As reported elsewhere, on Friday we made the pilgrimage to Bangor for the Book Festival. Friday evening we gathered with the other participating authors at the Hammond Street Senior Center for wine and conversation. We were greeted there by Johnny the Cat, the proprietor, who came out from under a table where he was keeping a Very Close Eye on those gathered, to give Steve a bump and then to flop down and show belly.
The keynote was given by Richard Russo and Kate Russo. They described the process of putting together their collaborative project, Interventions. The project was the publication of four stories, by Richard, and four paintings, by Kate, Richard’s daughter. Their goal was to produce a book that couldn’t easily be made into an ebook, that had numerous “moving parts,” and which would demonstrate that “book” is a multidimensional experience. For those interested, the “moving parts” include four individually bound stories in a slipcase. Each story has the painting relating to it inside, but not bound in; it can be used as a bookmark, and keeps the art in front of the reader as they move through the story.
The talk was enjoyable and informative, and Richard did me. . .the favor. . .of reminding me of Stevenson’s “Windy Nights,” which is now stuck in my head.
Thanks a lot, Richard.
I’ll mention that the weatherbeans were calling rain for Friday and Saturday. We managed to dodge the bullet on Friday, but Saturday more than made up for it. There were several early downpours, flash flooding, and rivers of muddy water flowing freely down Bangor’s hilly streets.
We sat in the car in the parking lot across from the library for about half-an-hour, waiting for the weather to let up. When it had, a little, we grabbed our bag of goodies and a umbrella, and picked our way across the liquid street. Even with the umbrella, we were both soaked, so it was good we had some time to dry off before the group signings.
The rain had stopped completely by the time we were due to walk down to the Rock and Art Shop and give our talk, where we had a small, diverse group, including folks who had read our entire oeuvre, and folks who were just getting started.
If you’re ever in Bangor, Maine? Go the Rock and Art Shop. Really. And schedule some serious time there.
Steve had started to feel somewhat poorly — still not done with the cold from hell, apparently — so we did not stay in Bangor for the last, celebratory event, but opted to get home before it was dark (my night-sight has gone straight to heck).
In all, we had a great time, largely thanks to the help and patience of Gibran Graham, and Barbara McDade.
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So, after being feted and celebrated, today is about doing the laundry and getting my office straightened up.
One of the things that’s making my office quite so untidy are the piles of galley proofs from books long published. I think I’m going to have to bite the bullet and throw ’em out. Then I have to decide what to do with the nice Brother laser printer that I took with me to Temp Headquarters so that I didn’t have to deconstruct my entire home office in order to take the ink-jet with me. The Brother is super, but, really, I don’t need another printer in this office; I already have two.
Oh! I should mention that there is a review of the Liaden Universe® Space Regency audiobooks over here. (Liaden Universe® audiobooks from Audible US and from Audible UK. This has been your obligatory author self-promotion.)
So! What did y’all do this weekend?