[Interesting links from my Facebook page the past two weeks. With the publication of A Night Too Dark, the seventeenth Kate Shugak novel, this time it's all about meee-eeeeeee...]
On February 16th, I updated my Facebook status with, “Happy Kate Shugak Day in Palmer, Alaska! Go ahead, blow off work and take your dog detecting.”
JoAnne said, “Oooh, fun! I’ll take my standard poodle. She mostly detects squirrels and rabbits that she can’t catch.”
Bobbie said, “I don’t have a dog. Can I still play?”
Jan said, “I’ll tell my boss and take the rest of the day off.”
And Becky said, “You do NOT want to know what my dogs find when detecting.”
That evening I got all duded up in basic black and pearls for the launch party at the Arizona Biltmore in Scottsdale, hosted by the Poisoned Pen Bookstore. Diana Gabaldon and Laurie King joined me, along with a crowd of Danamaniacs, who came from as far away as Boston, Detroit and California. Here’s a picture of them as they were assembling.
[iPhone photo plus bad photographer equals blurriness. Sorry about that.]
The next night crazy people drove all the way to San Diego from Los Angeles to see me at the Mysterious Galaxy Bookstore. Photo by Patrick, who also gave me chocolate and recommended four new sf novels.
And then on to Powell’s in Portland. Events like this sink or swim on the responsiveness of the people who come. Everyone here was a hundred percent on, great questions, lots of laughs, and an actual frisson of excitement when they heard one of them was going to win a book with a brand new Kate Shugak story in it. No, not A Night Too Dark, another one, click on the link.
The next night was Barnes & Noble in Anchorage, where the Lathrop Dorm Contingent turned out in full. Alas, no photos, I wasn’t on the ball. But my cousin Hank, the commercial fisherman from Cordova, showed up, and bought a copy of the book to prop up a shaky table leg at home. I did get a photo of him.
Extreme shopping in Anchorage will do that to you.
And then Saturday to Fireside Books in Palmer.
That’s Mayor John Combs giving me the key to the city, after which he exerted mayoral privilege to elbow his way to the head of the line to buy the first copy. There was a line, too, Palmer really turned out.
I have to say I felt a little sheepish when Palmer named A Night Too Dark‘s pub day Kate Shugak Day. I don’t live in Palmer. Neither does Kate. But then I remembered, my mom and dad eloped to Palmer to be married there by the territorial commissioner. Who knows, I might have been, er, started there.
And then last Wednedsay, I updated my status thusly:
My publisher Andy Martin sez: Kate hits the NYTimes bestseller list again, ANightTooDark #29! Thanks, guys!
Everybody liked that, a lot. Me, too. What I said.
Like very much.