Books On The Move

I had an email this morning from a friend who lives in Oman.

He said he'd just picked up a copy of my book Cowboy on the Run in the teachers' room at the university where he teaches.

I was pleased -- and a little surprised -- to learn that Rance and Ellie have made it halfway round the world to be discovered by a friend in Muscat.

But his email reminded me again of all the places our books go.

Of course I know that they are translated into lots of languages. I've seen mine in over 20 now, and it never ceases to give me a thrill to open the boxes or envelopes that bring me these foreign language editions.

But it's even more fun to hear of people I know who have found them "in the wild," so to speak.

I've found a few myself. I found a copy of the Spanish version of Dream Chasers at a flea market in Barcelona quite a few years ago. And a few weeks later when I was in Budapest, I found a French copy of one of my early Presents at the train station.

I ran across a much worn and, I hope, read copy of another at a church sale in near Gore on the South Island of New Zealand.

And a couple of years ago a friend brought me back a copy of a Japanese language version of an Anne McAllister book when she visited her family in her hometown near Tokyo.

Now that Harlequin Mills & Boon are officially coming out in India, I am hoping to see a copy of one of mine from there.

I have had lots of letters from Indian readers, so I know the books get there one way or another. "From Singapore," one reader told me a few years back. But now I'm hoping that they will be even more widely available.

Have you seen my books in bookshops or flea markets or church rummage sales where you live?

If you see an Anne McAllister book where you are, please drop me a note an tell me where.

I'd be thrilled to know where they are turning up -- even though I must admit to envying my books the fact that they are more widely traveled than I am!