The Great Lakes Booksellers Convention

Posted on October 1, 2005    Posted by John Scalzi      2 Comments

Gaze, if you will, at the Holtzbrink table at the Great Lakes Bookseller Association convention, Tor being a subsidiary of said publishing group (and OMW being visible right there in the middle of the table — although not for long, because someone walked away with that copy not too long afterward).

My major involvement with the convention happens tomorrow, when I sign copies of OMW for various booksellers, although I kept myself busy today: Breakfast with mystery writer Sharon Short, who writes for the Dayton Daily News (just as I do). I couple of years ago I had helped her get her Web site online but this was the first time we had actually met in the flesh; she is a delightful breakfast companion, should you ever be in the need of one. Afterward I went into the exhibition room (where I snapped the above picture) and walked about schmoozing booksellers and checking to see what’s coming up in the book world.

My plan after that was to head into Chicago and snap some pictures of the architecture, but what I ended up doing was collapsing on the bed and sleeping through most of the afternoon — a worth pastime, to be sure, but I’m mildly sad I didn’t make it into town (don’t feel too sad for me, though, since I spent most of Friday afternoon in Chicago, and will have pictures of part of it (when I was at the University of Chicago) to show off once I get back). This evening was dinner and lively conversation with author Jane Lindskold and her husband, as well as Tor publicist David Moench. And now I think I’ll collapse into bed and read Four and Twenty Blackbirds until I pass out. Truly, a perfect day.

(As an aside, I’m several chapters in to 4&20 and have been enjoying it quite a bit. I’ll have more to say, I’m sure, when I’m done. In the meantime I’m pleased to see the book has been doing gangbusters on Amazon this weekend: It got up to #7 on the Amazon horror list, and its Amazon ranking was in the low hundreds on Saturday. Excellent work, Ms. Priest!)