Babel Clash

So I’ve finally made it to New York City, to start the East Coast part of my book tour. I’ve done about 11 events so far, and have seen highs of 75 in attendance and 15 in attendance, averaging about 40 to 50, which is excellent. More importantly, people seem to be responding both to Finch and my writing book, Booklife. At the 15 person event, every single attendee bought at least one book, some of them two. It’s been great.

This week, I’m reading with David and Paul at Borders in Boston on Friday, November 20 at 7:00, something I’m really looking forward to, and then at the Borders at Columbus Circle in New York City at 5:00 on Saturday, November 21, with Geoff Manaugh and Jeffrey Ford, moderated by Beatrice.com’s Ron Hogan.

The New York event will mostly focus on cities real and unreal, given that Manaugh is the author of the exploration of real cities, BLDGBLOG Book, from Chronicle. But we’ll also discuss the topic at the Boston event.

Where does the imagination take over? How dependent is a fantastical place on a real place? Which real cities have been overused as the basis for fantasy fiction, and which might prove to be a rich source of inspiration but haven’t been used as much? And, in a truly large and ancient metropolis, isn’t it just possible that we find a kind of fantastical element lurking beneath the surface anyway? (I’m thinking of Prague, for example.)

More on these events in the coming days.

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