Okay, here's the deal ......
On Saturday I bought a nice black evening-ish top from Fashion Bug -- a black camisole paired with a black sheer jacket-y thing with frilly cuffs and a string enclosure in the front (a little sexy, and you guys said a dash of sexy would be okay). That 2-piece top was on clearance for $12. I already had in my closet a pair of black dress pants and flat black dress shoes (you guys said to wear comfortable shoes). Then on Tuesday (the day of the party) I went to Kinkos and made a small stack of business cards (about 50 I think) for about $10.00. Then I bought a tiny green carnation boutineer from a florists shop for St. Paddy's Day (there were assuredly going to be a LOT of Irish there at the book launch party!). I also bought one of those tiny, black, pretty, microscopic-sized and utterly useless purses that women wear to fancy parties. Then I got my hair done at my hairdresser's. I got in the car and started driving.
Two hours later, I found myself for the first time in my life in Troy, New York, cruising a maze of one-way streets, reading from my printed-out Google Maps page, and trying to figure out where to park. I spotted a postal carrier and told her I needed to park in a safe area (and for free!) and a resonable distance from some restaurant that I suspect was a block or two away. She said "Yeah! That restaurant is just 3 doors away. Park here and you're good!"
So I parked. Then I spent another 5 minutes in my parked car, putting on my makeup. Then I strolled 3 doors down to
Daisy Baker's, a hip retro-20's restaurant in the city of Troy.
I walked into the crowded restaurant at about 5:35 (the party started at 5:30). It was a stand-up affair with dozens and dozens of people wearing dark semi-formal attire (a few folks were in jeans, but very COOL jeans) standing around holding half-full glasses and food-laden toothpicks. I spotted the publicist who had oringally hired me for the proofreading job. I’d never met him before, but I recognized him from his hedshot found on his web site. He was up at the front of the restaurant tending to a display table and talking to a few other people. The publicist knew I’d be coming, but since I prefer not to circulate my photograph on the internet he had no idea what I would look like. As I made my way toward him, he looked SUPER busy because he was readying to have the author speak at the microphone. I walked up to him and introduced myself by my real life name. He hesitated for about one second, then finally said “Oh! Yes! Thanks for coming!” Then he introduced me to the guest of honor and author of the book that we had all gathered to celebrate that evening.
The book
The Trial of Bat Shea, is a historical novel* based upon a true court case --a murder trial-- that took place in Troy, New York back in 1894.
This novelization of the whole affair was written by a New York attorney,
Jack Casey, a native of Troy and a good friend of the family of the publicist who hired me. Jack originally published the hard-copy edition with Diamond Rock Press back in 1994 (on the 100 year anniversary of the murder and the resulting trial), and the man who eventually became the publicist immediately embraced the book as a fan of the book. And, if I have my facts straight, Oliver Stone briefly considered making it into a movie. (He sadly never did. And then Martin Scorsese went and made
Gangs of New York starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Daniel Day-Lewis, and Cameron Diaz, a thoroughly different story which --while taking place in a different city and set a few deacdes earlier-- slightly echoes some of the themes and historicity and overall conflicts found in
The Trial of Bat Shea. But truthfully, there’s loads more
Law & Order-style courtroom stuff to be had in
Bat Shea.) Since then, Jack Casey got the rights to the book back from the publisher. And this past fall, the publicist urged Jack Casey to republish the book on Kindle.
The publicist had sub-contracted me several months back to proofread the Kindle edition. And then after I submitted the final proof back to him a few weeks ago, he re-edited everything and uploaded it to Amazon. And then the publicist threw a huge book launch party this week! The publicist initially invited me via e-mail, and then a few days later (some time around the 10th of March) a very cool snail-mail invitation arrived for me back with a hand-written note from Jack Casey. The invitation cleverly incorporated a lot of the historical photographs that the publisher of the 1994 edition had used throughout the book.
