Safe!

   Whew. Crisis Averted. It's been a crazy two weeks, let me tell you. Interviews, resumés, applying for unemployment! But yesterday at about 4:55pm I got the call from Little Brown publishers that they were officially offering me the job (the one I really really wanted) in their science fiction, fantasy, manga, & graphic novel imprint, Orbit Books. Little Brown is one of the only publishers doing well in this economy, so thats nice to hear, and Orbit at Little Brown UK has been a huge imprint for them for 25-30 years. They brought the imprint to the US a little over a year ago, and they've been doing really well, so they were recently authorized to open up their own mini art-department instead of having the Little Brown art dept. design all their books. My friend Keith happens to be an art director in that dept., so when he heard I was laid-off he immediately had me contact the publisher and it went perfectly from there on. I owe him a BIG dinner as soon as this all gets settled.

   Seriously, could there be a more perfect job for me than designing sci-fi books?! The timing is so amazing it almost makes me want to get religious. Or believe in the force. Or run up and down my hallway screaming like that kid in Home Alone. (Wait I already did that.) 

   So I am going to be, starting Nov. 24th, the Creative Director of Orbit Books. Crazy. Talk about a bad thing turning into something great - I get to keep my severance, I get a raise, and a promotion! And I get to work on material I love. I am so excited! But really, I think by now I am more worn out than an old frayed dishrag, it's been two weeks of craaaaaazy. I need a vacation...

   Oh and here's what the industry has been saying about Doubleday this week...I particularly like the last paragraph...