This evening I had a book launch for Every Heart A Doorway by Seanan McGuire, the fourth Nova Press book. It was my first event in Jerusalem, and also served as a reward fulfillment event for local crowd funding supporters.
Books on display
This was a very different event from the one I had last week. That one was a stream of supporters that came and went. This one was more of a sitting down affair. Which meant I had much more time with some of the people, whereas others sat at the other table and I had less interactions with them.
As is expected in a launch, I said some words. Originally, I planned to talk mostly about the translation. But Ursula K. Le Guin's passing last night changed my plans significantly, and I ended up talking about what a huge influence she was for me as a reader, as an editor, and as a person. I have been saying for years that Le Guin is the greatest SFF author of all time, and I made that point.
Sadly, in my best picture, I'm holding a different book
I'm on my way home now, sitting on the bus, and my heart is full. This was a very different event, but it has the most important thing in common with last week's event. People came because they love books. Because they love my book. One young man told me he came specifically because he heard the protagonist of the book is asexual. He was so excited to get to see a representation of his identity in a book. This feeling is why I do this, and it makes it all worthwhile.