I spent the weekend at BEA (BookExpo America), the publishing industry's incredibly large trade show, and thought I'd write something about it. The truth is, that I'm exhausted, but I'll write as much as I can.
You've never seen so many books or so many people that work with books. It truly boggles the mind. Walking around, staring at the thousands upon thousands of titles, you can't help but wonder "Who reads all these things?" (And, of course, the answer in many cases is: no one.)
But I had a wonderful time, picked up a few new books, and talked to a lot of very interesting people. My panel on The State of the Thriller went well. I don't think my rambling response to one of David Morrell's questions made any sense, but I'm not sure it mattered. (I wasn't at my most articulate during that panel.)
James Patterson was one of my fellow panelists and we talked for a while afterwards. He's an extremely friendly guy and has a lot of very interesting (and smart) things to say about the publishing world. Same thing goes for Dan Conaway, a big shot editor at Putnam. Bright guy, really knows books.
I saw a lot of fine mystery and thriller writers over the course of the two days. (Don't worry: I won't do a massive name drop.) One person I want to mention, though, is Nelson DeMille. Joe Finder introduced us and it was a pleasure to meet a true legend of this business. One of the very first thrillers I read, back when I was a teenager, was DeMille's Word of Honor. He was quite a friendly and gracious man.
Same thing goes for Eric Van Lustbader, whose book The Ninja I read when I was 14 or 15. I spoke to him briefly and he was also very nice. Eric has a new book coming out soon, so it's great to see him publishing again.
Last night I went to a party that Mira threw to celebrate the release of Thriller, the new anthology of thriller stories put together by International Thriller Writers. (Check the book's website to see the list of authors. It's an incredible line-up.) The party was a who's who of thriller writers, including David Morrell, Gayle Lynds, van Lustbader, M.J. Rose, Chris Mooney, Katherine Neville, Steve Berry, James Rollins, Heather Graham, Denise Hamilton, M. Diane Vogt and Robert Liparulo.
I got my copy of Thriller (coming to bookstores soon) signed by all of them, then added F. Paul Wilson and James Grippando today. Eventually, I'd like to get signatures from all the contributors. I'll have a chance to get more this summer at ThrillerFest.
(Okay, that was a big name drop. I hope that satisfies the urge, if you had one.)
BEA is something really extraordinary for people who love books. It's for industry people, not fans, but it's definitely something worth attending if you ever have the chance.
