Come join us for Game Night at Here Be Books. Make new friends, socialize and have some fun. You can learn a new game or play an old favorite; either way you’re sure to have a good time.

What kinds of games do we play? All kinds, including: group games, card games, board games, dice, strategy games, you name it. Examples include:

• Alfred Hitchcock’s Clue
• Apples to Apples
• Canasta
• Category 5
• Citadels
• Clever Endeavor
• Cranium
• Dungeons & Dragons
• Euchre
• Farkle
• Hearts
• Inn Fighting
• Last Night on Earth
• Pinochle
• Pirate’s Cove
• Scatergories
• Scrabble
• Spades
• Spite Malice
• Three Dragon Ante
• Transamerica
• Tsuro
• 21 Freeze Out
• Wits and Wagers
• Zooloretto

I know there are many games we’ve played on Game Night that I’ve left off of the list because I don’t remember their names.  The important thing is that if you have a favorite game you’d like to play, bring it with you.  If you don’t have a copy, call us and we’ll see if we can round one up.

You don’t have to know a game to play it: we’ll teach you.  I think I’ve learned at least one new game at every Game Night.  The object is to have fun. We could all use a little more fun in our lives.  Best of all, it’s FREE!

Because it’s the month of Halloween, I thought our theme this month should be games that involve ghosts, witches, zombies, black cats, spiders, pumpkins, haunted houses, fortune telling, etc. So break out your somehow-Halloween-related games and let’s play!

If you have some folding chairs and/or a card table, please bring them.

Greed, deception, lost loves, fiendish bargains with the devil, and mass murders abound in Palmetto Ghosts, an audio book of South Carolina’s favorite haunted tales told by Charleston’s best storytellers and tour guides.

Storyteller Alada Shinault-Small, one of the performers on Palmetto Ghosts, will be at Here Be Books in Summerville on Saturday, October 11 from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. to sign copies of this chilling audio book. Just in time for Halloween!

About Palmetto Ghosts

Stories include: A Deal With The Devil, The Gray Man, The Unknown Voice of Kiawah, Miz Nollie’s Blue Bowl, Infamy At The Jones Hotel and more.

Alada is a Charleston native and graduate of the University of South Carolina and the Citadel (MA in History).  She is a storyteller and a City of Charleston Licensed Tour Guide.

You can learn more about Palmetto Ghosts and Alada at: http://www.cornbreadandcaviar.net/palmettoghosts.html.

To continue th’ celebration o’ Talk Like a Pirate Day we`ll be hostin’ Pirate Game Night on Satterdee, Septembree 20, 2008 from 6 pm until whenere (probably at least 9 pm). Nay only will th’ participants sound, an’ perhaps dress, like gentleman o’ fortunes, but all games ortin’ ta be somehow swashbuckler related, involvin’, ships, maps, buried treasure, pirates, buccaneers, dice, knuckle bones (does anyone ere be havin’ any?), etc.

Brin’ yer swashbuckler brogue, a pirate game t’ play (if ye be havin’ one) an’ foldin’ chairs if ye be havin’ `em. Feel free t’ wear yer best gentleman o’ fortune finery as well, if ‘t will help ye get in th’ spirit. (Costumes be nay required.) [translation]

Avast! Here be the chance to infuse yer everyday conversations wi’ romance, danger, an’ jus’ plain fun fer a day. It be called “International Talk Like a Pirate Day.” Arrr! I suppose ye be wonderin’ why thar be such a silly holiday. Well, the answer, me inquisitive friend, be in the question itself: because it be silly and fun.

Storytellin’ and Balloon Animals for All Ages from 3 to 5 pm

To help celebrate Talk Like a Pirate Day, we thought we`d tell a few stories, maybe twist some balloons into parrots, swords, monkeys, palm trees an’ th’ like, too.  Tales include: How I Became a Pirate by Melinda Long.

Come join us fer th’ fun an’ laughs.  Appropriate fer all ages.

Here Be Monetary Encouragement to Join the Fun

On Friday, September 19, the official Talk Like a Pirate Day holiday, to be encouragin’ ye further to join us in our day of fun, we’ll giv’ ye 10% off yer used book plunder if ye talk to us like ye’ve sailed the high seas. Avast! Ye can’t find a bett’r deal ‘an that if you sail the seven seas!

How To Talk Like a Seafarin’ Hearty Available Soon at Here Be Books

Tis yer pirate speech a wee bit rusty? Hav’ ye nerespoken like a sea dog before? Avast! We be havin’ some help fer ye. It be our FREE guide: How to Talk Like a Seafarin’ Hearty.  Available soon exclusively at Here Be Books.

Advantages of Talkin’ Like an Ol’ Sea Dog for a Day

Here’s some advice from syndicated columnist Dave Barry that will help ye see the advantages of talkin’ like an ol’ sea dog for a day:

To prepare for Talk Like a Pirate Day, you should practice incorporating pirate terminology into your everyday speech. For example, let’s consider a typical conversation between two co-workers in a business office:

BOB: Hi. Mary.

