Androids of the Caribbean; Appearance Re-Cap
Posted on January 26, 2007 Posted by John Scalzi 24 Comments
Claudia of Ex Patria sends along this lovely photo, of The Android’s Dream sunning itself on a Caribbean cruise. To which I thought: my book gets to go on a Caribbean cruise and I don’t? Bwaaaah. But I do very much like how the blue of the sky — and the clouds — matches the book cover. This was a book made for Caribbean cruising, I would say. Thanks for passing that along, Claudia!
My appearance at the Cincinnati Jospeh-Beth bookstore last night was very cool. The appearance was well-attended, which is what you hope for, and everyone seemed to have a good time. I read from TAD and also from The Sagan Diary, and also regaled the folks with tales of Bacon Cat and the time Krissy almost killed me. And then I signed books — just like it was promised I would — and I think most people came away from it happy.
I was also very impressed by how welcome the Joseph-Beth made me feel for my appearance; there were signs all over the store announcing my signing, and at the signing itself there was this awesomely large banner with the cover of TAD on it. I mean, dude. Banners. They know how to press an author’s ego gratification buttons. And they let me take banner home. I could squee. But I won’t. It wouldn’t be manly.
In any event, all you authors out there, if you have a chance to do a signing in Cincinnati, I really recommend you do it at the Jospeh-Beth. They’re good people and it’s a good shop. I had lots of fun.
_TAD_ had a very pleasant vacation with us in the Caymans, the week after it came out. It didn’t get in any diving, though.
That’s probably for the best, I’d say.
So what was the secret prize?
An ARC of The Sagan Diary.
GAH!!!!
Curse me for ever leaving the midwest.
Then again, I was only there twice. once for my brother’s graduation from college. the other for his wedding.
20 years ago.
And the way I understand it, you use the money from the sales of the book so that you can go sailing.
Go ahead and squee, John. Just don’t get any on the blog. I left my “squee cleaning kit” at home today.
So, I have a writerly question, when you use the “em” for “them” shouldn’t you put an appostrophe before it?
What happened when Krissy almost killed you?
Trust me, the crowd went away very happy. There were lots of smiles and conversation in the checkout line. The tale of Bacon Cat, by itself, was worth coming out into the cold and missing The Daily Show.
But what about the prize you were giving away? Inquiring minds have nothing better to do than ask.
Ghost Brigade and TAD will definitely NOT wind up on EBay, btw. Hope that cup of coffee they funded this morning gave you the energy to write another great opening sentence.
i’m halfway through TAD now and it definitely deserves a caribbean cruise. it deserves to be pampered and given as much attention as possible. TAD is wonderful, maybe it should go to hawaii next.
I still have my banner from my signing last year up in my old office. That was just the coolest thing evar! The community rep was really nice to me there.
I loved TAD and am looking forward to the sequel. Hurry it up!
I’m taking TAD with me to Mexico. My husband and I are going for a week, but we are staying with his parents. I figure I *deserve* something I know I will really enjoy while I am away, staying with the dreaded inlaws! Or is it outlaws??
Any suggestions for other great SF reads for vacations?
I second the request for a story. Tell us how Krissy almost killed you, please?
I am so happy to hear nice things about Cincy! It’s been hard being away from my hometown for nearly 2 decades, especially when news from there is often terrible (riots, floods, Bengals). Once I was in an airport in Puerto Rico, for pete’s sake, when who was on TV but Marge (pre-death) and I just thought “Uh-oh, what now?”
My stalwart support of Cincinnati chili aside, I’m glad you enjoyed yourself. They are a friendly bunch.
I should add I was in Dayton for the first time a few years ago (we don’t venture far, do we?) and the people there were wonderful, too! So friendly and there was alot of fun to be had there.
Anne:
ix-nay on the ili-chay. Nathan from Brooklyn may be by shortly and that talk sets him off like a firecracker.
‘kay; lunchtime. Mmm … four-way bean.
KAAAAA-BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
**Gathers parts of head from screen and departs dejectedly**
(Just to preface, this is my first post here.)