Jack eventually introduced me to his father -- a retired judge-- so I sat down with him and we chatted for a bit. While he and I talked I spotted across the restaurant a semi-famous writer (Jim H. K., see my signature if you want his full name) making an appearance at the book party. Chatting with him stood another local (published) author, likewise putting in an apearance (a terrific case of writers supporting other writers --such a beautiful thing to see! Hooray for writers!).
Before the "speaking from the microphone" part of the evening began, I bought a drink and heped myself to some food. They had endless hors d’oeuvres and a cash bar. The sesame teriyaki skewers were very good, and the jalapeno poppers avoided being too hot.
When Jack Casey finally took the microphone and spoke to the crowd, he welcomed them and offered his thanks to various individuals for their help in making
The Trial of Bat Shea possible He then went the extra mile of also recognizing and lauding Jim K. as well as the other author who was present. He generously saluted Jim K. and that other author for their own successes at writing (and especially Jim K., alluding in mock envy to the impressive number of copies Jim has sold over the years). And then Jack Casey also gave me a public acknowledgement for having not only proofread the book, but also for my having traveled all the way over the mountains from Massachusetts to get to the party that night. Lastly, Jack Casey offered up a huge acknowledgement to the publicist for all the hard work he put into the project, insisting it never would have happened if not for that publicist's skill, tenacity, and perseverance. And with that he introduced the publicist who came up and took the microphone for his turn to speak.
The publicist told the crowd about his love for the City of Troy and the rich history of literary giants from the region (including Hemingway). Then he gave some of the background details of trying to get the project launched, and also discussed the wonders of Kindle. The publicist then gestured to a display table behind him where he had set up a Kindle and an i-Pad, both turned on and glowing with
The Trial of Bat Shea downloaded onto them. He also had an extra-extra huge flat-panel computer screen up where
the web site for The Trial of Bat Shea was displayed. He urged everyone present to come up and play around with the Kindle and with the i-Pad to get a feel for how they work. And yet if anyone was still committed to reading books the old-fashioned way in hard-copy format, there was also a table full of 1994 hard-copy editions of the book for sale.
After the publicist finished speaking, Jack Casey picked up his guitar and played some original music he had composed for a musical stage version of the story. And his guitar playing accompanied the voices of two professional actors there that evening who had played the lead roles in a stage performance a few years back and who gladly returned that night to reprieve their old roles.
After the music, I eventually wound my way over to speak to Jim K. He recognized me but had forgotten my name from the last time we met. (I went to one of his book-signings last year. He’d forgotten my name since then, but I don’t hold it against him.) Meanwhile, getting back to the party in Troy, I re-introduced myself to Jim K. and we chatted for a while in a small circle of several others.
Jack Casey later found his way back to me, thanked me for my proofreading efforts, and asked if I could proofread some additional manuscripts in the future. I gladly obliged and handed him my business card. A few minutes later the publicist also asked if he could send me some additional proofreading work for other clients of his. I again obliged, and when I offered him a business card, he specifically asked for a stack. So I gave him about a dozen of them. Before the night was over I even managed to slip a business card into Jim K’s hands.
I had almost two hours of driving ahead of me. And because I knew last week that there was no way I’d make it back home without falling asleep behind the wheel, I arranged ahead of time to stop for the night at my cousin’s house in the Berkshires. She’s a doctor of US history who teaches doctoral candidates at a local university.
I slept most of the day Wednesday, then I had to go straight to class at the local community college Wednesday night where --between a job fair and then my regular night class-- I had to put in 6 full hours of butt-time in the classroom, listening to speakers and lecturers from local companies. (My butt STILL hurts!)
It was a cool night. You guys really helped me by giving me your advice because, to be honest, I would not have known what my frigging role at the party would have been. So, looking pretty, being professional, and offering future availability was how you all steered me, and that gave me my bearings.
Success!
*(I refuse to write it as "an" historical novel because it hurts my ears to write it that way.)
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