Herodotus, inventor of the Author Event

The Marathon Conspiracy releases today!  It's the fourth in the continuing adventures of Nico and Diotima, as they struggle to keep ancient Athens safe from enemies both domestic and foreign.

Their story continues apace.  The fifth book is written and going into production.  I begin work on the sixth after I return from a fan con and a trip to NY.

I thought this would be a good moment to stop and reflect on the world's first author event.

There was a lad named Herodotus, who lived at the same time as Nico and Diotima.  In fact, he was almost exactly the same age as our heroes.  Herodotus wrote a book that we call The Histories, because it was the world's first book about...you guessed it...history.  While he was at it, he also pretty much invented the field of anthropology.

Then, when he was finished writing, he invented the Author Event.

Herodotus needed to promote his work, you see.  This is an ancient problem.

At the following Olympics, in 440BC, Herodotus walked into the Temple of Zeus, and started reading.  He started on page 1 (scroll 1) and kept reading right through to the end.  Which probably took days.

The Greeks were amazed.  They forgot about the Olympics and crowded into the temple to hear Herodotus read his book.  Authors would kill for that sort of attention these days.

And that was how Herodotus became the famous author that he is.  His book was an instant best seller.  (Alright, it was the only book on the shelves.)  But still, Herodotus had invented the Author Event.


Gary in Washington DC and New York

I'll be in Washington DC and then New York, first week of May 2014.  If you're in either place, and would like to say hello, then I would love to meet you.

Here's the schedule:

I'll be attending the Malice Domestic fan con in Washington DC.  It's on at the Hyatt, and here's the program info.

If you're attending Malice, then on Friday at 2.30 pm there'll be a coffee hour which I'll be hosting.  Do come and say hi!

I'll be part of a panel on the Saturday morning at 9am, on the subject of (what else but...) historical mysteries.

If you're not attending Malice but you're a reader and just want to meet for a chat, then please let me know and we'll work something out.  I'll be in Washington the entire day of Thursday before the con starts, and I should in theory have spare time in and around the con schedule.

On Monday May 5 through Wednesday May 7 I'll be in New York.

I'll be signing books at Mysterious Bookshop on the Tuesday afternoon at 2pm.  I'd love to see you there.

Otherwise, if you're in New York and would like to say hi, email me and we'll see if we can work out times.