After lunch, Kris and I walked down the main street of the town we're in. Kris wanted to find a bookstore where he could find a guide book. We wandered down the main street of the town, appropriately called Main Street, to a coffee shop and book store. The selection of books wasn't particularly good, so I suggested we look for a Kindle version. Kris thought it was an okay idea, and let me grab the Kindle out of his backpack. I wandered outside to use the Kindle, while Kris kept looking at the paltry selection of guidebooks.

As I was searching for a book on the Kindle, I looked up to see a man walking up to me with a huge grin on his face. "Is that the... the?" he asked. "It's a Kindle," I offered, and held it out for him to look at it. He asked questions, and we talked about it for a short while. I thought about showing him the ipad, which rested on my hip, after he joked, "The ipad is a feminine product, not a book reader, to me!"

He then let me know the town's real bookstore was down the street a couple blocks, that I should check it out instead of the coffeeshop. I thanked him, gave up on the Kindle, and started walking back to the bookstore.

As I was walking back, I caught up to group of people walking in the same direction. After a few steps, one of the women in the back asked if they could let me pass. "Oh, no, no, I'm enjoying this pace," I responded. She tried to insist, so, I let her know, "Walking with you makes me feel like part of a group, like I belong. I'm good walking here." She smiled, and the man next to her piped up that being part of a group is nice, even if it is the Old Grapes!

We chuckled as I turned to go into the bookstore, enjoying having spent all of 10 minutes by myself and I already met three new people.

Sitting at lunch, looking at maps on phone, I turned to Kris, and commented.

"Can you imagine this 100 years ago?"

"Service would be a bitch."

"My wormholes to the future, yeah, they aren't so stable."

"That, and you'd be burned at the stake as a witch."

"Yeah. That."

After sleeping until nearly noon and enjoying a deliciously late start, Kris and I ventured out of the resort in daylight to see what this Maine place is like. Turns out, to my delight, there are a lot of lilacs in this area. I wasn't expecting to see lilacs since they're not still blooming in the Bay Area.

Our first task of the day was, "Find coffee." No, wait, that's not quite right, it was "Fine good coffee." Our journey took us a long the main street, where we stopped at light. On the four corners of this main street where a Burger King, a McDonalds, a church and an abandoned building. I thought it telling of how representative of American culture that street corner is.

We eventually found our way around the town, and, to Kris' delight, found a coffee shop right next to an easy parking space. Turn, zoom, screech, brake, flip, open, close, hustle, and Kris was right at the door of the coffee shop.

It was closed.

While part of me was a little annoyed, the other part of me appreciated that even coffeeshop owners can want a life, one that includes doing something else on weekends than wait for the not-quite-tourist-season trickle of tourists to come into the shop for a $3 cup of coffee. Of course, I'm not the one addicted to the caffeine of those cups of coffee, so it was easy for me to express appreciation.

So, off we wandered, back on the original plan of checking out the small town we're in. We passed a couple restaurants that seemed good, the menu had lots of tasty items on it. Kris made a note of them, then kept going.

Until we approached the Brass Compass. The place was PACKED!

Knowing that locals always know, Kris turned to me and said, "Here. Let's go here." "Because it's packed?" "Yes. The locals always know."

In we went.

As we stood near the door, waiting our turn to be seated, a small girl walked up, a look of concentration on her face. She knew exactly what she wanted, the yellow ones from the jar. I was amused by the recollection of the number of times that I, as a child, had done the same thing.

I was also a little impressed with the conversation that happened at the table next to us. There were three men seated at a large table. They had already ordered and were waiting for their meals to arrive. As we stood waiting, a waitress walked up to the table, and said, "Gentlemen, I have a favor to ask." Without hesitation, one of the men asked, "Would you like us to move, to give this table to a larger party?" No pause, no thinking it over, the three of them stood up to move.

Clearly, we weren't in a metro area.

We were seated quickly after that. Looking over the menu, one of the items was listed as Lucy's Triple Deckah. Not a Decker, a Deckah. Yeah, I pretty much had to order it, even if, well, it ended up to be TOO MUCH FOOD. It did, but it was pretty awesome nonetheless.

It reminded me of the interview I read about recently that went something like, "Why can't more people become vegetarian?" "Bacon." That pretty much sums it up. I'll be vegetarian for the rest of the day, but for this meal, mmmmmmm, bacon......

Oh, and Kris managed his coffee.

Okay, if you're a Dresden fan and haven't read Changes, stop reading now.

I mean it. Stop reading. Right now.

RIGHT NOW.

Oh, you've finished Changes? Okay, fine.

My tweet on finishing the book:

Okay, last page. Hell, within the last fucking 10 one-sentence paragraphs, Harry Dresden dies. OF COURSE it was Kincaid. Harry's death is kinda the stunned silence at the end, when everyone is standing around in disbelief, thinking "What just happened?" No one moves, no one breathes, no one even blinks.

Yeah.

Hay-zeus-christ, what the fuck?

Right.

Stunned. Pissed. And completely in disbelief. I don't believe he's completely dead yet.

It's not uncommon for an author to kill off a favorite character (good bye, Dumbledore), or even a major character (that would be Rob Stark and every OTHER MAJOR CHARACTER in the Song of Ice and Fire, thanks George R.R. Martin, jerk.). In some cases, it's also not unreasonable. The author is done, and wants to move on.

Butcher has been able to move on already. He's written the Aleran series, the high-fantasy books he wanted to write, so we know he can still crank out the Dresden books while branching out to other story lines.

As far as I know, Butcher hasn't given indications to being done with the Dresden Files series, based on offhand comments at various talks. However, that doesn't necessarily mean he's not bored of the writing the books. Given how much fun they are to read, I have to believe they are at least somewhat fun to write, so maybe boredom isn't an issue.

None of this, however, sits right.

I fail to believe that Harry is really, truly, completely dead. There are plotlines that are still unresolved (the Black Council, for one; who's behind Harry's death for two; what and who are Kincaid and Mouse for three and four).

Given that belief, where am I?

Kincaid shot Harry. Given the foreshadowing in at least two of the previous books, we know the shot came from Kincaid, from 200 meters away. The next easy question is now, why would Kincaid shoot Harry? Why now?

Easy enough.

Harry is the Winter Knight.

Harry is the Winter Knight, and the Winter Knight is a pawn of the Winter Queen. Under he orders, Harry will become something he doesn't want to become, turn as cruel as the source of his new power. He knows this, and made the choice as best he could to save his daughter. He knows the end of who he is will be along shortly. He says it at the end: he has nothing left but the stone and metal circle around his neck and the knowledge he did everything to keep his daughter safe (well, he has a skull and a couple swords, but who's counting?).

The Winter Knight.

The only way out of that gig is by death.

And so, Harry is now dead.

Mostly dead. He's talking to the readers at the end of the book.

Mostly dead. Which is still a little bit alive.

What would bring him back?

Wuv.

Twue Wuv.

Which means we're not done.

Besides that, I mean, hello, foreshadowing: Sanya's words not four pages before, "I do not play cards. I play chess. And in my opinion, this is not your endgame. Not yet."

So, not yet. I don't believe Harry is dead and the series is over. I don't believe it. Not yet.

Oh, a happy little dance for this one. I may not have to buy three copies, as I did for the Harry Potter books. Perhaps hard copy and Kindle version should suffice. Of course, that Kindle version can be read on my mac, too. Oh, happy happy joy joy !

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In case not obvious, this is for the latest Harry Dresden novel, Changes, by Jim Butcher.