FROM THE EDITOR As most of you know, we work weeks in advance of our issue date to accommodate all of the production that goes into an issue, as well as printing, shipping to the newsstand and mailing to subscribers. Although this issue is dated December, that month is still a ways off. We've made the transition from iced tea to the furnace kicking on around 9 PM, but it is still weeks until my sister Bridget's and my sister-in-law Dee's birthdays, the traditional holiday panic buttons in my family. Nevertheless, as I looked over our Contributing Editors' "Wish List" item (which begin on page 28 of this issue), I did a little mental list making of my own. I have recently been working with a Beretta 303 shotgun on loan from the manufacturer as I make my way through the Sporting Clays course at Hamburg Rod & Gun Club, about 50 minutes South of here (35 if my father is driving). I hope to report on it in some depth to you shortly, but if any elves out there are tabulating, mark me down for this one. The one I've been using is a 20 ga. Youth model autoloader--handsome, comfortable, and reliable with a variety of shells. Would that I were a bit better on the course, to do it justice. At just under $775 retail, it's not cheap, but I plead "Nice" as opposed to "Naughty," and hope for the best. If you are at all interested in shotgunning, I recommend a round of Sporting Clays to you as well. I doubt if your first foray will be your last. There's something very satisfying about it, much more so in my mind than trap or skeet. At Hamburg, 5-person groups go off into the woods with a puller, and emerge after each of you has shot 50 times at between 12 and 16 different stations, humbled but happy, after about an hour and a half. Each station is different, and you might encounter clays whizzing straight at you, rolling on the ground, or appearing (and then disappearing) in the trees. For some reason, the "rabbits," the small clays that roll on the ground, seem to be my best shot. Since our group of five is all known to one another, we can spend the time coaching, comiserating, and, occasionally, ragging each other, without fear of "embarrassing" anyone in front of strangers. The game changes as the seasons; in the summer, I think, it's a bit more difficult because all the trees are fully leafed, making shots through the trees more difficult. The cost is reasonable--$12 a person for nonmembers, $10 each for club members--about the cost of a movie ticket, soda and popcorn, and given the state of the film industry, it's also a much more entertaining way to spend two hours. These days gifts under twenty-five dollars that are actually something someone might want are quite rare. The ASSC Guide to the 104th Congress fits the bill nicely at $9.95 a copy, plus $2.55 shipping. ASSC (10 Perimeter Way, Suite B-250, Dept. WG, Atlanta, GA 30339) is the American Shooting Sports Council, which represents the firearms industry. Their Congressional Guide is 220 pages, spiral bound so that it lays flat, with the listing for all members of Congress, including their committee assignments, district offices and the names of legislative aides responsible for firearms and related issues. There's also a special Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms section with direct numbers for administrative and enforcement offices nationwide, and a nice Capitol Hill-area map that even their orienteering- challenged like myself find useful. To make this a really useful gift, throw in a pen ("official politician memorative?) or even some stationary, and you have a practical gift for anyone who wants to stay in the political fight. Since I may be the only person who reads the Guide to Congress recreationally, I am happy to recommend some lighter reading material to you as well. Patricia Cornwell continues to impress with her Dr. Kay Scarpetta series of mysteries/police procedurals. The good doctor is a forensic pathologist who works both for the State of Virginia and the FBI. In FROM POTTER'S FIELD, (Scribners, $24), Scarpetta resumes the hunt for serial killer Temple Gault on Christmas Day. Gault has plagued Scarpetta and her colleagues off and on over several books, and has become somewhat of an obession with the mixed group of Virginia State, Richmond and FBI law enforcement personnel working on his case. As a general rue, I dislike "serial killer" literature, largely because the authors of books about them (fact and fiction) have a difficult time keeping the awe out of their voices, conferring a sort of superhero status to these creatures. It's not as if reading about serial killers is going to help yo identify them on street corners, and the glorification of them and their deeds is problematic for me. Nevertheless, the focus of the book is Scarpetta and not Gault, and she remains one of the strongest (and most pro-gun) female characters in detective fiction today. There area half dozen other Cornwell titles featuring Kay Scarpetta available in paperback, as well. Another good read is DEATH IN BLOODHOUND RED, by Virginia Lanier. (416 pages, hardcover, $19.95. Pineapple Press, Inc., PO Drawer 16008, Dept. WG, Southside Station, Sarasota, FL 34239.) Virginia Lanier's debut in mystery fiction deserves roses, if not a blue ribbon. DEATH IN BLOODHOUND RED introduces a strong female lead in the person of Bloodhound, Inc. proprietor Jo Beth Sidden, whose business takes her convincingly in harm's way, but whose creator is just a convincing while providing satisfying, credible resolution. Jo Beth assists various local law enforcement with search and rescue, and law enforcement and corporate south Georgia with drug searches, aided by a pack of hounds, several of whose portraits are drawn as finely as the human characters. Susie, for example, is a champion, but nevertheless suffers from a fear of heights. Nowadays, character based mysteries have "series" written all of them, and this is no exception. That's mostly good news. The down side is that the reader suffers an embarrassment of riches when it comes to ancilliary characters who may or may not reappear, and an overly drawn out personal history. Much better done by Lanier is a series of slam bang Jo Beth-dog rescues, not all of which end happily, but which have a wealth of detail that ring true. Best of all, Lanier has taken the much manhandled subject of spousal harassment and handled it in an effective manner. Gone are the matinee-idol batterers and stalkers who appear in other books and movies. Instead, Jo beth's ex-husband, Bubba, is equally surreal and frighteningly realistic. Some may find jo Beth's precautions in dealing with Bubba extreme; those of us who have talked to women in similar situations may not. There's good news for W&G readers as well in Lanier's matter-of-fact handling of firearms. While not burdened with alot of jargon, Jo Beth is well-versed and well-armed. She may be the only female fiction character who owns more than one gun. Unfortunately I'm out of room to offer more gifts, but our editors more than amply compensate in our annual gift guide. As the year ends, however, I do want to take a few lines to thank all of the people who make W&G work, from the writers to the behind-the- scenes production folks, to a wonderful (if pepper-adverse) publisher. Most of all, however, it is the readers who make WOMEN & GUNS work, and all of us here thank you for that and wish you and yours the best this holiday season. Peggy Tartaro, Executive Editor