NOTE: People in Ireland who’ve been haranguing me about the expense of shipping BBotE, be sure to read all the way through.
Things have been somewhat quiet here lately as I do my best to keep up with the DEADLY RADIATIONS and an unprecedented level of Black Blood of the Earth demand, courtesy of a surprisingly large response from people around the world in the wake of Thrillist, SF & LA Weekly, Bon Appettit, and werd.com. Pretty much since returning from the previous leg of the SCIENTIFIC DRINKING TOUR 2011, I’ve been running at maximum production capacity. On a positive note, this shows me that hey, you all like BBotE as much as I and the Pimps & Pimpstresses do. On the negative, it is scramble to keep a head of you people and the ever-shifting variety of highest demand. In the last year I have never, ever, ever guessed correctly what the next order is going to be so there’s been lags in shipping BBotE longer than the 72hrs I try to work to. C’est le guerre.
First and most importantly, Guatemala Mundo Nuvo is coming back for a limited engagement. After nearly a year of waiting, the lovely folks at Caffe Vita have gotten this year’s harvest of Mundo Nuvo and they heeded my endless whining and pleading to give me mass quantities. Last year a couple dozen people got to try it and, from them, I got a regular drumbeat of “When you gonna get more of that Mundo stuff?” Well, they finished roasting it and its headed my way. I’m putting the Mundo Nuvo pre-order up now, but production of it won’t start until after Worldcon so shipments will start going out the week of the 22nd.
Oh yes, Worldcon 2011 is the next stop on the SCIENTIFIC DRINKING TOUR 2011. So, Reno, NV or convention attendees, this is your chance to let me know what you’d like me to bring with. At the very least, I’m always quite happy to have beers with interesting people. If you spot this odd little man with long red hair and Stein of Science, feel free to say hi and buy me a beer to fill that stein. Hey, it’s worth a shot…oh, and doing shots with me is also acceptable.
Speaking of sci-fi, I had the pleasure of getting to sit down, enjoy several beers and discuss Things of Import (like beer) with author Charles Stross last Saturday as he came through San Francisco for a signing. It remains an enduring wonderment to me when I get asked a professional/expert opinion. Over the years, I’ve gotten quite used to viewing myself as the scientific jack of all trades, the blue collar physicist, so it’s always a surprise when I’m treated as an authority on anything.
If you aren’t already familiar with Mr. Stross’ works and didn’t have a friendly Antarctic astrophysicist to introduce you to them, let me fill that role for you. I recommend starting with the same gateway drug I did, “The Atrocity Archives“, and fall down the rabbit hole from there. Charlie’s brainstorming and open questions to the Internet on his blog never fail to give me something to chew on. They’re interesting enough that I regularly break Internet Rule #2, “Life Is Too Short To Read The Comments”, which is funny in light of the fact that his newest novel is titled “Rule 34” (AKA, and I quote the author, Charlie’s Big Gay Scottish Police Procedural OF THE FUTURE). Never say I didn’t do anything for you.
Next, I am happy to inaugurate the Somewhat Intermittent BBotE Pimp of Dublin. Yes, Dublin, as in Ireland. Your Pimp, Brady, is a student in an American student in Dublin who was kind enough to bestow the rather expensive gift of internationally shipped BBotE on a friend last year. As he travels back and forth across the pond, hence “Somewhat Intermittent Pimp” he will schlepp BBotE for Dubliners who are up for it. The 750ml bottles are likely to end up a bit more expensive than the usual $45 due to the luggage fees, but I’ll leave it up to him to figure out and tell us all what the deal will be, but it will no doubt be a hell of a lot cheaper than international shipping would otherwise be. If you want to drop him a line he can be reached at manningb [at] tcd [dot] ie.
Lastly, the pre-order for the late August Death Wish 750ml BBotE runs are also up too. The last of the mid-August ones should be going out this Saturday, so brace yourself if you’ve been waiting impatiently.