If you are a librarian or educator who registered for BEA 2008 through our Unshelved@BEA page, please email me with whatever confirmation code you got from BEA. Before we draw our next winners I want to make sure we accounted for everyone. And if you haven't already, do it now!

I read The Gunslinger originally in late 1980s, when it on the library’s shelves next to Christine and The Stand. I enjoyed the series, but I always felt like I'd missed something early in the series. Reading them was like having a compelling dream, but I couldn't remember how it had started. Then I read a review of one of the books that called the series "allegorical," and I decided I needed to start again at the beginning, to catch what I'd missed, but that I'd wait until after King finished writing the series. (He's done.). Now the graphic novel prequels have me reading the series again (though I'll probably wait for the Marvel books to finish before I start reading the nongraphic novels again).

The writing is great, but the coloring makes me believe in guns and magic. Richard Isanove's colors roar. His startling palette wouldn't work in most books, but I was hooked when I saw the vultures in the second panel of page 1– their eyes, their skin, the meat they're tearing at. The two page spread, two pages later, where Roland stands on a cliff with a weird sky behind him full of purples and oranges and yellows and all, that brought the other Dark Tower books back to to my mind, and I knew I wasn't going to be able to put the graphic novel down until I'd finished it. I wasn't disappointed.

We're grateful to Book Expo America 2008 for sponsoring Unshelved this week, as well as giving our readers a chance to win some great prizes when they register through our Unshelved@BEA page. We've got two more drawings - one this Wednesday for six winners, one next week for the grand prize winner who will receive all six prizes - so register now! Prices start at only $55. Walk-ins, know that registering online before 5/23 will save you big bucks.

P.S. We had been announcing the winners' names, but one of them indicated they didn't like that. So the winners will heretofore remain secret winners

I tend to sketch a lot more when I'm travelling because there's more downtime. Lately I've been drawing Dewey from lots of angles, trying to understand how he's put together. Useful for drawing the strip, and maybe one day we'll have a fully poseable action figure. Until then here's Dewey shelving, as photographed with my phone in lieu of a scanner.

P.S. Beautiful weather here in New York City, where I'm making a brief stop en route to Massachusetts. I guess Dewey forgot to put sunblock on his ear. It looks a little pink.

A brief update on my emerging love affair with Twitter.

I only have two coworkers - Gene and our store manager Jana - each of whom I meet with once a week and talk to every other day. And of course I work at home, so I see my family quite often. But I miss the hallway conversations of a workplace. I tried replacing them with instant messaging, but it's too 1:1 for my taste, and my friends aren't always online when I am (or else they're pretending they're not).

Twitter is my new workplace hallway. I'm tracking the passing thoughts of a dozen cartoonists (and growing), the ones they'd never bother blogging. There are pithy comments, advice, opinions, confessions, news, all posted asynchronously so it doesn't matter who's online when. It can be noisy, and it's easy to fall behind, but unlike a blog no one assumes you're reading it all and so you can just start from scratch any time you want. And if someone is particularly noisy you just drop them from your list.

For my part it's a place to talk about myself without feeling self-concious because that's what it's there for. And I do so love to talk about myself.

Bottom line: I'm certain it isn't for everyone, but Twitter fills a communications gap in my life. Follow me.