I did mean to post on Wednesday reminding y'all that I was about to go out of town and away from the net for a few days, flying to Los Angeles for my Otis College job interview, but it got hectic Wed. morning, sorry. L.A. was gorgeously beautiful -- just perfect weather the whole time I was there. I had dinner with Lisette at her new house Wednesday evening, and then pretty much spent the entire day Thursday at Otis College -- lunch with the chair, tour of campus, interview with the faculty, cocktails with some faculty, presentation for the students, yummy Thai dinner with some faculty. A long day, but I had fun. We should find out soon if they liked me.
Yesterday was pretty uneventful -- mostly in transit. I had a moment of fear when they announced at the gate in L.A. that it was snowing in Chicago and that there was a strong possibility that our flight would be diverted to either Omaha or Kansas City (and that we might be stranded there for up to three days, and that the airline would not compensate us for hotel rooms). I briefly considered rebooking for a few days later and enjoying that L.A. sunshine a little longer, but I really wanted to come home, so I decided to take my chances. The right decision, as it turned out, since the snow was only coming down lightly at the time we arrived in Chicago and we had no trouble landing.
The only other item of note from the last few days is that we just sold French foreign rights to BiM! So we're now up to four foreign languages: German, Italian, Portguese, and French. I can't wait to hold these editions in my hands -- I just wish they'd sell Spanish, since it's the only European language I can actually read! :-) And I do wonder if they're trying to sell rights in any Indian languages; I'd think Tamil, at least, would be worth pursuing, and possibly Hindi. From a political POV, I'd like it to come out in Sinhalese as well, of course. I should ask Sandy (the foreign rights lady) whether they're aiming at those markets.
The French publisher will be Buchet Chastel, of which I am told: "Buchet Chastel is a very old and well-established company who does primarily literary fiction. Their authors include Lisa Ward, Rattawut Lapcharoensap. They also publish many translations from Eastern European countries."
Is Lapcharoensap actually an author's name? I guess it is. Oof! I wonder if long names are common in Thailand. I suppose I should consider myself lucky that I ended up with a fairly manageable ethnic name -- my father's first name is Navaratnasingam, so I could have easily gotten something equally long.