So I got a copy of "Brooklyn Follies." I paid for it: full price at Seventh Avenue Books. As I was paying, Tom the owner said, "I have a little secret for you." He then directed me back to the table where the books were displayed and said to take one of the bottom three books. "Those are signed." Then as a joke: "That’ll be $48.00," he said. "Oh really" I said, playing along.
But I got it. A signed copy of the new book. Tom, Ping, the other owner of the store, and I looked at the cover. It’s a panorama photograph of the the corner of Second Street and Seventh Avenue. There are various people in the intersection. I recognized two of them. One is a real estate agent who sometimes wears straw hats. I’ve seen her for years. The other is a very nice woman I know from a writing workshop at Writer’s Voice. I wonder if she knows that she’s on the cover (she probably signed a release or something).
Of course she knows: the picture looks very posed.
I think it’s really cool that she’s on the cover. She’s a writer and one of her stories is being published in a literary magazine. She’s also an avid reader of OTBKB. If you are reading this please let me know the name of the magazine and tell us the circumstances of you being on the cover. If anyone knows anyone else on the cover please share with the rest of us.
Read the book? Not yet. Been too busy deconstructing the cover.
I loved that you stopped in at Maggie Moo’s to tell me about the Brooklyn Follies cover. The kids were running in too many circles from their ice cream high for me to focus on what you were saying. Now that I’ve read your post, I’m blushing. Thanks for calling me very nice!
As far as the photo on the Auster cover goes–it wasn’t the one I thought it was. The one I told you about that was taken on the 2nd street corner was taken of me and my husband and supposedly appeared in Time Out–although I didn’t follow the issues closely enough to see it. And I wasn’t carrying a beach ball as “I” am on the Auster cover-but my husband was carrying a huge bag of brickettes. I haven’t been able to run out to the bookstore to scrutinize the Auster cover tonight. Looking at a close up view on Amazon has been inconclusive. I have to say, it does appear to be me!
I’ve always wanted to write an essay about the strange places your image could appear without your knowledge (think of those group photos taken in restaurants–with your table in the background.) Once, when I was dining at Ellen’s Stardust with a friend, the waiter (whom I had never seen before) said “What will it be, Stacey and Mary?” After we completely freaked that he knew our names, he said he recognized us from a photo he saw in Chicago when he was staying with a friend of his–who was also a close friend of ours–who mentioned (I guess several times–since he remembered them) our names.
I’ll let you know what I think after I see the real cover! And, thanks for asking, my story is coming out in a 2006 issue of Paper Street. (A small lit mag based in Pittsburgh).