The Philadelphia Fantastic Authors and Editors Series invite you to join us and meet author Tom Purdom reading from his latest story, "Madame Pompadour's Blade" which is appearing in the June edition of Jim Baen's Universe, an online magazine published by Baen Books. The date is Friday June 27, 2008, at 7:30 PM. The place is Robins Bookstores, 108 S. 13th Street, Phila., Pa, conveniently located in Center City Philadelphia at the corner of 13th and Sansom Sts. Robin's Bookstore will also webcast the event. If you can not be there in person, you can tune in by going to _www.robinsbookstoreonline.com_ (http://www.robinsbookstoreonline.com) at 7:30 and clicking the button that says "Click to Hear Philadelphia Fantastic Authors and Editors Series." Because our series is now also webcast, we will be starting promptly at 7:30 PM. For those used to our more relaxed starting time of the past, please note the change in our approach. Tom Purdom's short stories and novelettes have appeared in _Asimov's_ (http://www.asimovs.com/) , _Analog_ (http://www.sfsite.com/analog/) , The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Galaxy, Amazing, other SF magazines, and various anthologies. Since 1988, he has been writing SF novelettes which have mostly appeared in Asimov's. His novels have appeared under the Ace imprint (I WANT THE STARS, THE TREELORD OF IMETEN, FIVE AGAINST ARLANE, THE BARONS OF BEHAVIOR), and the Berkley imprint (REDUCTION IN ARMS). He is the editor of one anthology, ADVENTURES IN DISCOVERY (Doubleday, 1969), a collection of specially commissioned articles on science by Asimov, Silverberg, Anderson, and other leading science fiction writers of the time. Purdom's non fiction articles have appeared in Worlds of Tomorrow. Kiwanis, American Education, American Libraries, and the Philadelphia Inquirer. The subjects he has written about include arms control, education, home safety, and the performing arts. Starting in 1988, Tom Purdom began his career as a music critic and turned out seven years of a weekly Welcomat column "Classical, Baroque, etc.", reviewing three or four Philadelphia music events per column. Since then he has been a music critic and arts writer for two other Philadelphia weeklies, a regional arts magazine called Seven Arts, a national online guide to the arts called _CultureFinder_ (http://www.culturefinder.com/) , the Philadelphia guide posted by _CitySearch_ (http://www.citysearch.com/) , and _Philadelphia_ (http://www.phillymag.com/) magazine. For a look at his current efforts as a reviewer, visit the _Broad Street Review_ (http://www.broadstreetreview.com/) , an online publication sponsored by Philadelphia's University of the Arts and edited by the same Dan Rottenberg who edited the Welcomat. Please join us Friday to meet one of the most urbane and sophisticated voices in the genre. PHILADELPHIA FANTASTIC Philadelphia Fantastic presents a series of readings and informal discussions by and with local and regional writers of speculative fiction on the fourth Friday of the month. The events are free and dinner with the guest afterwards is at a local restaurant on a pay as you go basis. UPCOMING READINGS In July, our guests will be Gardner Dozois, Michael Swanwick and Tom Purdom, our August guest will be Paul Levinson, in September we will have Gregory Frost and our October guest will be Judy Moffett. For further information about the Philadelphia Fantastic reading series, contact Oz Fontecchio at [log in to unmask] **************Gas prices getting you down? Search AOL Autos for fuel-efficient used cars. (http://autos.aol.com/used?ncid=aolaut00050000000007)