I will be at Readercon in Burlington, Massachusetts, tonight and tonight only.
If you see me sitting in one of the common areas, please stop by and say hello. I’m not always good with faces.
For the rest of you who will get to enjoy the full convention, have a great time!
—pmc2
I have survived BookExpo America – huzzah! Let jubilation reign.
I am not yet back in Wormtown… I have a day or two more with my kindly hosts, Frank Raymond Michaels and his family.
This post comes to you from an elegantly appointed study full of books and musical instruments, with a beautiful cutwork-iron light fixture above me and an Andreas Vollenweider CD spinning its aural magic at my feet.
Today is about compiling my notes, sending follow-up e-mails, and enjoying some feline therapy. There’s a coffee-and-cream lovebug cat, a dainty little cow-cat, and two elegant longhaired blackest-samite bookend cats.
I’m hoping you are all well, my Gentle Readers, and I am glad to be back among you.
I’m trying to pack two weeks’ worth of preparation into today, because I embark tomorrow at noon on my big trip to New York.
I’ve got meetings and lunches and coffee dates scheduled, and in between all of them I will get to indulge in three of my heart-held obsessions… books, trains, and time spent in The Only City In The World… the only one for me, at least.
I’ll be leaving the laptop behind, and the phone I’m bringing may or may not be able to Twitter, so chances are I’ll be keeping a paper journal on the trip and will transcribe it when I get home. That’s the delight of train travel.
Books, bookpeople, and bibliophilia. I am a lucky, lucky woman.
Be seeing you.
—pmc2
Now, THERE’S a loaded statement… “books are what the reader brings to them”. Even I, in my occasional self-absorption, don’t believe that entirely.
Books are *mostly* what the author brings to the reader. It’s the author’s words in print on paper or in pixels on a reading device or in soundwaves on recordings, after all, conveyed TO the reader… not the other way around… right?
I’ve had a few experiences lately, however, which tell me otherwise. And maybe I *am* being a little self-absorbed lately, but please indulge me a little longer, Gentle Readers, while I explore this.
==============================
A few months ago, an author colleague of mine was clearing out her library and gave me copies of RED DRAGON by Thomas Harris and NEVERWHERE by Neil Gaiman.
I had read RED DRAGON before… I had “been meaning to get around to” NEVERWHERE, but “getting around to it” hadn’t happened until KT dropped the books off at my dealer table at 3Pi-Con.
I re-read RED DRAGON last month. I’m reading NEVERWHERE now.
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I first read RED DRAGON during the first summer I lived away from home in 1982; I was doing a work-study at the college library & renting a porch room in a classmate’s apartment. It was a hot, lonely summer in the Bronx for the most part, punctuated by a few bright spots, but most of my memories of that summer revolve around lying on my couch-bed in my sunporch room, listening to city street noises over the whine of the oscillating fan and reading books.
The atmosphere of that time and place seeped into my subconsciousness so much that when I’ve tried to recall the 19-year-old I was, I remember every book I read that summer as being set in New York City.
Those who’ve read RED DRAGON know that only one chapter is set in New York City.
RED DRAGON when read in 1982 frightened the 19-year-old child I was then… a child living essentially alone [my roommate worked nights, so we seldom saw each other], on her own for the first time, all alone in The Big Bad City of eight million.
RED DRAGON when read in 2009 by a forty-something-year-old is a fascinating read, not a frightening one. It has a clever construct of dictating past events in the main character’s life to such a marked degree that the reader thinks that he or she is reading a sequel to a book he or she has already read… a book that doesn’t exist.
The reaction I took away when I finished RED DRAGON last month was satisfaction, not fear. I’m literally a different person than I was when I read it the first time, and thus it’s literally a different book, illustrating my point of “books are what the reader brings to them”.
