Thursday, June 21, 2007

Taking the good with the bad

The Bad: Sigh. This is sad. It must be hard to be a teen in Pickens County, South Carolina.

The Good: Last week, Brian Farrey got us invited to talk to a teen book group at a local university. This is one of the many groups nationwide that gets to read pre-pub galleys as part of a YALSA program. It was a short-notice deal, and Brian and I didn't really have much of a plan, so naturally, I was a little nervous. As it turned out, I didn't really need to be. The members of the group asked us excellent questions and made thoughtful comments for ninety minutes. It was great. Reviews are gratifying and sales are important, but nothing beats being present while a reader explains (ecstatically) why she loves a book you published. Amazing. Many thanks to Adela Peskorz of Metro State University for allowing us to come. My hope for the future of humanity was restored (though, since Epoch is now hitting stores, some of you may question that-- That gives me an idea, maybe Pickens County, SC needs an emergency air drop of a few thousand copies of Epoch . . .)

3 comments:

heidi said...

Yoga is promoting other religions? Wow. That's great your school visit went well!

Brian Mandabach said...

The good: cool to connect with people after working in the dark so much, innit?

The bad and the ugly: This is giving in to terrorism. These terrorists should be brought to account for thier actions and the show should go on.

Micol Ostow said...

Don't you love those preternaturally brilliant teens? Terrifying.