dduane

Secondary to a batch of emails and so forth from folks who weren't able to take advantage of the below-described discount offer over the weekend, we've extended it one day. So the (revised) pertinent info appears below. (And thanks to everyone who's participated so far!)

BTW: if you've purchased an ebook or ebooks and are having any kind of download problem, please leave a comment in the thread below and our tech lady will get back to you as quickly as possible. Apparently there were some problems with the server on Saturday that resulted in shop registration emails and / or emailed passwords being delayed. These problems seem to have resolved themselves, but we want to make sure everyone's got what they paid for, or were able to get in and make their purchases in the first place.

Anyway, here's what it's all about. As of this past weekend we've nearly come to the end of the supply of special kidney-friendly cat food that the vet's office sent home with Mr. Squeak after his hospital stay (he was being treated for what we now recognize as the late stages of feline renal failure). Now it's time to start ordering the stuff in seriously, and jeezLouise is it expensive. Also, in our neck of the woods you have to order "prescription" cat foods in bulk from the distributor... which means a minimum of 48-unit cases. Still: it's in a good cause. So it's time to have a sale at the DD.com ebook shop! We're offering a 25%-off sale on all ebooks in the shop until Tuesday morning (0900 UTC), April 19th. BT The discount offer includes:

• Middle Kingdoms books and stories, such as --
  • The Door into Fire (in ePub and Kindle / .mobi editions)
  • The Door into Shadow (ePub and Kindle / .mobi)
  • The Door into Sunset (ePub and Kindle / .mobi)
  • The Middle Kingdoms Omnibus (ePub and Kindle / .mobi)
  • and Sirronde's World 1: The Span in ePub (somehow or other we were missing a Kindle edition of SW 1, but it's at this link now: use the dropdown menu on the order page and you'll see it.) (Sirronde's World 3 is a freebie, BTW.)

• The standalone fantasy works published under the Badfort Press imprint, such as:
  • the novel Raetian Tales 1: A Wind from the South (in ePub and Kindle / .mobi)
  • The new short story anthology Uptown Local and Other Interventions

• And the Young Wizards International Editions. (Purchasers outside the US and Canada only, please!) Including:
  • So You Want to Be a Wizard (ePub and Kindle / .mobi)
  • Deep Wizardry (combined listing: both ePub and Kindle / .mobi available on the page. We're reorganizing the listings so they all do this...)
  • High Wizardry (another combined listing)
  • Wizard's Holiday (ePub and Kindle / .mobi)
  • A Wizard of Mars (ePub and Kindle / .mobi)

(For those interested: the other four books are still in production, but we expect to have them all up by mid-May.)

To get your discount, all you need to do is enter the coupon code CATFOOD at the checkout page. This will deduct 25% from your final total. And for customers taking advantage of this offer: you can use the coupon TWICE over the course of the weekend if you want to. So shop early and often! And thanks in advance to all of you who elect to assist us in what we hope will be a long battle with the prescription catfood wholesaler. :) ...And now it's time for a gratuitous cat picture, showing the senior cat in healthier days. (BTW, if you want to see some more of Squeaky, click here to view a nice selection of photos of him at Flickr.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just a quick thank-you to those who've tweeted and emailed over the weekend to ask how Squeaky is.

For the last few months he'd become increasingly subdued and lethargic at home. Initially we put this down to the aftereffects of a bitterly cold and snowy winter, during which he actively refused to go out very much, and to Squeak's considerable age (he's somewhere in the neighborhood of eighteen years old). But when he also started losing weight over the last month and getting actively frail, we became a lot more concerned.

On Friday we got him to the best of the local veterinary practices in our area for a checkup and to have bloods drawn. When the results came in on Saturday morning, the vet called us and asked us to bring him in immediately for hospitalization, the diagnosis being chronic renal failure.

Squeaky's spent the weekend on IVs, essentially having his kidneys flushed clean, being hydrated and stuffed full of steroids and various other medications, and being evaluated to see whether his renal disease can be managed through diet and medication or not. His condition has been improving -- the vet told us today that when he was admitted "he'd let us do anything we wanted with him" but that now "his personality was coming out a lot more" -- meaning, I strongly suspect, the part of his personality usually expressed with his claws when something happens that Mr. Squeak considers inconsistent with his dignity. Since he has only two teeth left, I suspect they aren't that much of an issue. But even in his frail state he still has a skogkatt's big catcher's-mitt paws, and packs a wallop when he hits someone with them. Squeak's padawan apprentice Mr. Goodman, having been on the receiving end of smacking from these weapons from a young age, still treats Squeak with great respect even though he outweighs Squeaky by 50%.

Anyway, the hospital is looking at being ready to release him to home care tomorrow sometime. In the short term Squeak will now need the expected special renal diet, and probably diuretics as well, and monthly injections of this and that to help metabolize the built-up toxins that his kidneys and liver are no longer capable of handling unassisted. Only time will tell at this point how long the treatment will extend his life.

Naturally we're overjoyed that our old friend isn't going to have to depart the household just yet. What the future will hold remains to be revealed (but then that's the way things usually go anyway...). The only thing we can be sure about right now is the vet bills. (And for those of you who've been idly considering a subscription to The Big Meow, or picking up a copy of the Uptown Local and Other Interventions anthology ebook, or something else from the DianeDuane.com ebook shop, let me suggest that this would absolutely be the perfect moment for it.)

In any case, thanks again to all those who inquired about Squeaky's health. We can't wait to get him home.