So this evening was the convocation of Borders Books general managers. Borders Books managers are very nice people who come up to you and say “I’ve never read anything you’ve written, but there’s a girl in our accounts department who will kill me if I don’t come back with your signature.” I think tonight I must have saved several hundred Borders books managers from sudden employee-related death on their return home.
So, apart from the disaster, it was a great evening.
(“What was the disaster?” I hear you cry.)
450 American Gods proofs were shipped to the Las Vegas hotel where the event is taking place. The Morrow rep picked me up, and drove me to the event. We walked in, and were met by two beautiful and radiant but troubled young ladies from Borders, who wanted to know if there were meant to be any books...
The boxes of books had arrived (according to an invoice) at the hotel some days ago, but nobody had actually seen them.
We hunted for them. People talked to other people on walkie talkies. Other people took to drink. I went and nibbled some salad at the buffet. Nope. No books.
Then I got up to make a speech. It was a fun speech. I apologised for the lack of books. Then I told them why I am currently breaking in a new leather jacket: Jonathan Carroll knew that I’d donated my old leather jacket to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund (it raised over $6000 on E-bay), and had, out of the blue, sent me a wonderful leather jacket he’d bought before deciding he was not a leather jacket person. I told them that, since he was in Vienna and wasn't going to be here talking to them, that they should all make an effort to handsell Jonathan Carroll books in their stores, and they should read him too. (And enough of them came up to me after the speech and asked for titles that I figure some of them were paying attention.)
And then I told them about American Gods, and answered a couple of questions, and then...
Lacking copies of American Gods, I signed pieces of paper. Also signed tote bags, tee shirts, and large fuzzy snakes. And many books brought along by people for themselves or other people.
Borders books people are very nice people, and I had a great time. Except for the disaster, of course.
Labels: American Gods, American Gods Blog, Borders, Jonathan Carroll, signings