Bad moments and good reads

[captainsblog]

I never added to our chorus of tears here from yesterday, but Eleanor posted twice about it yesterday and was still pretty shaken today.

We had to euthanize a rat in our back yard yesterday afternoon. Not one of these ugly union-scab looking things (which, oddly, I'd been reading an article about earlier in the morning), but a much gentler Ratatouille-looking soul, who'd simply had the bad fortune to come across poison in a neighbor's yard and chose the edge of our back door to live out the final moments of its life.

Such was the theme of yesterday. Today's, for me, was general frustration with work-type things. A client, peripherally connected to the wedding industry, wound up eating my brain for most of the day, including a flurry of stroke-of-5-p.m. filings that had to be dealt with, on a day when Bridezilla was already very much in evidence locally:

A divorce that has ended the merger of two Buffalo-area bakeries means that several local brides and grooms are scrambling to replace the bargain wedding cakes they ordered as long ago as last winter.

And the possibility of receiving refunds for the cakes, which were paid for in full, is unclear to those left in the lurch.

Dick Sondel, owner of P&R Pastries and Pies Bakery in the Town of Tonawanda, notified families in a letter that went out late last week that contracts with the now-defunct Village Desserts will not be honored for any wedding after this Sunday.

...

“Now a whole bunch of brides are out of luck and out of money,” said Erica Nowak, who had ordered a cake from Village Desserts for her Oct. 23 wedding. “The police have even been to the shop, pulling out girls who flipped out because they have no wedding cake.”

Town of Tonawanda Police Chief Anthony Palombo confirmed Monday that police were called to the P&R shop over the weekend when unhappy customers refused to leave. No arrests were made.

One of my first-ever Chapter 11 cases, back in the 80s, was for a bridal-gown salon in suburban Rochester, and I learned from that not to mess with the brides, no way, no how. If anything, it seems to have gotten even uglier in the years since then.  For our part, our marriage has outlasted our reception hall/caterer, the maker of our own cake, the venue of our rehearsal dinner, and any real connection to the guy who crafted our rings. Focus on the m-word and not the w-word, guys, and I think you'll do much better.

----

Balancing all that nonsense, fortunately, was a posse of posts about good new things to read, which I'll share here.

From firynze: her publishing house has just released its first online book!



The big day is here!

Erekos, an absolutely breathtaking debut novel by A.M. Tuomala, is now available for purchase from Candlemark & Gleam.

This is my pride and joy, folks. Over a year of planning and around eight months of very, very hard work by the author and my many wonderful co-conspirators....

Here's to Erekos.

[Credits omitted,  not out of any lack of respect, but because the code wasn't pasting right. You, of all people, know how hideous it is when THAT happens;)]

Next, from her friend and mine thunderemerald:



THE SPIRIT THIEF is the first in a five-book series about the most lovable wizard thief you will ever meet. (That's thief-who-is-also-a-wizard, not thief-of-wizards.) It's snappy and hilarious and has a pretty fantastic system of magic -- and there are such adventures! When I stopped at the publisher's booth at BookExpo, I actually heard someone pitching this as the next Princess Bride. Now, I'm not saying anything will ever be another Princess Bride... but if there could be another, this would probably be it.

She didn't link, but I suspect we're talking Coming Soon to a Bookstore Near You.

And finally, straight from the author's feed at bedlam_f: Jon Katz, he of the soon-to-be-Netflixed adaptation of A Dog Year, is almost out with his new novel:



“Rose In A Storm” is getting the most wonderful reviews, in media but also on the new social media Book sites – LibraryThing, Goodreads, the new hot venues for selling books. The pub date is October 5, but the book is being heavily pre-ordered on Amazon, Bn.com and from bookstores.

Including one that will be sitting waiting for me in a bookstore 250 miles away from here unless I get off my ass and arrange shipping. (Probably should write myself a reminder. Wait, I just did;)

Sorry for all the single-entry spamming, but twas all for good causes:)

Comments

[firynze.livejournal.com]

Egad. I'm not the type to ever be a Bridezilla, but I think if it's ever justified, it'd be when your wedding cake isn't going to be delivered and you don't seem to have a chance at a refund...!

