One of the benefits of coming from a Commonwealth nation is the Public Lending Right Commission. I get a check from the Canadian version every year just for having copies of my books on the shelves in Canadian libraries. It doesn’t matter how many times the book is checked out. They do a spot check of seven libraries for a particular book. I get a fraction of the entitled amount based on how many times they find it. For The Road to the Dark Tower, it was in 7/7, so I get the full credit. For When the Night Comes Down, it was in 2/7, so I got 28% credit, but the credit is reduced because I’m not the sole author. Even so, it’s free money. All I have to do is fill out a 1-page form each year and send it off. If you are a Canadian author and you wonder if your work is eligible, visit this page. This has been a public service announcement.
Jamie Lee Curtis was great on this week’s NCIS. It was a different kind of role for her. She played it absolutely straight, except on NCIS there’s always a grin lying just beneath the surface. The jousting between her and Gibbs kept getting better and better throughout the episode until it reached a satisfying conclusion. Mutual respect. And maybe a bit of attraction.
I swear, an episode of Justified could consist of nothing more than Raylan and Boyd in a room jawing at each other for 45 minutes and it would still be better than almost anything else on TV. That’s not to say that it isn’t entertaining when Raylan’s off doing something else, like beating the pulp out of Ethan from Lost. This week’s episode was cram-packed full of stuff. When my friend Bill Breedlove recounted all the characters who did something significant in the 50 minutes or so of airtime, it was impressive. I enjoyed Raylan and Ava’s reaction when the prostitute asked them if they were there for “you know.” They looked at each other, did a double take, then Ava said “no” and Raylan said “no” a beat later. I also liked it that the evidence room guard got away at the end, laughing as he drove into the desert. The great mystery is what Quarles is doing with that guy tied up in the bedroom of his mansion.
