Rep Night!

It was "Rep Night" Sunday night at the Bookstore where I work.  A number of sales reps from various publishers came to the store to speak to the staff about the new fall titles.  The last speaker was Meg, the W.W. Norton representative, seen in the photograph above discussing Smoke Gets In Your Eyes, a new title about a young woman whose first job was at a crematory.  Meg, by the way, in discussing that book, told us that "All of you will die at some point in your lives."  Truer words, as I like to say. In any case, food and drink was provided, but the big draw was the free gallery copies of the books they were promoting. Some of these titles were quite pricey.  In addition to an annotated H.P. Lovecraft, there was a copy of Earth Is My Witness, a fantastic $95 photography book by Art Wolffe, with commentary by Wade Davis.  I think the entire audience was focused on that title.  And the first person to get to the table at the end of the event could claim it.  The hostess barely got her thanks to the audience and reps out before the mad rush began.  Talk about facing your own mortality.