Surfacing in NYC

Posted on June 21, 2007    Posted by John Scalzi

Not to be all mysterious about it, but the reason I was traveling is in picture above: I went to NYC, to the Tor offices, to take part in a autograph session involving the LongPen — a remote controlled signing apparatus in which I (or any other author) scribble my autograph onto a computer screen, and then, on the other end, a pen replicates the signature precisely. So I was signing autographs in NYC, and the books (and the people who were getting their books signed) were in Anaheim. It’s like living in the future, it is. The LongPen is being touted as a “green” way to do book signings, although I would hesitate to say it was so in this particular case, since they flew me in from Ohio for this. Even so, it was definitely an interesting experience.

One of the reasons I was mum about where I was going was because here in New York there’s a monthly speculative fiction reading series at the KGB Bar, and I thought it would be fun to pop in and give a bunch of people cognitive dissonance when they saw me being someplace I couldn’t possibly be. Because I’m a twit that way, that’s why. Well, it worked, and also it was a lovely series of readings, by Tempest Bradford, Matthew Cheney, Rachel Pollack, Veronica Schanoes and Catherynne M. Valente. Now I’m off to lunch at Google’s NY offices, after which I plan on going on a multi-borough crime spree. Because that’s what New York City is for!

I have some further thoughts on the LongPen over on the Ficlets Blog.