And thank you for the mention!

[captainsblog.livejournal.com]

I snipped the part of that article that said that most of these cakes were sold for $100 at wedding-fair gatherings. It's CAKE, folks. Sliced into inch-square pieces that nobody remembers except for the piece that one spouse either does or doesn't smash into the other's face. (We didn't. Go figure.) Wegmans can probably provide a serviceable replacement on a week's notice, and even 23 years ago, a lost Benjamin in the scheme of things was the least of your problems.

Also, you're welcome. As am I, to register and buy it as soon as one of eight people, like, pays my bill from the last week of August. (Do I get it, btw, that once I buy in .pdf, I can then come back and download it to a Kindlenookypaddy thing if I wind up getting one of those? That is an awesome concept:)

[firynze.livejournal.com]

There are ways to get another cake, sure, but what would get me frothing is the "not honouring the contract" bit and the part about refunds possibly not happening...

And yep, if you get it in PDF, you can load it onto anything that will read a PDF. Sooooo...computer, laptop, smartphone, Kindle, etc. If it can read PDF, you can load the book onto it. And onto as many of those devices as you choose - no limit. No self-destruct button. None of that BS.

[plantmom.livejournal.com]

I like the idea of being able to read in several different forms. I've been having trouble reading the New Yorker in print form for a while. Gotta do it first thing in the morning, usually. So, much as I like the idea of the tactile aspect of paper and print, other things are starting to appeal.
I read the backstory on the Bridezilla thing. Lisa Marie was the owner of Village Desserts (or V.D. for short - snerk). I worked with her sister at my last job, and if Lisa Marie is cut from the same cloth as her sister, she's probably a piece of work. Lisa Marie was married to the owner of the other bakery. She merged the two businesses, took a whole bunch of orders this summer, then essentially walked out on the marriage and the business. I believe she knew back when she took the orders what she was planning to do, and she orchestrated everything so as to leave her now-ex-husband holding the bag. What a sleazebag! I understand marriages fall apart, but she's a crappy businesswoman to do it this way.

[firynze.livejournal.com]

Also, if you have Calibre, a free e-reader for multiple platforms? You can convert the file into just about any other format, to read on literally ANY platform. It's sorta handy. It doesn't come out looking very pretty, but it's text and it's there.

The PDF is the pretty version; the rest are just convenient, which seems to be the wave of eBooks right now.

WOW, that is an atrocious thing to do. I mean...good grief. This is why you don't mix business and pleasure - or if you do, why you create proper exit clauses and just don't be a dick to the poor customers.

[captainsblog.livejournal.com]

What is it about bakeries that brings this out, I wonder?

Eleanor (and maybe luckycee, if she gets this far in) will recall a kosher bakery in our former hometown of Brighton called Malek's. The married proprietors were forever fighting over the business, and Lea, at least, would prop an extra sign atop the "Malek's Bakery" with her first name on it whenever she was temporarily in charge, to let people know that it was safe again to shop there.

[firynze.livejournal.com]

Yowza. O_o

[plantmom.livejournal.com]

Re: V.D., all I can think is, I hope she has a rich boyfriend lined up, because in a way this is a small town, and if she wants to work in that field again, she may find it tough. Word gets around, you know? In fact, in the original story, someone was quoted as having had one of her cakes at someone else's reception, and that it was very good. So she had a good reputation, and now she's trashed it. Sad.

[firynze.livejournal.com]

Yeah, finding work again after something like this, unless she leaves the area or changes fields entirely...not so much. She's pretty much shot herself in the foot.

[liddle-oldman.livejournal.com]

The day before our wedding, the restaurant we were planning to have the reception at told my wife that maybe they could open for the reception. Maybe they couldn't. They'd get back to her. Maybe.

I wish it known that my wife retained her self-possession and her dignity. Though she did scare them into opening.