Three of Me for Two

The intrepid Matt Curran has pointed out that the paperback of Shock and Awe is on the 3-for-2 table in Waterstones, which is an instance of what the Japanese call 'the ascent to heaven.'

[nb. Actually, 'the ascent to heaven' is when someone working in a Japanese corporation takes a job in the government body that regulates the corporation. But I love the phrase and had to sneak it in somehow.]

So, those of you near a Waterstones could dance on down and pick up three copies, keep one, and give two of them to friends. (Or, if you decide you hate the book, you could instead give all three to people you dislike.)

To be fair, though, Matt says that Faye Booth's Cover the Mirrors and Annabel Dore's The Great North Road are both there as well, and you might want to buy those two instead of the two extra copies of mine. (Sigh.) If you want to maximze your Forest Products Consumed Per Unit Cash--and pick up a truly unusual novel--you will definitely want to buy The Great North Road. Faye's Cover the Mirrors is a marvelous read, but weighs in at a sensible 318 pages; and Shock and Awe, at 472 pages, contains a few more words than any reasonable person could want; but, at 679 pages, The Great North Road can stop any bullet that doesn't have a full metal jacket.

I recommend buying all three.