One of the fun things about going to a trade show or conference is running into people I know but haven’t seen for a while. I don’t know that many people in Canadian publishing, so it always shocks me a bit to see a familiar face at Book Expo Canada. It’s a good shock, though.
Last week, I saw Chris Szego, the manager of Bakka-Phoenix Books in Toronto. I’ve known Chris for a while (initially through Toronto Romance Writers, where she was on the executive for a while) and we always have an interesting conversation about writing and writers and books, as well as other weird stuff.
I’ve also had a relationship with Bakka from waaaaaaaaaay back. (yes, they are called BakkaPhoenix now, but I’m never going to rewire that in my brain. Read on and see why.) When I was a teenager and a rabid fantasy fiction reader, Bakka was on Queen Street West (not where it is now) and sold used and new books. I take the subway downtown by myself, go there and trade in my books, then spend hours picking new ones.
I wish I still had my massive collection of Michael Moorcock books, especially those featuring the Eternal Champion, and the big juicy fantasy anthologies that were published every year, edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling. I would save my pennies for that trade paperback each year and would be so excited to see the display of those books at the front of the store. I suspect that maybe I got the idea to be a writer in the first place, if not at Bakka then while reading books I’d gotten at Bakka.
Queen West was pretty grubby in those days, very funky and utterly different from the wholesome suburbia where we lived. I loved it down there. As I write this, I wonder what the heck was in my mother’s head to let me go, but the world was a different place in those days and Toronto was incredibly safe.
So, I have a big soft spot in my heart with Bakka, and visited there over the years as it changed both owners and locations. I know the mom of the current owner, and was excited to see the store move back to its roots on Queen West. Having Chris manage the store is just icing on the cake.
So, while we were chatting, who came along but Peter Halasz from the Sunburst Awards – another familiar face! Peter demanded to know when I was going to do a booksigning, so he could bring along his backlist titles of mine and get them all signed.
Um. I don’t usually do booksignings other than at conferences. Generating traffic can be an issue – the fact is that free books are much easier to give away than new books are to sell. But Peter and Chris persuaded me that a booksigning at Bakka would be just the thing and was, in fact, past due.
Chris and I went through our respective calendars when we got home, and it turns out that Saturday October 4 is going to be the day.
Doing a signing at Bakka is a culmination of something that started a long time ago (we won’t talk about how long!) so, please stop by.
FYI, anytime you’re curious about upcoming appearances, check out Where’s Claire?
Deborah Cooke: Author 