Purdy, Director of Publicity, is in LA this weekend at Book Expo America. He will be reporting from the action for those of us left in NYC.
Live from the convention floor of BEA in LA. For those not in the know BEA stands for Book Expo America, the largest convention of publishers, media, bookstore owners, librarians and book lovers in the US and abroad. Super rep George Carroll from the great northwest just entered the OUP booth to say hello. Always great to see George! So far the floor is media lite, but we are encouraged by a steady stream of booksellers, librarians, authors et al who have passed through the booth to pick up an OED 80th anniversary tote with a copy of Reading the OED by Ammon Shea tucked inside. I am happy to say we have some great neighbors here in the 1700 aisle, with Harlequin across the way, HarperCollins a row away, the Perseus Group around the corner.
Darren Shannon, former OUP senior publicist cum Publicity Manager of Cambridge University Press was seen in the OUP booth earlier this morn all shorn and suited. I barely recognized him is his respectable guise. I had to cut our visit short when Donna Freitas, author of Sex and the Soul, made a booth appearance to express her great satisfaction with coverage of her book to date. Kudos to Kelly Hughes and our own Claudia Dizenzo for their great good efforts.
That’s BEA today, baby. More later.
I happened to pick this book up at a bookstore the other day so I would have something to read while my husband went shopping. I love books about vampires and this one looked good. I have to say that I loved it! I have found a great new vampire series and I am delighted. The book’s cover does not reveal how witty and laugh out loud funny the book it. The Accidental Vampire is the story of Elvi Black (formerly Ellen Stone) who was turned into a vampire by accident on a trip to Mexico. Elvi and her friends (all mortals) watch cheesy movies to find out what Elvi needs to do, but as many of them are getting older (most are in their 60s), they decide to help Elvi out by finding her a mate, a vampire mate to be specific. After placing an ad in the paper, they incur the wrath of the council for having outed the vamprie community. Luckily, Victor Argeneau is sent and soon realizes that they are not trying to flout the laws because no one there knew they existed. Soon Elvi has a troop of men following her around to see what she will do next. This takes conventional vamprie myths and turns them on their ear. Added to that is a town full of people who would do anything to protect their own hometown vampire. It is a wonderfully sweet story, but also very funny. Now I just have to go read the rest of the series to see if they are as good as this one! I can’t wait!!!!
