BOOKS FROM THE FUTURE

By Hank Phillippi Ryan

 

Christmas in June.  My October birthday in June. Or maybe what we should call BEA is a candy store without the added sugar. And I was a kid in it.  (It's the national book show, Book Expo America, where publishers show off their latest, and authors and librarians and booksellers sell and shmooze and try to predict the future.) 

 

Oh, yes, I had a wonderful signing at MIRA.  Here’s the line!

 

And AIR TIME arcs went like—well, candy. (But then I hear there’s one for sale on ebay. Can’t decide if that’s terrible: How could they do that? Or terrific: wow, they think it’s worth something.)

 

And a signing of  the new PRIME TIME at MWA.  What a treat, and lots of wonderful pals.  (See Chris Grabenstein? And Ken Isaacson? And Keith Raffel? Alex Sokoloff is hidden by fans. And I'm so bummed I didn't get a photo of our Toni. Thanks Margery (and Steve) Flax for a wonderful event.))

 

But here’s the point. (Yes, I know, you were wondering.)

 

BEA is filled with books. Free books. Free free free. And the authors are often there to sign them. But the intriguing thing is, they’re all new. And many of them you’ve never heard of .

 

YET.

 

Because these are the books that are coming out  in the next few months. They’re often advance reading copies. They are books from the future.

So the trick is to figure out which are going to be the big sellers and the hot reads. It’s very exciting.

 

For instance, I waited in line—oh, half an hour, maybe? To get Lorrie Moore’s  A GATE AT THE STAIRS.  People were on their cell phones in line, swooning: “Yes, it’s a horrible line. But it’s for LORRIE

MOORE.”  Great buzz on this one.

 

Have you heard about BEAUTIFUL CREATURES?  By Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl. I’m betting on this one to be very very popular. I’ve read about four pages, waiting in another line, and wow. Can’t wait to get back to it.

 

I was so thrilled to get MT Anderson’s new YA! It’s called PALS IN PERIL.  He’s the funniest person I have ever met. The book begins:  “When Lily Gefelty got out of bed on the morning of the big game, she looked out the window to see what kind of a day it was going to be.  She discovered it was the kind of day when a million beetles crawl out of the ground and swarm the streets, forecasting evil.”

 

WITCH AND WIZARD by James Patterson has a red plastic over-cover that hides certain words. There’s  FIRE by Kristin Cashore. And FLESH AND FIRE by Laura Anne Gilman.

 

THE PRIVATE PAPERS OF EASTER JEWEL by Maureen Lindley has a gorgeous cover.  IMPOSSIBLE by Nancy Werlin has a quote from Gregory Maguire on the cover. The new Alan Furst--my husband was so happy. STARDUST  by Joseph Kanon—It looks like it’s about the blacklist, and he told me this book took a very long time to write.

 

My own books are books of the future, thinking of it. PRIME TIME comes out again June 30 (from MIRA in a fabulous new cover. But more on all that later.).  And it goes into the swirl of all those books I got at BEA, and so many many more. And some of the authors will be thrilled and happy, and new readers will be curled up in big chairs, happy to be in the new world the author created.

 

But that’s in the future. And we’ll see.

Comments

[Mary]

So exciting! I love hearing about new 'buzz' books, so thanks for reporting those. Alan Furst, Joseph Kanon - oooh, ahhhhh. :) Glad you had a good time.

[Margaret Stohl]

I'm glad you liked at least the first four pages of BEAUTIFUL CREATURES. Hope the 600+ to go don't disappoint :) Margaret

[Hank Phillippi Ryan]

OH, Margaret--how nice to see you here! If you get a chance--tell all! Were you at BEA? How did it go?

And feel free to tell us about the book..

[Dana]

It sounds like you had a wonderful time at BEA, Hank! I love these "sneak peaks" we get.

[Charlaine Harris]

The first book fair I attended was absolutely surreal. Free! Books! Free! I still love 'em.

Charlaine Harris

[Hank Phillippi Ryan]

Oh,gosh. What is it about that? My editor warned me about the first one--she said--oh, you'll turn into someone else at BEA.

I said--huh?

SHe said--just you wait. YOu'll be relentlessly on the hunt.

All true. But, I agreee Dana, it's such fun to see what's new.

On the other hand--there are SO MANY books!

And Charlaine--continuing congratulations on the NYT list juggernaut. YOu make it such fun to open the paper on Sundays.