After clicking the last brick into place, Amazon.com now has made its intentions to become the largest book publisher walking the earth clear. That’s a presumptive assertion, perhaps, but consider a few facts about Amazon.

First, Amazon is already the largest e-tailer in the world. As of byproduct of being the biggest, they maintain the largest known mailing list of book buyers and the buying patterns of these readers–be they frequent and occasional. Through the Encore program Amazon culls self-published authors who sell well on Kindle and then re-release titles on hardcover, complete with a marketing campaign and professional reviews.

Today Amazon game ratchets the game up a notch. Amazon just signed a best selling author–away from Crown Publishing, a division of Random House. Like other authors Amazon backs, his new title will appear on hardcover, e-book and paperback.

But now for the first time, Amazon will also push an author’s wares into bookstores. With the arrival of Tim Ferriss, it’s clear Amazon anticipates big sales online and at the register.

As a child, of the seasons I liked summer the least, which is the exact opposite of convention. After all summer meant vacations, warm weather and long nights. What was not to love?

Well, we seldom vacationed, the AC often broke, and the long nights mean very little to a kid whose primary mode of transport was a ten speed. Thankfully, perspectives can change. And a working AC helps.

Now as an adult I like summer because it means vacations, which really mean longish writing sessions. I guess that means I live to work. Or at least for some kinds of work.

Towards that end, here’s another picture of the undisclosed location that figures into the next book. This one is from the other side of the fence. No laws were broken to obtain these photographs. * whistles *

Pretty good field trip to an undisclosed location this past Saturday. More photos to follow later this week.

It’s a blessed time, indeed. Eleven more business days until the students graduate and the business of breaking the school down for the summer break begins. And more importantly, I get to take a day or two off, which means more time for writing.

Speaking of writing, have a field trip scheduled in the next few weeks for research the next book. Many people have warned that the terrain in question is treacherous not because it’s difficult to cross–though portions of the excursion involve blatant acts of trespass–but more because of the denizens that live among the abandoned structures. Since I trance out now and again in the fresh air, I’m bringing an extremely large friend along for the hike.

Spiking deeper into the research vein, I’ll also be visiting my favorite drop zone in a few weeks to get some technical advice about a skydiving scene. Last I’ve decided to begin a correspondence with an individual who has generally resisted all contact with the outside world. Just getting them a letter is going to be a task in itself, but I’m working on it. Their perspective could add a certain something to the book.

That last bit is a long shot, but so is everything else these days.