Stories from the war zone

OK, likening book tours to war zones is only partially accurate, but in any case, Carole Goldberg at the Hartford Courant turns the floor to several authors who tell all sorts of interesting stories. From Stewart O’Nan:

I was doing a signing at a local mall for my first novel, “Snow

Angels.” It was a chain store, and they put me out in the hall at a

card table with a couple of stacks. It was the holidays, and there were

swarms of shoppers.

I was doing all right when a pair of middle-aged ladies stopped, and

one of them grabbed the copy on top and shook it at her friend. “This

is it; this is the book I was telling you about!”

And there I was, the proud author, trying to be shy and silent and not

muff the sale. She looked harder at the cover, at the title, then

opened it and scanned the flap copy. After a few seconds she closed it.

“No,” she said, “no, this isn’t the one,” and set it down and walked away.

All I can say is: ouch!