——————————-
NEVERWHERE is a “new” book to me, although I’ve read quite a bit of Neil Gaiman’s other work – AMERICAN GODS, STARDUST, GOOD OMENS [yes, I know that's only half a Gaiman book], and most of his SANDMAN comics. I’m about two chapters into NEVERWHERE, and although I’m reading it in 2009, I’m already back, emotionally and mentally, to where I was in the early-to-mid-Nineties when it was written.
I remember other things I read back then, and it’s not terribly hard for me to imagine I’m curled up in bed in the townhouse on the cobblestone street where we lived. I expect to hear Indigo Girls and Melissa Etheridge and Enya and Enigma when I turn on the radio, and I look beside me as I turn the pages and am startled not to see or feel a white cat purring beside me.
Strange, isn’t it, how a book can make one feel.
Stranger yet is how one’s mind can influence the impact of a book.
—pmc2
A few of the highlights from my weekend…
SCENE ONE – Shrinkage is the sincerest form of flattery, sort of.
“I have the oddest thing to tell you”, I murmured to Annette Curtis Klause as she wandered past our dealer’s table at ConBust. “And I’m not sure whether you’ll be angered or pleased.”
Her sparkling eyes twinkled at me from behind her glasses as she awaited my next words.
“Your books are among the top 10 authors’ works shoplifted from the bookstores where I’ve been employed.”
Annette whooped with laughter. She agreed with me that, while neither of us can condone shoplifting, it says something that my shoplifters have excellent taste.
SCENE TWO – First there is a mallard, then no mallard, then there is.
Over on my personal journal, I had posted an amusing picture last night captioned “Duck, Batman, Duck!”, as a prelude to my report on ConBust 2009.
I reproduce that picture for you here, Gentle Readers, for your viewing pleasure.
The context of this photo is as follows…
Theo Black, of The Black Arts, was a guest at the convention, as was Holly Black. Theo seems to have developed a tradition of bringing bags of swag from his home and office to cons, and scattering the contents of his swag-bag throughout hallways and function rooms at those conventions. He made a point to gift my partner Michael and me a spinning light-up CD standee for our BLAKE’S 7 audio titles… a most useful device!
According to Theo, this “redistribution” practice occasionally causes consternation and befuddlement, but in this case it also caused merriment.
When the first stuffed duck appeared in Seelye Hall on Friday night, perched jauntily on a doorhandle, the Smith students and congoers wondered if this was an unannounced scavenger hunt. When I happened upon another stuffed duck later in the con, I mused aloud that it must be Schrodinger’s Duck.
This was seized upon over the weekend by several more congoers, and prompted an impromptu sing-along of “First there is a mallard, then no mallard, then there is”. I was most gratified to know that members of the Class of 2009 through the Class of 2012 were familiar with Donovan!
At the end of the con, two stuffed ducks and a diecast Batmobile remained behind. My partner and I brought them home and have “redistributed” them among friends who have needed a little brightening in their lives.
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Such little things, these tales, but such far-reaching effects to make the world a friendlier place.
—pmc2
This is cross-posted from my personal journal and from the Mike’s Comics blog. Just a reminder that we DO sell books, despite what seems to be a proliferation of toy posts and audio adventures posts! See the sidebar at the LiveJournal version of Bookseller By Night for some of the kinds of books we carry. And, most importantly, WE TAKE SPECIAL ORDERS. We looooooooooooooove special orders. If Amazon can get it, we can get it, and we’ll match or beat their price whenever possible. Support your independent bookseller!
Anyway, here’s the blurb. If you can, please come to the convention and say “Hello!”
Mike’s Comics will have dealer tables at ConBust 2009 at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, this coming weekend. This means that we will have limited availability for phone orders, but we expect to have e-mail access to answer your questions and reply to your want lists.
If you will be in the area, please come to the convention! And if you know you’ll be there, and wish us to bring a specific item or items for purchase, please drop us an e-mail at mikescomics@mikescomics.com, or give us a phone call at 508-756-9836, by 9PM Eastern Time on Thursday, March 26th, so that we can put it aside for you.
