Wednesday

Wednesday was travel day—up before 5 to catch a 7:00 flight to New York, which meant I didn’t have time to check my email, much less post a blog. But it got on eventually, and I figure you’ll either forgive me or stop reading entirely, and in either case it’s not my responsibility.

So, the plane flew and Laurie King slept and the people around her read and watched the Jim Carrey movie and occasionally some mischief-minded God grabbed the plane and shook it hard for a few minutes, and then put it down and we flew for a while longer until His cousin over Duluth spotted us and gave us a few shakes.

And eventually a nice polite Bangladeshi driver, who had spent a great deal of effort to avoid having a series of pedestrians fling themselves under his tires, delivered me to the hotel, where I flung off one set of clothes, restored my hair to something like order, and set off again for the bookstore where a group of Dedicated Readers were gathered and waiting for me. Along with Jenny Sterlin, who has read the Russell books since the beginning.

We had a nice chat, and Les Klinger came and my super Bantam publicist Sharon with her adorable belly, the inhabitant of which is due to meet the world in two months.

Events with Les are always interesting, since he comes at the Sherlockian oeuvre from that of a commentator, instead of an unrepentant adaptor and thief like yours truly. And although I don’t think it’s actually true that, as my daughter told me on Tuesday, I never answer the questions I’m asked, it is true that I manage to turn most questions around into something I’m interested in talking about, or the person I’m with can answer as well.
But no one stomped out in protest when I didn’t address the main point of their question, and I signed a lot of books for Borders and they had a number of Les’s books to sign as well, which is nice and optimistic of them considering the books cost a lot of money and the economy is pounding at Borders rather hard. But a good time was had by all, and New York is treating me gently.

Except for the lobby at some ungodly hour this morning. Well, it was actually nine o’clock (which I suppose would mean that I slept in until 6, West Coast time, except I don’t do the whole jet lag thing, so it simply means I slept in until nearly nine) but it was hugely uncivilized to have to take an elevator down and venture through the bright, noisy lobby overly filled with men and women in their office clothes with their hair done in order to get a cup of tea. Why is there a law that the fancier the hotel, the less likely they will have a plebian object like a coffee maker in the room? The Grand Hyatt doesn’t even have mini bars. And with the way I’m travelling at the moment, I don’t check a bag, which means one suitcase without a corner for a the miniature coffee-maker (and tea brewer) that I sometimes bring. Grumble grumble.

However, I had an extraordinarily lovely dinner last night with Les Klinger and Neil Gaiman, whom I hadn’t met before and who proved every bit as perfect as the platter of sushi we three politely fought over.

And now to start the day, with a latte gone cold and some plastic-flavored fruit from the lobby coffee cart.

Thank you to everyone who commented that they were loving the book, but I have to say, you people are insatiable—“When is the next one out?” (For the answer, take a look at the Green Man tab, I’m sure it’s there somewhere. And if not, then the answer is a year from now.)

9 Comments

  1. Chris on April 30, 2009 at 6:24 am

    You work too hard! Thankfully it’s worth it, and not just in the end 🙂

    Have sneaked a lok at the first three chapters of my ARC, but otherwise waiting for Real Thing, LOL.

    A thought – but here’s hoping the statue of Sherlock Holmes is still standing in situ , if you make it to Edinburgh in August. Photo Op!

    (NB Brief explanation – said statue is to go into storage for two or three years whilst our tram system is built. Fun!)

  2. Jessara on April 30, 2009 at 6:38 am

    Gaiman and King… now there’s a brain-numbing combination. I love both writers, and can easily inhabit the universes they create separately. The London of ‘Neverwhere’, with its endpiece maps of unused and renamed Tube stations, fits oddly well with Holmes’ London bolt-holes. Or maybe that’s my ear and sinus infection taking liberties with my imagination. I’m glad you met, in any case. And I have a boil-a-coil and Corelle mug that go with me everywhere, because if you don’t have them, you will need them desperately. I have to go back to TLOB now; I’m rationing myself and today will finish it. Then I can start all over again, because it’s very good indeed and I know I’ve missed nuances. Thanks again for creating your books, Laurie.

  3. Yondalla on April 30, 2009 at 7:04 am

    I must stay I would be less impatient if the current book had not ended with thost last three words. (Insert heavy sigh here).

    I read LANG fairly non stop. One of the advantages of a Kindle is that you can read in your office at work and, if you are a professor and colleague stops at your door, you can say things like, “I think Peter Singer’s new book might be a good one for ‘intro’ next year” and they respond with, “Is his book on the KINDLE?” I of course nod and say, “Why yes, it is” and then return to ensure that Mary survives her dangerous travel…because if I stop reading she will have to wait for me there and I know how very desperately she wants that part of the journey to be over.

    Now that I have got to the end which is not an end, I too must return to the beginning and read slowly.

    Although perhaps I ought to actually read Singer’s new book first. Someone might ask me a question about it.

  4. sinda on April 30, 2009 at 7:27 am

    Well, good news, bad news: my local indie store, the awesome BookPeople in Austin, sold out of the seven (7!! Why only 7??) books they’d stocked by the time I got there. I resisted temptation this morning, while at Amazon ordering the books my children had requested and which BookPeople also did not have (on Sea Otters and Sea Lions, respectively), and am going back this weekend. I hope they better estimate your audience between now and then.

    Congratulations on a terrific launch – I loved the ceremonies on Twitter and here, and can’t wait to read it. I hope you get some rest soon, too.

  5. Canzonett on April 30, 2009 at 7:35 am

    I’m waiting for my ARC to arrive and for my adorable brother to bring me the “real thing” (as Chris so aptly phrased it) in July when he comes over from Boston to visit us in good old Europe. It’s amazing how cramped with experiences and impressions some days can be … Hope you’ll continue enjoying your journey!

  6. Ruth @ Bookish Ruth on April 30, 2009 at 9:05 am

    LANG is proving to be every bit as delightful as I knew it would be. Despite my instinctive urge to plow through it in one sitting, I’m reminding myself that Russell X will not be available tomorrow, so I’m approaching LANG like a good cup of tea: Both are best when savored.

    It sounds like you’re having a most auspicious start to your book tour (notwithstanding the lack of a coffee maker). I’m sure I’m not the only one who wishes they could have been a fly on the wall at dinner last night.

  7. Megan on April 30, 2009 at 11:40 am

    I started reading and just couldn’t stop, midterms and influenza be darned (I’m suffering from both at the moment). I know I’ll have to go back and re-read many times, but it’s always such a thrill to be so engrossed in what you’re reading that you can’t look up until the last words have trailed off the last page.

    A year? Well worth the wait, to see what is cooked up in response to that ending.

  8. Laraine on April 30, 2009 at 2:57 pm

    Wow, King, Klinger & Gaiman . . . wow. Would love to have sat in on that conversatin, although I think I may have walked past N. G. at some point in the LA Festival of Books green room, without realizing the opportunity. So glad you are having the perks that come along with all that hard work!!

  9. Strawberry Curls on April 30, 2009 at 8:19 pm

    Two reads of LANG are just not enough. I can’t wait to hear the book. I would have loved to meet Jenny Sterlin in New York. I’m in awe of her abilty to bring all the characters to life. I love, love, all the Russell’s in audio. Ms. Sterlin does justice to the words written my Laurie R. King. That is saying a great deal.

    I can’t wait to hear how my namesake (the other Alice Wright) sounds.

    –Alice

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