Joseph-Beth is great. Having recently moved to Cincy from DC last summer we love going there almost on a weekly basis. A few months back, I was walking through the Scifi/Fantasy section, doing my standard search for new books (or new to me), making a mental note, researching and thinking about for ~6 months before maybe picking up-routine, when an employee there came by and asked if we needed help. Kick in the ‘avoid the car dealer/Carny’ alert, and despite me spouting, ‘No’, he was actually helpful and just mildly suggested 2 or 3 titles, (TAD among them) and went on a big kick about Mr. Scalzi. Crank up my interest meter and spark my girlfriend’s to life, and your book (TAD) promptly made it onto her Christmas list. Not to mention, I’ve had Old Man’s War on my list of books to over-scrutinize for months.
Luckily Santa (her mother) sent her the book and since I recently finished Cory Doctorow’s ‘Someone Comes to Town, Someone Leaves Town’ (which is fantastic by the way) I quickly picked up Android’s Dream before she could.
My girlfriend and I had planned to be at the signing last night, after having the pleasure of meeting a couple of my favorite authors at J-B last fall, it seemed like a nice way to spend the evening. But, come Thursday, I’m ready to go, but my girlfriend comes home sick… so I break out the chivalry and the blankets and spend the evening taking care of her. (which was nice, don’t get me wrong) But I would have liked to have met you and heard this Bacon Cat story.
Anyway, hopefully we’ll catch you next time around, or perhaps in another city, (we’re always up for a trip). Plus, it’ll give me time to finish TAD, I’m about 70 pages from the end. (I’m a slow reader, but I blame that on being a Biology Grad Student, not completely true, but a good excuse for now… ) Good Luck and Continued success.
Jo-Beth is just the greatest. Having it only a block away makes up for all the kidding I get for living in Norwood.
CWP has worked with them for a number of events and they treat local writer’s events as seriously as they treat big name signings. OK, maybe we don’t get banners like you guys, but we get real nice treatment.
Plus, the vegitarian chili in the bistro is to die for, not Skyline of course, but quite yummy.
I used to live in Lexington (where Joseph Beth started) and later moved to Norwood. (Now I’m in California) Jo Beth is a very good bookstore, indeed. Those who apply for a job there, at least as of roughly seven years ago, are given a fascinating (and extremely eclectic)test on books, writers, recordings – all the sorts of things an employee is likely to be asked by a customer. They require those who work there to be the kind of people who are intersted in and knowledgable about the product. All in all, it works well.
OK, look, there is no such thing as a “4-way bean.” A 4-way has onions. A 5-way has beans. They are trying to market that now (actually my friend who used to work at the Hitching Post swears it was always that way) but it’s just wrong! Wrong as a Chicago hot dog with nothing on it. Wrong as deep-dish NY pizza. Wrong as cooked sushi.
I was not going to go into this in-depth but y’all pushed me over the damn edge. Now, back to writing my chili treatise…”Skove on Skyline.”
Does your head spins around at the idea of a 3 way lettuce?
I have no non-bookstore sitings of Android’s Dream, but I did see the mass market paperback of Old Man’s War in my grocery store!
This particular store gives as much space to books as to magazines, with about half the book space for the top 20 stuff. Most of what’s left is romance, but they had 8 or 10 skiffy titles, including 3 copies of Old Man’s War. Thought you’d like to know!
…there is no such thing as a “4-way bean…”
Hmm. Well, Anne, seeing as how the choice was there at least as long ago as 1987 — when I first sat down to a dish of “mud, with cheese” as then-Cleveland mayor George Voinovich called it — I’d say you’re being unnecessarily dogmatic.
We really must agree to disagree and put aside our petty differences, lest we give comfort and satisfaction to our enemies. Besides — onions? Bleah. I don’t even eat onions on pierogies, and I know that’s proper.
Speaking as the person who actually bought and shlepped TAD on the cruise, I loved reading it in those circumstances. It was wonderful to read it with someone who enjoyed quoting lines and laughing…. I still can’t figure out how Claudia got to read the book first. I was the one who bought it, saved it until the cruise, and carried it in my suitcase. How did that happen???
How about the DC area for the future book tour?