Well, I’ve gone and done it: After two years of receiving countless e-mailed links related to bacon, each of these e-mail beginning with the line “I realize you’ve probably been sent this a thousand times already, but –” I’ve decided the time was right to offer a space here on Whatever devoted entirely to reader-submitted links about bacon, so people can not only share their bacon-related Internet discoveries with me, but with every single person who visits whatever. Thus, it gives me great pride to introduce to you:

The Canonical Bacon Page.

It’s baconlicious!

There’s just one thing: Right now, The Canonical Bacon Page is completely devoid of bacon-related links! That’s because I am relying on you, good citizens of Whatever, to fill its comment thread with bacony goodness. If you’ve ever sent me a bacon-related link of any sort or type — or was planning too — now you can offer it up to the whole Internet. And isn’t that better? I think so, too.

So head over to the Canonical Bacon Page and start offering up your bacon-based online treasures. But make sure to read the entire intro before you post, since I do have a couple of requests regarding posting. I thank you in advance for your cooperation.

(Also, to avoid any confusion as to where to place bacon-links, I’ve closed comments on this particular entry, the better to have you put the links on the actual Canonical Bacon Page.)

Now, go ahead: Get your bacon on, my friends.

In no particular order:

1. Robert Heinlein’s form for fan mail

2. Bacon vodka

3. Bacon bourbon

4. Bacon candies of any sort

5. Anything detailing how Sarah Palin is crazy/unprepared/ignorant/going to be the death of us all

6. Anything detailing how John McCain is old/unprepared/a lying scumbag who will say anything to be president

Really, I’m on top of all of these now, thanks. Please feel free not to send me any more e-mails about any of them. My e-mail queue appreciates your consideration.

Someone explain to me why I shouldn’t drink this entire container of sweet pickle juice I’ve got here in front of me.

Not every re-run has to be long to be worth repeating.

JULY 23, 2007: A Book Reading Meme

I am so far behind in answering e-mail, particularly relating to Big Idea submissions. Apologies. Trying to hack my way through the thicket now.

Those of you hoping for an audio version of Zoe’s Tale to listen to during your commute or other activity in which your ears are not critical for survival will be happy to know that indeed it is out and available on Audible.com and will likely shortly be available through iTunes, as all the other stuff on Audible (Old Man’s War, The Ghost Brigades, The Sagan Diary) is there already.

Regarding the Zoe’s Tale audio, I’ve already gotten questions about it regarding pricing, Audible credits, so on and so forth. I know nothing about any of this and have no control over any of it — seriously, they don’t even tell me when my audiobooks are being released, so imagining that I can do anything about fiddly details is optimistic. Sending me your retail or technical concerns and/or complaints does neither of us any good. Please don’t, since my response will be to gaze at your e-mail balefully and think why are you sending this to me. Direct them toward Audible, which has a whole area for customer support and questions.

One thing I can answer is why Zoe’s Tale is available on audio and in eBook form while The Last Colony is not. And the answer is: There is no good reason, it just happened that way. Both electronic and audio versions of The Last Colony are in the can (or near to it) and no one has a particularly good reason for why Zoe got out first. It just happened that way. That said, if you’re feeling mildly OCD about reading/listening to the fourth book in the series before the third, remember that Zoe and The Last Colony take place in the same timeframe; in terms of the series, it really doesn’t matter which you read or listen to first.

So, go ahead. Read or listen to Zoe’s Tale first. Really, it’s fine. You can trust me, I’m the author.

Update: for completists, here’s a link to everything I’ve got on Audible.com. Download away –