I just came back from the local Barnes & Noble (where SRD had the book launch and reading, that I couldn't attend) with my copy, but it wasn't easy. There were no copies at the SF/Fantasy display, none out front and none with his books. So I go to the customer service desk and the guy says, "Revenant? That's not even a word!." I glare at him, "Look it up." Then he says, "Yes, I'm very sorry sir, you're right." He finally discovers there are 59 copies in the store, but he searches and can't find them anywhere. So he calls the SF/Fantasy guy, they all search and can't find any. Finally one person finds 7 copies on the "local authors" table at the back of the store, and brings one to me. Then I find out the rest are in boxes upstairs.
I finally corral the SF guy and say, "Do you know who Donaldson is?" he doesn't know! Then I say, "He's not just a damm local author, he's one of the most renowned Sci Fi AND Fantasy authors in the world and he lives right in town. Did you even attend his reading when the book came out?", "No." "Look this book is about to come out #12 on the New York Times best seller list and is a top 20 best seller for Fantasy worldwide." Then he takes the other copy he's holding and walks towards the Sci Fi section and I say, "You mean to tell me you're only going to put that with his books? Only one copy?", "Yes" then I say, "Maybe I should put my kid in daycare and come back, talk to your manager, and do your job for you-you have three huge displays of hack writer Brook's Shannara Centennial (or whatever it's called) but nothing for Donaldson, there should be a major display of this book in SF/Fantasy and a prominent display for a NY Times best seller at the front of the store. I'll volunteer my time and set them up myself!"
As I'm about to threaten to tell them I know SRD personally and am about to go home and email him to come to the store- two workers, who've heard my triade come flying downstairs with two cases of books and start setting up displays!!!

