Last Wednesday (5/7), authors Tom Farley, Jr. and Tanner Colby had their first big signing for their new book The Chris Farley Show at the Lincoln Center Barnes & Noble. On hand with the authors to celebrate Chris Farley's comic brilliance and touch upon the late comic's personal demons were Farley childhood friend Mike Cleary and "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" writers Brian Stack and Kevin Dorff.

(Top Left: Authors Tanner Colby and Tom Farley, Jr., Far Left: Brian Stack and Kevin Dorff, Left:Mike Cleary, Tom Farley, Jr., Brian Stack, Kevin Dorff, and Tanner Colby )

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Harlan Coben, Hold Tight, New York Times, best seller, book party, celebration, cake, mystery, Penguin Books, books

Harlan Coben stopped by the Penguin office last week to celebrate and toast his new book, Hold Tight, debuting at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list. The Dutton team surprised Harlan with a giant cake that was almost as sweet as getting the number one spot!

As always, Harlan was charming, personable, and so very grateful for everyone's hard work.

We're so proud he's part of the Dutton family!

(Harlan Coben, Penguin Group (USA) President Susan Petersen Kennedy, and Dutton President and Publisher Brian Tart are all smiles at the party.)

Harlan Coben, Hold Tight, New York Times, best seller, book party, celebration, cake, mystery, Penguin Books, books

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So last week I visited my publisher in New York City to sign copies of Hold Tight for my wonderful sales force and for bookstores who special ordered them.

I walked into the room, pen akimbo-- and the table of books you see here was what greeted me.

"Wow," I said, taking the photo below with my phone.

"Oh that's only about half of them."

I sat down and got to work. As I came upon my second hour of signing, someone asked, as someone inevitably does, "Isn't your hand getting sore?"

The honest answer: No.

My hand only gets sore when NO ONE wants me to sign a book. I still remember my early days, sitting in some Waldenbooks at a mall, no one approaching me, trying to look busy, playing with my pen, straightening out my untouched pile of bookmarks, feeling something like the authorial equivalent to a poster child ("You can buy his book...or you can turn the page...").

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February 26th, 2008 marked a momentous occasion in the life of young author Anton Strout-it was the publication date of his first book, Dead to Me. Anton's debut urban fantasy tells the story of Simon Canderous, a recruit to New York City's underfunded and (mostly) secret Department of Extraordinary Affairs. Simon also possesses the power of psychometry. Anton does not. But he does have the power to scintillate in front of a pretty large crowd, as it turns out!

At 7:30 p.m. this very Tuesday, Anton read from Dead to Me at the Greenwich Village Barnes & Noble. As his proud editor, I tagged along. To encourage the hecklers, obviously.

Anton explained to a charming and bubbly crowd that the particular bookstore had a special significance for him: he'd worked there for three years, and during that time he used to gaze out the floor-to-ceiling window onto Sixth Avenue below and imagine what kind of paranormal goings on could go unnoticed by the busy New Yorkers rushing by. Hey presto, inspiration for the novel he was holding in his hot little hands!

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It was 6:40 p.m. and felt that I was quite early. William Gibson was slated to start reading from his new novel, Spook Country, at 7:00 p.m., so I ambled across Manhattan to Union Square, assured that I'd arrive in time to snag a seat. How naive I was! Upon approaching the fourth floor, I stopped at the sight of a large crowd, a solid wall of bodies, people craning their necks and rising to their tiptoes in order to get a peek of the cordoned off area beyond. Heart sinking, I approached and realized that the two hundred or so seats set out before the podium were already taken; standing room only, ladies and gentlemen, and the crowd was already six bodies deep!

I observed mildly panicked looks. Apparently I should have arrived about two hours earlier, but it was too late for regrets and besides, us Penguin employees are cool under the collar. I ducked off to the right, burrowed my way through the people thronging the Architecture aisle, and then hung a counter intuitive left past Interior Decorating. Rounding the corner, I realized my gamble had paid off—the very far right of the cordoned off area was but sparsely populated, four yards of near empty aisle cut off from the main crowd by a table of discounted hardbacks. Grinning, I turned to survey my view of the podium.