Very brief… I had all this great stuff I was going to post, but (unsurprisingly) have no time in which to write it all. So the blurb below that I was able to get written on Sunday will have to suffice. I will add that this was the best set-up we’ve had with only one table at a con. Many thanks to bookstore coordinator extraordinaire Lois who treated us amazingly well, as always (home-baked cookies were over the top!).
I attended the Shirley Jackson awards on Sunday, which only lasted a ½ hr, much to my surprise. Fairly low-key, several winners were not in attendance due to international locations. Of the winners, now that I’m thinking on it, really only two were there to accept their awards – Jeffrey Ford and Michael Bishop. Michael Bishop won for best short story – “The Pile”, which he said was inspired by findings on his late son’s computer. The rest of his accep
tance speech was a poem written about his son. I defy anyone with children not to have been moved by this piece. Jeffrey Ford won for best novel – “The Shadow Year”.
I’m pleased to note that Readercon has been quite busy (particularly given Boskone attendance in February and the state of the economy). Some highlights from the weekend include: surprising crowds and sales late Friday evening (the bookstore was open from 6 -9), getting books signed by Peter Straub and hanging out with and learning from the folks at Kuenzig books who were our neighbors for the convention. John and Sonya are not only great company, but hugely generous in their coaching and advice to [still feeling new despite doing these things for a few years] fellow booksellers.
