DABWAHA, Britannica, Gabaldon and Pez Dispensers, St Patrick, and Me in Real Simple!

appy Saint Patrick's Day tomorrow! Today it's breakfast at McKibbins Irish Pub, bright and early.

Why not listen to some Irish Rovers:

We're also drinking to the demise of the print edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, the reasons for which are succinctly explained in Wired. The one slant I disagree with is the assertion that "I suspect almost no one ever opened their Britannicas" and "Britannica's own market research showed that the typical encyclopedia owner opened his or her volumes less than once a year":

I guess I'm part of the minority that has an affinity for research books. I enjoy idly flipping through encyclopaedias, and I often pull out the (print!) Oxford English Dictionary for a good hunt/read.

DABWAHA is on right now! I know voting is confusing, but that's no excuse - just sign in every day (though I tried to vote in the first round while at the office and discovered that I was blocked from the site, as it somehow got registered as a 'gambling' site. Huh?) and VOTE whenever you see the polls open. There are three awesome amazing wonderful books that deserve to go head to head in the final round:

The Black Hawk by Joanna Bourne, Sea Change by Darlene Marshall and Red by Kait Nolan.

Once you've done voting, head over to the Free Par-tay!!! and nab some free e-published books!

And some links:

I replied to Real Simple's What Author Do you Admire Most and Why? and they printed my answer in the April issue! Er, I chose Tolkien, of course.

And here's a lovely long interview with Diana Gabaldon. Love the part where she talks of readers expecting writers to be like creativity Pez dispensers!

Speaking of Diana, there's a Canadian connection to the creation of her books, especially The Scottish Prisoner, which is set partly in Ireland.

Which brings us back to Saint Patrick's Day. I remember memorising Dear Old Donegal when I was a kid, but can't remember if it was my school that taught it, or if my sister learned it at her school and passed it to me. In honour of the release of his latest album, though, here's Springsteen, performing another Irish ballad, Mrs McGrath: