Fearsome is the Night
Leave a commentOctober 23, 2013 by Laird
John Langan and I traveled from Rifton into NY City yesterday for my group reading at WORD in Brooklyn. Train rides, taxi rides, subway rides galore. We spent most of the afternoon visiting with Peter Straub, a writer who has been a literary idol of mine since my teens. That visit requires a post of its own, so I’ll come back to it in a day or two.
After departing from Peter’s house we went over to FinePrint Literary Management Headquarters and rendezvoused with my agent Janet Reid. Janet is among the best things that has happened to me professionally and this was the first occasion we’d met in person. I also had the pleasure of meeting her associate Brooks after speaking with him on the phone many a time. They plied me with some of the finest, smoothest bourbon I’ve sampled in a while. Then Janet called a livery cab and squired us over to the Word event.
WORD is a lovely bookstore. It’s an honor to read at the podium where the aforementioned Peter Straub recently stood. Many thanks to Alex, Jen, and staff for all their hard work. The basement where readings are conducted was standing room only–just under fifty people showed up to hear the five of us read spooky tales. David Barr Kirtley brought down the house with his rendition of Gahan Wilson. I read “Gamma” and hung around afterward to sign a few books. The evening wound up over at a local watering hole with some Glenlivet. I had the pleasure of chatting with two other FinePrint clients, authors Sean Ferrel and Jeff Somers. Also had a nice conversation with Sarah Lapolla, Kris Dikeman and Robert Levy.
Around 10, Janet bundled us into a taxi bound for Grand Central Station and off we sailed back to the Hudson Valley. We rolled into the yard at around 1am and called it a long, long, but terrific day.
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