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When the IRS decided enough was enough last year one of the consequences was that I hadn't visited Barnes and Nobles in almost a year as utilities and comics were on a slightly higher priority.

Finishing up the first four days off in a row from the salt mines I've had in months. Our schedule is cumbersome and once a month we get four off to compensate but the shortage on second shift has resulted in overtime by which I am readjusting to my new bargain with IRS. They are settling for $500 a month rather then $900 which gives me a chance at recovering and catching the other bills up very very slowly.

I had spent the first three days reading stories from Black Gate magazine. 14 issues in nine years must be some sort of publishing record of dubious merit but the contents of each issue of uniform in quality and well done. They are mostly fantasy/adventure stories. I discovered them with issue 9 back in 2005 and my subscription renewal made it just ahead of the tax lien last year. That was a unpleasant nine months I wouldn't even wish on the Devil Child--who seems to have lost her British boyfriend by the by. Not to worry she was trolling around the mall the other day with another slaughted lamb according to the Long Suffering One who was out running around with her co-worker for half the day. I keep telling her when Logos finally drops by we might bring her along to McDonalds. Only the best for my company.

So today we depart to B&N to practice breaking the 10th commandment. I have a few things I want to check on to see if they are available and prioritize.

Ruth checks the medical and religious material while I drift through the fiction section to see if any Bernard Cornwell Sharpe novels in regular paperback format have been released. Nope. I quietly throw dirt on the grave of having a matched set.

I see James Enge's two books on Morlock the Magician are out but they are oversized and the price is nowhere to be found. I have Ruth double-check and she states it's in the bar code. They have $25 written all over them but I put it on the back burner. I can get discounts from the News Outlet from time to time and may throw the business their way.

I glance through the mystery section already knowing a new Jane Austen mystery by Stephanie Barron has not been completed yet. Based on chronology poor Jane hasn't many years left and I suspect Ms. Barron can squeeze two more novels out of her life. Highly recommend them.

A stroll to the magazine area shows Iron Man getting geared up for the star treatment. No signs of any Jonah Hex material in the movie titles not that I was expecting any. Still waiting for a trailer which according to latest news will be released with the new edition of Nightmare on Elm Street on the 30th. Which I have no desire to see and I have never gone to a movie JUST to see a trailer thought I have known some comic books geeks that have and brag about it while I nurse my well earned nerd scars and sigh at their patheticness.

Time to hit the humor area. Sadly three volumes behind the Dick Tracy reprint series. Only one behind Peanuts and I see Bloom County Volume 1 still available. No sign of The Phantom and I think I need to move on that title and Rip Kirby Volume 1 would be a luxury to own not a necessity not that B&N had it. I have never meant anyone who's read Kirby let alone heard of him but I have pleasant memories from 15 months of Guam and any hero that wears glasses is points ahead with me. Might explain why Cyclops is my favorite X-Man. Though originally it was Iceman when he was still drawn like a walking snowman. Numerous Pearels Before Swine books but I need to be careful there as I have invested only in the combined reprints books and this too can wait.

Just to convince myself the guttersnipes have some sort of place in the heart I check the sports area and find abslutely NO books devoted to boxing--Dan's major hobby (along with military history). Amusingly I find a copy of a book purporting to be the official Army survival handbook and I'm sure Dan has plenty of those.

A glance at the performing arts section is always a disappointment these days. Time was a popular TV series would rate a book written about it and I'm still waiting for The Equalizer to be given his due.

We go home and I go back to reading Charles P. Tanner and the Long Suffering One back to the box and I idly wonder if I'll eat supper or not later or when.