I had read a review about The Age of Miracles in a magazine. I’m going to guess it was Entertainment Weekly, but honestly, we subscribe to about 20 magazines so who knows. The synopsis was something that interested me and I made a mental note to check it out. Then ALA came around and I had heard several different people discussing it in various lines…
Checking the tour dates, there was one at Warwick’s and one at Vroman’s. Initially, I had planned on Vroman’s, but work wasn’t being quite so accommodating in taking more time off. Instead, we ended up leaving Comic-Con a few hours early to hit up Warwick’s.
We got to the store just before 6pm, which is just before they reopened. I had purchased my book the night before, so we headed right up to the front row, directly in front of the signing table.
Karen came out at 6:30. She talked briefly about the book and how she got the idea [learning that the tsunami in Indonesia was so strong it had shortened our day by microseconds] and then read the first two chapters of the book.
From there, Karen talked about how the story was initially written as a short story and was 14 pages. Eventually, she expanded on the idea of something bigger happening that would slow the rotation of the Earth and the repercussions that would occur. At the time, Karen was a full time editor and only had time to write for an hour every morning before working on books by other authors. It would take her four years to complete.
She talked about giving the book to an astrophysicist to read after selling it. He became a crucial reader, confirming her research as correct or assisting in changing what was imagined. The only major thing that was incorrect was that Karen believed a change in gravity would have birds flying faster and baseballs going further; however, it was the opposite.
After another brief reading, the Q&A started. After about 20 minutes of questions, the signing started. Since I was right in front of the signing table, I was able to take one step and I was there.
Karen and I both said hi. Then she asked if I was from the area, when I said the city I lived in, she was surprised that I had driven so far. I mentioned that we came from CC and then we started a conversation about how we’ve watched CC grow, etc. She is super polite, gracious and has a really infectious giggle.
After getting my book signed and saying thank you, we started to leave. They had two cakes set up and were offering pieces. I declined for both of us because I don’t allow food in Lucy. Also, I wanted to get home after being up for so long…
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