MARY: Hi, Bob. Have you had a chance to look at the Fennerman contract?

BOB: Yes, and I have some suggestions.

MARY: OK, I’ll review them.

Now let’s see how this same conversation would sound on Talk Like a Pirate Day:

BOB: Avast, me beauty.

MARY: Avast, Bob. Is that a yardarm in your doubloons, or are you just glad to see me?

BOB: You are giving me the desire to haul some keel.

MARY: Arrrrr.

As you can see, talking like a pirate will infuse your everyday conversations with romance and danger. So join the movement! On Sept. 19, do not answer the phone with ”hello.” Answer the phone with ”Ahoy me hearty!” If the caller objects that he is not a hearty, inform him that he is a scurvy dog (or, if the caller is female, a scurvy female dog) who will be walking the plank off the poop deck and winding up in Davy Jones’ locker, sleeping with the fishes…

New Meeting Day

Our still-without-a-name Book Club, will now be meeting the second Wednesday of every month at 6pm instead of the third Wednesday.

Next Book Pick

April chose the book for our next meeting: Watership Down by Richard Adams. Although we’re currently out of stock, we should be getting some in the store soon. More information to come soon.

National award winning author Robin Merrill, creator of the Red Hot Ladies Club erotic-romantic-suspense novels, will be joining us on Saturday, September 27, 2008 to sign her new book, Some Like It Red Hot. Some Like It Red Hot is the first of a new series of novels about the adventurous Lotsimina Hannon. The second book of the series, Red Hot August Night is in the works now.

About the Book
Lotsimina Hannon takes on the corporate world and wins…but can she beat the odds against a killer?

Embracing her early retirement, Lotsi sets out on her new life with an aging motor home and a hot new motorcycle. First stop, Las Vegas! Bright lights and dazzling shows seem exciting, until she meets the sexiest man she’s ever seen at the RV Park’s hot tub. Fireworks? At her age? Oh, yeah! Trenton Wallace sets Lotsi ablaze, and he is determined to fan the flames.

While Lotsi struggles with her desires and her inner demons, she revels in the RV lifestyle. Going new places, seeing new things. Lotsi enjoys friends old and new among the RVers and the local Red Hot Ladies Club. Retirement rocks, but Trent…Trent makes her burn. Who knew she’d love playing with fire.

Then she discovers a devastating murder, and the sexy fun becomes a fight for survival as the killer targets Lotsi. Embroiled in a series of adventures, Lotsi eludes the killer but can’t escape Trent. Then Trent is kidnapped, and Lotsi takes on the killer in a high-stakes gamble where their lives and their blazing passion rest on an illusion of smoke and mirrors.

You can learn more about Robin Merrill and her Red Hot books at her web site: http://www.robin-merrill.com/.

Lady McDuff has declared September to be Sharing Month. So, bring a favorite game to share with the rest of us blokes (you might have to teach us the rules.) No fair making them up as you go along, either.

Great news for all you roleplaying gamers out there that have been itching for a game (I fit the category, too, but I’m in here): Mike will be running a 1st edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons scenario, probably levels 1 to 4. So bring along your low-level characters and gaming paraphernalia and be prepared to play. This is gonna have to be first come, first seated - you can always help set up, too :-). I’m not sure how many Mike can accommodate; I’m guessing not more than six or eight. If you don’t already have a character you want to play, you can roll one up - another reason to arrive early.

If you’re interested in running a game yourself, please call Tina or Tim at the store (843) 695-1498 or come by and talk to us in person.

Rain Date

If we get rained out, we’ll hold game night, Saturday, September 13, 2008. Same bat time, same bat place.

For our next book club meeting, we chose People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks.  However, since it just came out in January, is only available in hard back and we don’t have any in stock at the store, I would like to suggest The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova.  It sounds like a similar “Da Vinci Code”-type of story, we already have a few in stock and we can order more in paperback so nobody has to spend $25+ to get a copy.

I just looked up a description of it online - looks like it fills the bill for vampires, too.  Didn’t Sharon ask for something with vampires?

The theme for Game Night on July 5th was Free-for-All so we played a variety of games. We thought we’d turned the tables on a conga line of zombies that were kicking our butts - we’d reduced the conga line to a trickle - but as the luck of the draw would have it, literally (the game master’s draw),  the tables turned again and we lost. The nice GM lobbing the zombies at us won, though :-).  I had fun all the same, and everyone else seemed to have a good time, too, if the laughter and groans (when that blasted card turned up) are any indicators.

Since I’ve had no requests for a particular theme, August is Anything Goes.  Bring your favorite game and a folding chair (both optional) and join us for fun and games, Saturday, August 3rd at 6pm until whenever.