presume is the whole point of this little marriage of literacy and capitalism. So, help a sister out and label your stuff more clearly.

And by the by - I totally need a book icon. Anyone know of any good ones laying around?