[IRTF] The Publication Party; or, Today I Am Neil Gaiman

Michael Signing Books at the Publication Party Photo copyright ©2008 by John Pearlman.

Wow.

As I've been going on about for quite some time, this is now the first week of publication for my collection I Remember the Future, and yesterday we held the publication party at the Public Library of Brookline, in Hunneman Hall.

We had the room from 1 pm to 5 pm, the entire time the library was open. At around 12:15 pm, our friends Michele Matthews, Andrew & Heather Greene, Yossi Charpak, and Jonah & Joanne Safar all showed up to help us transport boxes of books and everything else we needed from our apartment to the library. We got to the library loading dock at 12:30 pm, where Frank, the custodian on duty, helped us move the books to Hunneman Hall on the second floor. By the time the library was open, we were good to go.

The entire party is something of a blur for me. Although the party didn't officially start until 2 pm, a few people showed up early, one or two because they forgot about the time change. Nomi's father picked up the food from Rubin's and our friends set it out before the party began. I was supposed to eat one of the rollups, but I forgot, so I ended up not eating any of the food we brought for the party.

For the first hour, I circulated, talking with guests. We had people from all aspects of my life. Friends from fandom, from our synagogue (including our rabbi!), from work, from high school, from college, from schools where I taught, from my involvement in Brookline politics, all converged on the party. The biggest surprise was that my eleventh-grade American History teacher, Irving Steinfink, showed up, as he now lives in Brookline.

In the end, we had about 150 people there over the course of the party. I was gobsmacked.

At about 2:45 pm, I went to the lectern and spoke for a few minutes about the book. I thanked everyone for coming to the party, and I thanked a few people more specifically, including the friends who helped us set up for the party; Jennifer Pelland, the writer who connected me with Apex; Jason B. Sizemore, the publisher of Apex; my in-laws; and, most important of all, my wife and my parents. I only wish Mom and Dad were still alive to see this.

At that point, Nomi and I sat at tables in front of the room. With the assistance of our friends, she sold copies of the book to people who wanted to buy it, while I signed books for anyone who was patient enough to wait on line.

Folks wait in line to get I Remember the Future signed by the author Photo copyright ©2008 by John Pearlman.

That's right. There was a line. A long one, which didn't die down until close to 5 pm, an hour after we had originally said the party would end. I signed books for almost two hours straight. As Nomi put it, yesterday I was Neil Gaiman.

And as Nomi put it, we sold lots of books.

When it all ended, our friends who had helped us shlep stuff to the party helped us shlep stuff back; fortunately, there was a lot less we had to shlep back. Nomi and I tallied the sales and as of this morning, I believe I've earned out my advance.

If you missed the party, or even if you were there, and want to see pictures, check out the links below. My father-in-law snapped a lot of photos, which are in my LiveJournal gallery, and our good friend Josh Rosenthal posted his own pictures and a video of my speech, both of which are also linked to at the end of this post.

As for the rest of the week, on Thursday afternoon I'm taping a TV show for Brookline Access Television, and on Saturday night I'll be signing copies of the book at Pandemonium Books and Games in Cambridge. So if you want another chance to get a signed copy of the book, there it is.

Copies of I Remember the Future waiting to be sIgned Photo copyright ©2008 by John Pearlman.

Links:
Boston Globe Bookings Column, week of November 2

Mabfan Photo Gallery: Publication Party

Picasa Web Album - Maric - Michael Burstein Book Launch

YouTube: Michael Burstein, "I Remember the Future" Publication Party

Other Apex News

Two things I didn't want getting lost in the shuffle of my publication party post...

First of all, the November 2 issue of Apex Magazine is reprinting my 2003 story The New Breed, which originally appeared in Men Writing Science Fiction as Women edited by MIke Resnick. If you missed the story when it first came out, here's your chance to read it for free.

And secondly, Apex Publications has announced their annual Apex fall raffle. They have a lot of excellent items being raffled off, including a signed Advance Reading Copy of I Remember the Future. So if you'd like to help support my publisher and have a chance to win some signed books or story critiques, now's your chance. (Personally, I may try to win the story critique from publisher Jason Sizemore himself.)

The Muller Election

A few folks including my half-brother Danny have reminded me that tomorrow is the date of the Muller Election.

What's that, you ask? It's quite simple. In 2008, the United States, as it had done for the previous few presidential elections, had the supercomputer Multivac determine the winner by selecting one citizen to be America's representative. Multivac chose Norman Muller as the voter of the year for 2008, the man whose views on politics were closest to the American average for the year. Muller reported to Multivac to answer a series of questions about his political preferences and his opinions on the state of the world, and based on that interview, Multivac named the winning candidate who would go on to become president in 2009.

Or so Isaac Asimov wrote in the short story Franchise, first published in August 1955. I had completely forgotten that the story was set on Election Day 2008.

Nomi and I plan to vote first thing tomorrow morning. Go ye and do likewise.