In one of those entertaining life-imitates-art moments that pervade our experience as comic strip authors, we wrote this week's skateboarding sequence last week on the plane back from Burlington. Then yesterday I went to the park with my kids on the Ripstik they got me for Christmas. Within seconds I was sporting this exciting new addition to my ensemble.

(My excuse: I was carrying a bag full of baseball gear, and it threw off my balance.) Undeterred, I got right back up on that horse, and never went down again. But I was bleeding pretty freely for the next hour, which made a terrific impression on neighbors as I whizzed by. I'm pretty sure no one who saw me yesterday will ever buy one of those things.

Unshelved is made possible this week by Georgetown University Press, publishers of Careers in International Affairs, Eighth Edition.

My dad just turned seventy last week. As the celebration wore on (I think it was when the elephants were going by) he confided to me yet again that he always wanted to be in the diplomatic service, dreaming of living life overseas among the movers and shakers. Another expert on the subject, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright says,

"Over the years the SF Guide has proven to be an invaluable resource to those students who are eager to use their international relations training productively. It is respected by those who teach, those who employ, and those who want jobs . . . a trifecta!"

Sounds like the perfect book for my dad. So I'm going to use the proceeds from this sponsorship to buy a time machine, go back fifty years, and give it to him. Now that's a thoughtful birthday present.

Yeah, so when Stephen King called us up and said "Bill and Gene, please let your readers know about the graphic novel prequel to my bestselling Dark Tower series," we said, "Coolio, Steverino. We'll take care of you." Because that's how we roll.

I finally had a chance to look at the book myself, and it really is some of the most beautiful art I've ever seen in a comic. Check it out, for our man Steve, and our distributor-in-common Diamond, who helped us roll this week with their sponsorship.

We've added a lot of new readers lately, especially with signups from the three talks we did in the last month plus Emerald City Comic Con. Welcome! Primer here if you need it!

Just 17 days left in the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) preorder. Order by May 31 and we'll sign your book and I'll sketch Colleen (or the character of your choice) in it. In addition, we'll both sign any books you order with your copy of FAQ. Order our full set of six (or any six of our books) for just $70 (free shipping in the US and Canada). Plus we have our new t-shirts.

Five years ago we printed our first book. It was a scary thing to do, but our readers were kind enough to preorder enough copies to pay for the entire print run. Now costs have gone up so much that we need to sell almost twice as many books as we did back then just to break even. And of course now I'm trying to make a living at this, so it's even scarier than it was back then. So if after all this time a new collection of Unshelved still sounds like fun to you, I'd like to humbly suggest that this is a great time to avail yourself of one.