Thrillin' at the Mill 'n' Swill

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Check it out!  I went to the SFWA editors and publishers bash -- known informally as the Mill 'n' Swill -- on Monday.  It was held at Planet Hollywood in NYC and it was thronged as hell.  But fun.  The big players mostly stayed for the first hour, did serious business, and left.  Young new editorial people drifted through in small clumps of friends, looking hopeful and optimistic and unaware of how much power they're going to wield ten years from now.  And writers hung out with other writers . . . because it wouldn't do us any financial good whatsoever and because it felt good.

And do I walk the walk, you ask . . . ?

Yes.  And to a degree I would not ask of you.  Last night, I checked out to see if Terry Pratchett's new novel Snuff is available yet.  And I discovered two things:  First, that the American edition comes out in one week.  And second, that you can buy a book that would cost you twenty-six bucks from an independent bookstore for only fourteen dollars from Amazon-- less than it costs them to buy, merchandise, and sell!

So I'm buying it from one of my local independent bookstores.

It's crazy to pay that much more than I have to.  But I do it because I can afford it, and because I want those bookstores to stay around.

You, though, being more reasonable than I am, might want to go with the loss leader and then take that extra money to your local bookstore and buy something nice.


Above:  Master editor David Hartwell and master writer Tom Purdom.  I can just barely imagine not having a great time in the presence of one of them.  But two?  Not possible.

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