I know that we are all in love with Stephenie’s literary babies, but more importantly, Stephenie is the Mom to three boys.  Hats off to Stephenie and to all the Supermoms out out there, today is your day!

For personal experience, as a Mom, like Stephenie, who works outside the home (note I didn’t say working mom, because as any mom can tell you it’s work…period.), it’s hard to balance the "office work" and the "mom work" in a society the that is critical of you no matter what your choice. 

Kudos, to stay-at-home moms like Alphie, who has two children under six, and sacrifice all kinds of things to make sure they’re successful a their first dance recitals, put up with cranky after and before nap behavior, and run a household pretty much singlehandedly better than a corporate CEO with a fleet of paid support staff.

Moms of every type need to be cut a break, because let’s face it, without us none of you would be here! So, make your mom’s day and tell her "thanks", and if you really want to make it special tell her thanks next Sunday too.

Pel~

There was some local Arizona coverage regarding the Eclipse Prom. You can find an article here and a questions and answer with Stephenie here. There is also a video that doesn’t work so well. You have to create an account to see all items, but it doesn’t cost anything to get one.

Pel~

P. S.  Just out of curiosity, did anyone else return from E-Prom with a massive head cold, or is it just me?

We seem to be getting this question a lot in the comments and on our boards even though it was answered by Stephenie awhile back. Here is the answer to that question again.

"I doubt I’ll be allowed to post the first chapter of Eclipse on my website before July 1st. That was the earliest they let me do it last year. I’ve seen a lot of very assured comments about how I will have that chapter up right after the prom. Sadly, that’s just not within my discretion. I have to wait for permission from the powers that be."

And before someone else asks, no you can’t scan, retype, record , take a picture of…(fill in illegal duplication method of your choice here)…the first chapter of Eclipse and put it online. That’s called copyright infringement. It’s illegal, and in doing so you risk being sued by Little Brown, the publisher and/or Listening Library, owner of the audio rights.  If you post that you have such a copy on the Lexicon, or use the Lexicon PM system to send one around, the Lexicon could be named in the suit, SO JUST DON’T DO IT!

Pel~

I’m adding to this because the last ten e-mails and six PMs I’ve had were all the same question – My bookstore doesn’t have the New Moon Special Edition, so where can I get it?  The best thing you can do if you have to have it is order it from Amazon.com. 

Alphie~

Yet another edit from me, you can also get Changing Hands Bookstore to send you a copy autographed by Stephenie. Call them and ask, they do this with all her books year round.

Changing Hands
6428 S McClintock Dr
Tempe, AZ 85283
480-730-0205

I have pictures that are linked here.  If I botched your name let me know!

Anyway, I arrived for the first prom about a half hour early, there were about 50 people in the hallway waiting to get in. The number soon swelled to 200 or so. When the doors opened the gym was set up with refreshments, posters on the walls of the book covers, a table to buy books, a table to but tee shirts, some table, and a stage area. Off the stage area was another table that Stephenie would later use to sign books. To the other side of the stage was a photographer’s drape and equipment that was later put to good use.

After about a half hour, Stephenie was introduced and made her grand entrance in a stunning red gown. She then read the first chapter of Eclipse while people followed along in their books. The sound system was very echoy so it was a little difficult to hear at times. 

After she finished reading, she thanked everyone who helped to put the event together and then said that she could see that most people had come "stag" to the prom. A fast look around the room confirmed that as there were maybe 10 boys present who weren’t someone’s dad. So, Stephenie said she brought dates for everyone. From this side door entered "Edward" and "Jacob" both of who really looked the part. Edward proceeded to the stage where he held Stephenie’s hand in his gloved one and gave it a kiss. Not to be outdone Jacob gave her a warm hug.

After this everyone lined up for pictures with Jake and Edward and had their books signed. In the background was the Eclipse playlist, but with all the talking and excitement I don’t know if anyone realized it at first. I’m sure some people noted songs, but I didn’t get a chance to make a list.

There was also a character contest. The judges were members of Stephenie’s family.  The divisions were Best Bella, Best Cullen, and Best Non-Cullen. Lexiconer Taxi won as best Bella, and Lexiconer ardent__otaku was runner-up.  

After Stephenie signed all the books, which took over 90 minutes, she had her picture taken with Edward and Jacob and then she went to prepare for prom 2.

More will follow on lunches, breakfasts, and Jacob Black parties, but right now I have a plane to catch.

EDITED: WOO HOO, go free Internet at Sky Harbor Airport!  I just fixed the picture links

Phoenix is lovely and easy to navigate, though not if you have a bad map from AAA and a messed up Google map back-up—not that I made about five illegal U-Turns and was 20 minutes late to lunch or anything. I had a lovely lunch (go Rumbi’s Island Grill!) with Elisabeth, Twix, Black raven, Roo and sister, Whippit, Seraphyn and boyfriend, and two others whose real names I can remember but not their screen names so I don’t want to just list them.

We then went down to Changing Hands Bookstore to pick up our Eprom tickets. What an amazing independent bookseller, I may go back there tomorrow and browse around.

Phoenix is hot but not humid, however when the A/C in your bright orange rental car (insert laughter here the car matched my hair and top today) doesn’t work right it’s still pretty dang hot.

I’d report more, but I am dead tired having been up at 4:30am to catch my plane. Phoenix is three hours behind Eastern Time because they don’t observe Daylight Savings Time. Why? I have no clue. All I know is I am going sleep.

Oh, and in case anyone besides me didn’t see this right away, there are directions to the correct place on campus for the prom listed on Stephenie’s website. I drove by the place today. There is plenty of parking and it is a short walk to the event from the parking structure.  Do look at the map, because if you are having a cab/shuttle drop you off you want to tell them to drop you by parking structure 4 which is located on Rural Road. The ASU campus is huge, I wouldn’t want to walk the length of it in heels in the hot sun. Also, they are doing a TON of construction on University and Apache Avenues, which are the two main roads that intersect Rural Road, so leave extra driving time!

Ok I don’t even know how to begin here. I have an extra ticket to the first prom because the person (who is a Lexicon member who should know better) I had promised it to just informed me that she had obtained one elsewhere. I am still steaming over her selfish action which obviously precluded me from contacting someone before now.

The ticket has been given away. You can stop the emails.

The Italian version of the Lexicon, Twilighters, has just gone through a major overhaul.  Kudos to site owner "Cullen" and her staff on a job well done. This same group has also organized a tour bus to help Stephenie’s fans get to Volterra where she will be making an appearance on May 19th as part of her Italy signing tour.

According to Cullen

"We're very busy and super-excited: New Moon was issued last Friday and already sold a lot of copies, according to the Italian editor."

Alphie and I recorded a bit to entertain anyone who will be traveling next week. It’s about an hour long so hopefully it will take away the travel time blues.

Alphie said it here

I said it in several places

You can discuss chapter 1 of Eclipse on our site as of May 5, 2007.  Failure to abide by this will result in your account being deleted and you being banned from the site. This has already happened to one person who apparently thought we were kidding.

There was about a five day window where our Cafepress Store was out of stock of the limited edition Lexiconer shirts. They are now back in stock. Here are some images of our items. The backs of all the items say "What is your screen name?"