Convention Details:
WHEN: Friday, March 27th through Sunday, March 29th
WHERE: Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts. Directions and other vital information can be found here at http://sophia.smith.edu/conbust/vitals.html.
CONVENTION HOURS: Friday 5PM-12Midnight, Saturday 9AM-12Midnight, Sunday 9AM-5PM
DEALER ROOM HOURS: Friday 6PM-10PM, Saturday 10:30AM-7PM, Sunday 11AM-3:30PM [we expect to be around before and after those hours, if demand warrants... let us know!]
GUESTS: Lynn Flewelling, Patricia Briggs, Holly Black, Phoebe Wray, Annette Curtis Klause, Jeph Jacques, Jennie Breeden, Randall Munroe, Theo Black
PROGRAMMING: Scheduling can be found at http://sophia.smith.edu/conbust/programming.html.
OTHER DEALERS: Aardvark Tees, Broad Universe, Hickory Arms, Modern Myths, Neko Jin Designs, Tatterdemalion, and TopatoCo. Links to these folks can be found at http://sophia.smith.edu/conbust/dealer.html.
ARTISTS: See http://sophia.smith.edu/conbust/artist.html for details.
CON STAFF: Direct any and all questions to the con committee here at http://sophia.smith.edu/conbust/staff.html.
We look forward to meeting old friends and making new friends at ConBust!
Thank you, as always, for your support.
—Michael and Patty
Mike’s Comics
http://www.mikescomics.com
And thank YOU, Gentle Readers, for passing this along.
—pmc2
My colleague Susan Taylor Brown is looking for answers from those involved in the publishing industry, in order to gather material for a presentation on Saturday, March 21st.
Her questions can be found at the following link:
http://susanwrites.livejournal.com/208465.html
If you find such networks as LinkedIn, Twitter, MySpace and Facebook useful to your stock-in-trade as an author, bookseller, editor, proofreader, etc., please share your experiences with Susan, either on her blog or via e-mail.
Please note… answers will be taken *after* the 21st, as this may provide material for an ongoing class. But the sooner she gets responses for this first presentation, the better.
Thanks!
—pmc2
To the litbloggers, authors, readers and fans out there…
Just my opinion, and not a terribly humble opinion at that. Your mileage can, will, and should distinctly vary.
—pmc2
[Button by NancyButtons.com, purchased at Philcon 2006. Opinion expressed by use of said button is my own.]
I swear, I get more done, industry-reading-wise and scanning-the-networking-environment-wise, on “sick days”, fevered brain and all.
Catching up on some of the news stories going around…
1] THE CYBILS AWARDS
The winners were announced several weeks ago, but their works should still be picked up at your public library, purchased from your favorite independent bookstore, and hugged and loved. Internet hugs and love from me to the authors and to this year’s judges… I was one once, and I ***know*** how hard the choices were, sometimes! [Real hugs from me right now would be disease-laden.]
The complete list of Cybils Award Winners for 2008-2009.
2] BOOKISH BREAKFAST CEREALS
My colleague Alison Morris, who is a never-ending font of good ideas, has been fostering a contest to name and market literary foods. I heartily endorse this idea, since I too am one of those people who grew up reading cereal boxes and am guilty of gulping down tomes while chowing down on many a “part of a balanced breakfast”.
Name a Bookish Breakfast Cereal at PW’s “Shelf Talker”
I’m partial to GRAVITY’S RAINBOW FLAKES, myself.
—pmc2
I will be at Boskone on Sunday only… if buses and subways behave the way they should, then I will arrive sometime between 11AM and noon, and will stay until the end of the con. I may or may not have someone else with me. Look for the long grey hair [definite], The Hat [possibly], and the Sexy Black Spy Cane [probably]. I’ll be in a black sweater and black leggings, with a silvery blue turtleneck collar and a silvery-blue glitter scarf. My only planned event is Michael A Burstein’s book reading at 3PM; otherwise, I will be networking in the Huckster area.
If you see me, say hello!
—pmc2
