Mysterious Galaxy

I owe Maryelizabeth Hart a big thank you, because she arranged for me to appear at Mysterious Galaxy in San Diego.

So I walk in the door and the first thing I see is:


That's Ben, who helps run the store, and oh, there are some books on the wall.

Mysterious Galaxy has an interesting event system. They invite two authors at a time to do a joint talk-cum-Q&A. My partner in crime was PL Gaus, who writes murder mysteries set among the Amish community. Not a hotbed of homicidal maniacs, one might think, but it's a fascinating vehicle to explore the culture. We discovered two things in common: we're both published in Australia by Penguin, and we both come from science backgrounds with nary an English qualification between us. Other than that we couldn't be more different. Mr Gaus wears immaculate suits and speaks very deliberately. I wear the leather jacket and my speech is anything but deliberate. The audience was small but interested, including a couple who wandered into the store halfway through and stayed to listen.

One couple had come because they'd read the review of Pericles Commission. Afterwards they bought a copy. It's an interesting reflection on the power of reviews. Review sections seem to be disappearing from newspapers, but it seems to me there's a real desire for informed reviews.

These two below are the best tour guides any debut author could have. In the middle is our very own LT Host. Her avatar usually shows her kissing a giraffe, but a only few weeks ago she upgraded to a husband. That's Scott on the left. LT wins particular credit for getting us to the book talk in time, in the face of horrendous traffic.


The book stack is what they had left after preorders and books sold on the night. I think they might be down to ten now.

8 comments:

Stephanie Thornton said...

Yahoo on another successful event! And I'm jealous you got to meet LT too!

Gary Corby said...

I totally need to do a book event in Alaska.

L. T. Host said...

Wow, I'm short compared to you two, haha.

It was so awesome meeting and hanging out with you Gary! I've got a post of my own going up soon.

Stephanie-- someday, someday. :)

Gary Corby said...

You're normal range for height, LT. It's just that I'm slightly out of the norm in the vertical dimension. There's a photo on Steven Saylor's facebook of the Bouchercon panel. It looks like I'm standing on a platform above the others, but I'm not!

I think the Alliterati should hold their own conference at some equidistant point.

Joanna said...

The books look *fantastic* on the wall, Gary!! And I dig the leather threads :-)

Gary Corby said...

The books do look rather cool up there, don't they? I've found I rather enjoy the displays.

It's the same leather jacket, I wear around everywhere!

dolorah said...

LT is right, everyone looks much happier here :)

Nice looking wallpaper the book store has.

Don't know why its been so long since my last visit, but I'm glad I caught the debut of your novel. Thats just awesome Gary.

Congratulations.
......dhole

Gary Corby said...

Thanks Donna. I've discovered from the tour that author shots are pretty random. I don't know how movie stars always manage to look alert and smiling.