The publishers grabbed the tables along one wall, the regularly-published authors migrated to another wall, and the self-published authors took the third wall in the high school gym.

And the playwrights took the Fourth Wall.

FSITR!

Posted October 26, 2007 5:05 PM by Xopher

Seriously, it sounds like a very cool and worthwhile event. I wish I could go. Actually I wish I could be on the same wall with you and Doyle, but that's neither here nor there.

Posted October 26, 2007 5:06 PM by Xopher

Why does Warren have a Jupiter-C on their courthouse lawn?
(I'm thinking of the Saturn-5 engine in Canoga Park - a first stage engine. You can even see it, a bit, in Google: 6633 Canoga Ave, back from the street in front of the building.)

Posted October 26, 2007 5:16 PM by P J Evans

I-65 southbound in Alabama has a full Saturn 1b at a rest srea. I doubt it's a coincidnece that this is the closest rest area to the Huntsville exit.

Posted October 26, 2007 5:23 PM by fidelio

Why does Warren have a Jupiter-C?

Well.

There was a fellow from Warren who made a career of the US Military. His last assignment was at the Redstone missile base in Huntsville, Alabama. When he got out, the Air Force was decommissioning its Jupiter-C stock. He asked if he could have one. The answer was, if you can take it with you, sure. He brought a truck.

Also, Alan Shepard (a New Hampshireman!) rode a Jupiter-C into space.

Posted October 26, 2007 5:29 PM by James D. Macdonald

Jim 5: Also, Alan Shepard (a New Hampshireman!) rode a Jupiter-C into space.

I thought they were called New Hamsters.

Posted October 26, 2007 5:30 PM by Xopher

I thought I remembered that Shepard was from that neck of the woods.

Posted October 26, 2007 5:32 PM by P J Evans

I've had my share of late-night dinners at the Fort. They added a lot of excellent menu items when they were owned by Lou's.

But if you ever feel a craving for some excellent bacon, you should definitely drop by The Farmer's Diner over in Queechee. Their breakfast meats are uniformly amazing, and the chocolate milk is the best I've ever had. (And if bacon isn't your thing, go for their maple sausage.) Much of the menu comes from local Vermont farms.

They claim that they're 9 minutes west of the I-89/I-91 intersection, which sounds about right.

And thanks for the head's-up about "Book 'Em." It's sounds like an excellent event.

Posted October 26, 2007 6:04 PM by Eric Kidd

I remember the only time I visited Warren (I was 16 I think) and I saw "the rocket" in front of the courthouse. My first thought was basically "Atlanta may be ready for the yankees to come back, but this place is ready for the flying saucers!"

Which, truth be told, probably should have been a short story a long time ago.

Posted October 26, 2007 6:08 PM by Mister Oregon

[Oops. Looks like I made the same recommendation in last October's Diners in New England thread. My apologies for the duplication, and please feel free to delete #8.]

Posted October 26, 2007 6:16 PM by Eric Kidd

Be sure to note the hours of The Farmer's Diner in Quechee... they close at 3pm, daily.

(This I learned a couple weeks ago after hiking down the gorge and back, and arriving at the diner's door at 3:30 p.m.)

Posted October 26, 2007 6:22 PM by deCadmus

Photos of Roadside Rockets, including the Warren, New Hampshire example.

Posted October 26, 2007 7:22 PM by James D. Macdonald

Hrm....I'm debating going...I'd certainly like to go--it's only two hours away. Hrm.

Posted October 26, 2007 7:24 PM by PixelFish

Oh yeah, the Warren missile is a funny thing. Right there in the middle of town, this small ICBM waiting for the button. I always figured it was in honor of Mildrim Thomson's boast that he'd like to fortify the Maine border with Minuteman missiles. Or something. Anyway, it's worth the trip. And it's only a few miles further to Mt Moosilauke Ravine Lodge, which is likely still open for meals on the weekends, and has a whole bunch of great day hikes from its front yard.

Posted October 26, 2007 7:49 PM by p mac

Huh. WE have a double-barreled cannon in front of our City Hall. (The linked page could use a good editor, but it's still worth reading.)

Posted October 26, 2007 9:44 PM by Lila

Xopher@1: "I was just standing here saying shame, shame, ... shame ...."

Posted October 26, 2007 10:11 PM by CHip

It's 49 and a light rain rain falling in Lebanon.

Heigh ho and away we go....

Posted October 27, 2007 5:21 AM by James D. Macdonald

Woomera in the South Australian desert, the centre of the British space effort and continuing test flights for various parties, has a public playground made up entirely of old rockets; a seriously fucked up sight when you wake up looking at it on a bus at 0400.

Further out in the wilds, some of the roadhouses have bits of spacejunk outside that got launched from there and went astray.

Posted October 27, 2007 11:53 AM by Alex

This is the second year in a row that I've been out of town for the Book 'Em weekend. Bother! My wife (a school librarian) and I live ten minutes south of Lebanon, in Plainfield, NH.

Maybe we can catch you next year!

Posted October 27, 2007 1:25 PM by Ryan Freebern

We're back, having spent a pleasant afternoon tootling around Vermont and New Hampshire, ending up at Hart's Turkey Farm for dinner (a place where essentially everything on the menu is turkey (except for the things that aren't), where they make their own ice cream, and where the Rum Raisin trifle will not be sold to patrons under 21 years of age.

Oh -- a note on the Main Street Museum: Doyle says that it most closely resembles a live-action, full scale, 3D, Edward Gorey illustration.

Posted October 27, 2007 10:09 PM by James D. Macdonald

Oh, yeah -- if you're an author or a publisher and you want to participate in next year's Book 'Em in New Hampshire, write to Cliff Desrosiers (cliffd5632 @ msn.com). Tell him I sent you.

Posted October 27, 2007 10:42 PM by James D. Macdonald

Missed this post yesterday -- if you are still in Lebanon you ought to swing by Poverty Lane Orchards and buy a few bottles of their hard cider -- it is the bee's knees.

Posted October 28, 2007 7:28 AM by The Modesto Kid

Oh -- reading your last comment, I guess you are not in Lebanon any longer. Oh well, next time.

Posted October 28, 2007 7:30 AM by The Modesto Kid

Sorry I wasn't able to make it up there after all. My boyfriend had to pull a working weekend and needed the car. :( I hope there was a decent turnout otherwise.

Posted October 28, 2007 11:19 AM by PixelFish

The turnout was small but steady, despite a cold, hard rain all day.

Seriously, though, local (and this means all-through-New-England) authors should consider doing this. Good cause and all. Anyone know if NESFA Press would like to do a table?

Posted October 28, 2007 11:36 AM by James D. Macdonald

#23 I wind up in Lebanon often enough....

Posted October 28, 2007 11:37 AM by James D. Macdonald

Well, I was surfing and found this site. I'm Mark Kearney, the guy behind the original Book 'Em event as well as quite a few literacy programs.

I'm slowly working on spreading the Book 'Em event globally. Charleston, South Carolina has come on board and they will host their first BE on Saturday, May 24, 2008.

I attended the Lebanon BE in 2006. Traveling from the birthplace of Book 'Em in Waynesboro, VA made for a long trip last year. Of course, the guy behind the Lebanon Book 'Em, Cliff, came to my local event in 2005 to see what it was all about.

Hope to hear back from some of you.

Mark

Posted November 28, 2007 2:36 PM by Mark Kearney