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I fear the photograph

I knew I was too far gone to keep this going through a full BEA weekend.

What have I seen at the show? Julianne Moore looking quite real while signing colorful sheets of paper, someone who had clearly been driven crazy by the giant mouse costume she had to wear, the ex-mayor of Denver: Wellington Webb (what?), two Borat impersonators. How could there have been only two?

Yesterday I made an offer on a comic novel and realized I’ve never before bought a manuscript on the show floor.

Some old friends have come by the booth. Some old friends haven’t found us in that hot corner of the hall.

I fear the photograph: Yesterday before we began the Editors Buzz panel, we were asked to pose for a picture. I stood in the middle, paunchy and grey bearded surrounded by five slim young very New York editors. By the time the photographer had fixed his malfunctioning equipment, the years had struck me down.

But it was good to talk over an open microphone about Every Past Thing, about Mary Jane Elmer and her search through New York City in 1899 for the love she’s lost . . . . My presentation must have gone all right, because afterwards, with all the galleys gone from the room, a dozen or so booksellers came by the booth looking for advance copies of the novel.

It’s Sunday, and things will wind quickly down. But we have an Unbridled hour this morning in the BEA lounge. And this afternoon Timothy Schaffert will sign Devils in the Sugar Shop.

This trip I was able to meet two of our authors for the first time: Pamela Thompson, who painted the beautiful Every Past Thing, and Andrea Portes, who debuted this spring with the electric novel Hick.

When you have worked with an author as closely as I do over visions and revisions—on paper, through the email, across long phone conversations—it never seems as though you are meeting for the first time. Each such moment presents as another encounter with a dear friend. Of course I’ve seen their author photos.

With luck, the editor’s buzz panel shot won’t see the light of day.

 
 

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