So many books, so few muscles.
It's a sad, sad thing when you have to say "no" to free swag, especially free books.
My intrepid partner and I did a day trip to New York Comic Con on this Saturday past. [A full con report will be posted over at my personal blog Syzygy later today.]
We got caught in the unfortunate necessity of having to dress for winter in Massachusetts and spring in New York City. Thus, we were so laden down with coats and layers and our own backpacks that we couldn't avail ourselves of Tor's 10-book-giveaway.
Pity. I would have loved to have gotten Brian Francis Slattery's LIBERATION, and F. Paul Wilson's THE KEEP, and Eric Nylund's MORTAL COILS, to freshen up our stock, not to mention John Scalzi's OLD MAN'S WAR, a perennial favorite.
I learned enough from the day trip that I need to do much more planning for these events. I need to be there all three days, and I need to make use of the FedEx/Kinko's on site at the Javits Center.
One shout-out must go out to Nadine Pirogow at Hachette Book Group; she's got great eyes, and recognized me from previous book events such as the NEIBA trade show. I owe her a debt of gratitude for helping me turn my customers on to the Jaz Parks series. We had too short a time to catch up at NYCC, since by that point in the day I was in extremely rough shape physically. But it's always nice to be remembered.
All in all, though, it was wonderful to see speculative fiction so well represented... and not just by Tor and Hachette. So many "major houses" and small presses, cheek by jowl. NYCC was as much a bibliophile's delight as it was a pop culture fan's haven.
I'm already making plans for next year - October 8-10, 2010.
---pmc2
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