Pot Thief Tour 2010 - Day 9

The best thing about being a writer is the people you meet – other writers, book sellers, and readers. People who love books are people worth knowing.

Yesterday I was the speaker at Who Did It?: A Grammatically Correct Mystery Book Club, an organization sponsored by Moby Dickens Bookshop in Taos, New Mexico. I had spoken to them last year and was invited back to talk about my second book. All of last year’s attendees were there, and even though this was only my second visit, I felt like I was among friends.

Moby Dickens is owned by Art & Susan Bachrach. Art handles rare and out-of-print books which their website notes is a division of the business referred to fondly as ‘Mouldy Dickens’. Susan specializes in travel books and Southwest topic. Susan is a warm and open person. She and Art are a charming couple.

The two owners are ably assisted by several other staff, including Carole who handles ordering my books and is therefore the most important person in the organization, and Ruby, the tortoise shell cat who specializes in customer service and rodent control.

Art is also an author. He wrote scholarly books before he retired and has since specialized in biography. I have read all the biographies of Lawrence, and Art’s D. H. Lawrence in New Mexico is the best of them, in part because Art personally knows the people of Taos who knew D. H. and Frieda when they lived in Taos. But the book also benefits from Art’s background as a scientist. It is meticulously researched and written in a reportorial style free from ax-grinding opinion.

Art’s current project is a biography of Millicent Rogers, a work that has taken him a while to write because he is completely blind and nearly deaf. He will be working with his editor in the next few days on the final edits before the manuscript goes off to the publisher. She reads and suggests, he listens through headphones and decides. Despite the demands of running a business and writing his own books, he has generously assisted me with one of my forthcoming works, The Pot Thief Who Studied D. H. Lawrence.

Despite the challenges he faces, Art is an upbeat and good-humored person, a true gentleman and scholar. I am privileged to count him as a friend.

Pot Thief Tour 2010 - Day 8

Those of you who’ve read my books know that the protagonist loves Gruet champagne, a bubbly produced here in the Land of Enchantment. So we left Magdalena this morning headed to the Gruet tasting room in Albuquerque to pursue a marketing idea hatched by Lai. “Since Hubie is always drinking Gruet and praising it,” she said a few months back, “why don’t you see if they will sell your books in their retail store?”

So this morning I did a search function on the final PDF interior of my books. I would tell Lai each page on which “Gruet” appeared, and she would mark it with a sticky. Then we took the books to Gruet, pointed out the references, and made the pitch. They didn’t give a final answer, but from the reception the idea got and the fact that the manager was reading the first books when we left, I think the Pot Thief books will soon be on the shelves next to wine glasses, gourmet foods, T-shirts (“constantly wining” reads one), and other Gruet paraphernalia. By now, you all know my mantra – outlets, outlets, outlets.

We left Albuquerque to spend the night in Santa Fe where we dined at Geronimo. I figure I’ll have to sell approximately 200 books tomorrow in Taos to cover the cost of the meal.

Pot Thief Tour 2010 - Days 6 & 7

We’ve spent the last two days in a part of New Mexico that is so remote there is no Internet. You can’t even pick up a radio station here in the Gila Wilderness. That remoteness is one reason the VLARAO was built out here. In case you don’t already know, that stands for Very Large Array Radio Astronomy Observatory, a collection of 27 gigantic antennae that pick up radio waves from deep space and convert them to images. Those of you who read The Pot Thief Who Studied Ptolemy know I’m an astronomy buff, so touring the VLARAO was exciting. One discovery they have made is that the gas stream from the Magellanic Clouds is about 66% longer than previously believed. Bet you were wondering about that.

On Saturday, I had a signing at Hastings in Roswell. As in all other signings I have had at a Hastings, they were well prepared for my arrival. They had plenty of books, and had my poster prominently displayed – this time in the middle of the front door. Unfortunately, sales were poor. Very few humans and not a single alien. I think the reason is that they are primarily a video and music retailer. There is always a staff member who knows the book side of the business, but they don’t attract many readers. On Sunday, we had a joint signing at the Deming Arts Center where I sold 30 books and Lai had her first sale at a signing. Given that her book retails for $109.00 on Amazon, we aren’t expecting many sales in small town New Mexico. I was pleased with my sales but even more pleased that they are now stocking my books in their small book-selling area.

From Deming we went to Glenwood and then the nest night to Magdalena, stopping at famous Pie Town for slices of their lemon meringue and apple crumble. The little village and the restaurant, called Pie-O-Neer (groan) has been a landmark at the Continental Divided since the dustbowl days of the 30’s.

Pot Thief Tour 2010 - Day 5

At my signings last year in Silver City, I sold zero books, which might make you question my judgment in trying it again this year. My excuse is I thought I had a better venue this year. Silver City has no bookstore, but I had discovered that the Silver City Museum sometimes hosted authors, so I called them last year. They said I needed to send them a copy of the book so that it could be approved. After they reviewed it, they declined to host a signing because in my first book, The Pot Thief Who Studied Pythagoras, my protagonist steals a pot from a museum. I thought that was small-minded of them. I don’t think they appreciated my response that Pythagoras is a work of fiction, not a how-to book. After being rejected by the museum, I called the public library, and they jumped at the opportunity to have an author appear. True to the librarians’ code, they had no interest in “approving” my book. Unfortunately, they also had no patrons, which explains why I had zeros sales.

This year I arranged for the signing to be in the lobby of the historic Palace Hotel. The owner distributed posters around town. I sent a press release to the local paper. They re-wrote it and printed it. Unfortunately, their re-write changed the date of the event. Nevertheless, I sold nine books. Even though this signing was supposed to be for my second book, The Pot Thief Who Studied Ptolemy, five of the nine books sold were Pythagoras, and each one of those buyers said they always read series in sequence. So if they like Pythagoras, maybe they’ll buy Ptolemy next. And even thought there is no bookstore in Silver City, they will be able to buy the book locally because the gift shop in The Palace Hotel has now been added to the list of places that stock the Pot Thief books.

Pot Thief Tour 2010 - Day 4

“Where the silvery Rio Grande gleams along the sand,” begins the alma mater of Ysleta High School from which I graduated back in…well, suffice it to say, a different age. My wife Lai and I spoke to three English classes there about what it’s like to be a writer. In retrospect, I don’t know why they invited us, and I don’t know why we accepted. Many of the kids were like others we encounter back in Georgia. Which is to say, they neither read nor write. The closest they come to writing is when they send a text and the closest they come to reading is when they receive one.

I know it’s traditional for people to bemoan the decline of civilization as they age, so maybe I’m just becoming a grumpy old man. Many of the female students at YHS have babies. Some have two or three. The males who fathered those children have, in most cases, no role in the lives of those children..

The entire Lower Valley area where we grow up is an Hispanic ghetto. The signs on the streets and the conversations on the sidewalks are all in Spanish. The student’s grandparents and parents live near them, mostly employed in menial jobs. To escape this destiny requires not only that the student aspire to something very different from the rest of their family, it requires moving into an English-speaking world.

I’m an advocate of multi-lingualism. I believe every American student should be taught a second language beginning in the first grade when our language acquisition ability is still strong. But a nation cannot reach its full potential without a strong common language and a shared belief system.

Getting off my soap-box now to drive back to Silver City.