SHORT VERSION:

10 unsold Artist’s Editions of “A Blizzard of Lizard” will be going on sale Thursday at 12 PM (noon) PST in the store.

LONGER, SLIGHTLY EMBARRASSING VERSION:

For reasons you can well imagine, I pay very close attention to the store’s automatic inventory count of Artist’s Editions. I never want them to oversell, since they exist in a limited number. But this time around, I paid *too* close attention, fiddled with the software system, and, as I’m now just realizing, ended up with 10 unsold copies.

Here’s what happened: 10 Sheldonistas paid for their Artist’s Editions using an “e-check”, which take about a week to clear. I was under the impression that the store software wouldn’t count those 10 purchases as a “completed sale” until the e-check cleared, and so manually adjusted the inventory count down by 10. Only now do I realize that was unnecessary, and that the software had taken them into accounnt.

So, I have 10 Artist’s Editions left, including the highly-coveted #250 (with the extra-cool, detailed sketch).

To be fair to the 45 or so folks who had e-mailed me asking if there were any left, I’ve decided to give a public notice, then put them on sale at a pre-announced time. So on Thursday at 12 PM PST, I’ll be putting these last ten up for sale in the store.

My apologies for any inconvenience!

Good news for everyone who ordered Glornak stickers from the store:

Both the clear-vinyl and black-vinyl versions arrived on Monday, and 99.99% of pre-orders have been sent out to Sheldonistas! If you were waiting for these puppies to arrive before you ordered, now’s your chance! (…they came out pretty sweet, I have to say.)

Head over to the store and pick up yours…

Among all the hubbub for the new book, I would be remiss if I didn’t thank my friend, Katherine, for her excellent design touches on the cover — it came out beautifully.

Katherine and I used to work together at Mattel. And in my 8 years there, I got the chance to work with some of the most amazingly talented creatives I could imagine…but I don’t think I ever met a designer as naturally gifted as Katherine. She never ceases to amaze me with her talent.

Like myself, she’s out of Mattel now, having moved to Texas to start a design studio and a clothing company.

If you get a chance, check them out: Katherine’s not only super talented, she’s super cool as well.

You’ll remember from this strip that I like to poke fun at Wikipedia. For casual reference and quick searches, Wikipedia’s a great, great resource…but my trust of user-collected knowledge ends there.

Anyway, I got to thinking, for Sunday’s strip (Read it, if you missed it!), “What Wikipedia would look like if he was a human being?” A nerd with cobbled-together clothes, was the answer. Holding a spatula. Thus was born this week of strips.

Also! Lest I forget: International orders for the store should all be in by Monday (possibly Tuesday) to ensure your Christmas delivery. So if you live in Germany, or Australia, or are one of the 10,000 UK Sheldonistas ordering this year — make sure you do it soon! See below for more details.

I’ve you’ll indulge me in reminiscing, I wanted to link you to one of my favorite Christmas storylines from the Sheldon archives. It has a particularly wonderful moment in it regarding Sheldon and his parents. If you have a minute, open the below links in tabs and have a read through this little story-arc.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, and 19.

I’ve been amazed to see the high volume of international orders for A Blizzard of Lizards. Then it hit me: The U.S. Dollar is getting pummeled on foreign currency exchanges these days…of course the orders are pouring in.

Check out, for example, how little it would cost you to buy and ship one Sheldon book using…

The Canadian Dollar (CAD)

The Pound (GBP) (…I was really amazed at this one. Just 13 quid!?!)

The Euro (EUR)

The Australian Dollar (AUD)

We ship overseas using Global Priority Mail, and to Canada using Air Mail, so most orders should get to their destination within 7 days. But, in the hopes of getting all your orders there in time for Christmas, we’re asking that all international orders be placed by Monday, Dec. 10.

We’ll get all those orders out the same day — whisking them to your door as you laugh at how little money you spent.

In the post below, I completely forgot to mention the process of choosing your free book. Sorry about that!

After you order your Original Art, forward me the order confirmation e-mail ([email protected]), letting me know which book you’d prefer…and fwazoo!….free awesome book for you!

Hey, that rhymed.

In panel 3 of today’s strip, Gramp says “…I’ll send them down a shoot of 2 x 4’s.” This, as 5,243 people have kindly pointed out to me, is incorrect. It should read “chute.”

In my original script, Gramp was going to say “I’ll just shoot ’em down these 2 x 4’s,” but I changed it up as I was inking the text…and didn’t notice my error. I’ll incorporate that fix into the strip.

All of this, of course, proves the old truism:

“Homonyms: They’re Mother Nature’s little S.O.B.’s.”

For everyone who’s planning on getting some Sheldon Original Art as a Christmas gift for a loved one (or to treat themselves!), here’s some fun news:

Between now and Christmas, any purchase of Sheldon Original Art comes with a free book of your choice! Grab your favorite strip, and get a little extra sum-sum!

To snag the Original Art for your favorite strip, just navigate to it in the archives, then click the blue “Buy Today’s Original Art” button directly underneath the comic. Then — wazam — the artwork and a free book are yours!

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Totally unrelated followup for folks who saw the “season ender” of Heroes: Isn’t it ridiculously weird to watch the writers try to desperately wrap up 10-episodes-worth of storylines in one show? It was like Dostoyevsky getting halfway through “Brothers Karamazov” and saying “You know what…this book is starting to run too long. Let’s just have all the brothers grab a beer together and wrap it up with a joke. There’s too much angst over their dad.”

Hey, if you’re looking for a good Christmas tune, check out James Taylor’s “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas”. Awesome stuff.