Authors Galore

Tonight was the Annual TCU Press Autograph Extravaganza, an event that brings together abou 15 local authors and enough people who want to browse, buy books, get them signed for Christmas giving or just to keep, drink wine and eat cheese. The cold weather may have kept a few folks away tonight, but they missed a great evening. We had numerous authors, with books spread out all over the festively decorated room in the Botanic Garden, and, generally, places for the authors to sit by their books. A wide variety of books--fiction, nonfiction, romance, mystery, novels by the late Elmer Kelton who had always been a favorite at this event. Star of the show was Bob Ray Sanders with his book, Calvin Littlejohn: POrtrait of a Community in Black and White, a book I've wanted to publish for 25 years and am so glad to see done in such perfect form. It's truly an outstanding picture of the black community in Fort Worth through much of the 20th Century, a time when the newspapers didn't publish pictures of blacks unless they were accused of a crime and no one took pictures at black schools. Calvin Littlejohn changed all that--he chronicled the black community and in so doing made a tremendously important commentary on social history. Bob Ray's research into identifying photos and people was beyond value, and the result is a tremendously important book. Bob Ray gave a brief program and was as always amazingly good.
Can't resist a plug--refreshments tonight were provided courtesy Cabot Creamery of Vermont which sent cheeses--a wonderful cheddar that I love, a basil and tomato cheddar that was darn good, and a habenero cheddar that I wouldn't touch--those that did said it was darn hot and surprised them! Susan Petty, TCU Press editor, augmented the spread with crackers, nuts, and dried fruit--a lovely cocktail hour.
There were authors I see frequently and some I don't see often at all, and I was glad to see them all. I signed quite a few copies of books, which made me feel good--lots of people wanted Cooking My Way Through Life with Kids and Books, and I was delighted to sign it and talk about my grandchildren pictured throughout. One man kept clutching his copy and saying, "I'm hungry. These recipes make me hungry." Funny thing--I think of myself as a gourmet cook but every review has praised the down-home, easy recipes in my book.
Otherwise it was a hit-the-deck-running day. By 10:30 I had been to the office for a quick drop-off of some papers, to the post office to mail Christmas packages (where I met the most sour woman on earth--I wanted to tell her I was sorry she was having a bad day, but Jean tells me every day is bad for her, she's just sour--and I feel sorry for her). My visit at the post office further aggravated this woman because I was sending a package to Canada and had to fill out custom forms. Then I met old friends in the post office line--a woman who has been president of the Friends of the TCU Library and the man who used to repair all my appliances until he retired. All that congeniality really undid Ms. Sourpuss. Anyway I went from there to the grocery to do the major shopping for my Christmas party and then to the vet's--that cat is going to eat me out of house and home. I finally had everything unpacked and put away and in good order by about 11:00 but I felt Id done a day's work.
So tonight I'm reading. Finished the Al Roker mystery--got a little complicated and hard to follow at the end, but it was a good escapist read. Tonight I chatted with an author who had once read a mystery manuscript for TCU Press and advised against publishing it because readers forget mysteries as as soon as they put them down. I think that's true, and I've always remembered that advice.
Going to read blogs.