Book Launch Party – 2/13/2010

The public launch of “Deadlines” felt like the fulfilled dream of a lifetime. Who would not want to launch a new novel at the large-yet-cozy Book Passage store in Corte Madera?  Many authors  dub Book Passage the best independent bookstore in America. The place sure feels like (and is) a friendly temple to all literary arts.

Putting together the public launch for my new novel “Deadlines” was a collaborative enterprise. Sometimes we like to think of writers as fairly solitary individuals, but – trust me – bringing out a book has to be a highly collective effort. It not only takes a village. It feels as if a small city should be involved.
First and foremost, there were myriad inputs from my beloved wife, Dawn. She had the posters printed, she sent out the E-vites and followed up, she stroked my hand and patted my neck and told me I was great and would do just fine when I spoke.

My grand friend and webmaster Dianne Levy came early and her hearty presence was an utter asset. She served as Cookie Monster, handing out heart-shaped, bittersweet chocolate shortbread cookies from Emporio Rulli. And she took fine photos, and uttered touching  compliments during the Q&A period.

The goddess of Left Coast Writers, Linda Watanabe McFerrin was present, being her graceful and charming self; while her husband Lowrey poured the red with a liberal hand. The staff of Book Passage had prepared the space in the Events Room well, and Dana Kelly served as emcee and master of ceremonies.

After introducing me, Dana keyed up and played a DVD that was produced, filmed and edited by my friend James Irwin (one of the best independent video producers in the Bay Area). We aired a five-minute segment of what will soon be a 30-minute video posted online – of myself in conversation with best-selling mystery writer John Lescroart. That was filmed at Le Central bistro in downtown San Francisco, a restaurant that’s an early scene in Lescroart’s latest book, “Treasure Hunt.”

Our video segment certainly seemed to amuse the crowd of 60 or so gathered in the Book Passage event room. Then I it was time for me to take the lectern, and launch into an introduction to the portion of “Deadlines” that I planned to read. This being Valentine’s Day Eve, I worked that theme, and chose to twang the strings of the heart.

We all carry images of each other in the virtual reality of our minds and hearts, I told the crowd. And in the case of a deep and abiding love, the more passionate and trusted that relationship is, the more lifelike and interactive is the image of the beloved that we bear. This image can become so vital, it can seem like we are in telepathic contact with the beloved while they live; and it can even seem that we remain in contact with their vital presence after they pass on. This phenomenon is a form of immortality that humans do possess – remaining alive in the minds and hearts of those who loved us.

And so it is for Colm MacCay, one of the heroes of “Deadlines.” In this book, he stays smitten with a lover who tragically died 30 years before the story in “Deadlines” takes place. MacCay is not just haunted by Anna Gardiner, he remains closer to her than any living human. At a shrine to her in his apartment, MacCay holds conversations with Anna that eerily resemble a séance – at the same time MacCay claims these contacts are not such episodes. It is this apparently living image of Anna who rouses MacCay to kick off the shackles of his sadness and addiction, and resume full-throated involvement in life by participating in the investigation at the core of this novel.

The crowd seemed touched and pleased by my presentation, then asked many intelligent and perceptive questions in the 15-minute Q&A session that followed. Next came an absolutely delightful part of the evening. I whipped out a Mont Blanc fountain pen filled with purple ink, sat down at a desk, and began signing copies for the line of folks who planned to carry my book home, and read it. I was full of elation afterward.

At length, Dawn and I returned home, but it took me quite some time to fall asleep.