Yes, I know the title’s in capitals, but I’m still dazed by the whole thing and I needed to shout it.
Special thanks to my beloved wife, Vali, without whom this launch wouldn’t have been possible. She was not only my moral support and personal advisor, but also the Chef for this event and the engine that kept all things going and going smoothly.
Special thanks to my wonderful friend Robert J. Sawyer, whose warm, inspired and overall amazing introduction made it easier for everybody to accept me and my book. And believe me, acceptance is not such an easy thing, especially when you have an accent and probably mispronounce some words.
Special thanks to Emanuel Grigoras (friends call him Manu) who not only helped me with the book launch, but made it possible that I have some gifts for my first buyers. He generously offered some “You Should Be Writing” mugs, designed especially for his amazing enterprise, Asengana.
Special thanks to Ian Donald Keeling, whose role as the drunkard trafficker Mahop is worthy of an Oscar.
And special thanks to Chris Szego and Rebecca Lovatt at Bakka Phoenix Bookstore who brought RecipeArium to AdAstra and spent the evening with us for the launch.
A shout out to Catalin Sandu who graciously supplied most of the photos for the launch. And a shout out for the Romanian posse who surrounded me with their affection and made sure everyone was feeling good. Calin Giurgiu, I’m looking especially at you, as the organizer of the posse. There were no less than ten Romanians at this Canadian book launch! I think there’s rarely a Eurocon gathering so many Romanian fans in one place outside the borders.
I don’t know how it was for others, but for me it was an awesome event.
We served some good, honest alien delicacies. They vanished from the plates way before the event was over. And that should tell us something—people are not so afraid to taste new things, even when they have names like Bat Wings Roulade or Ursub Congealed Brain. As for the Alien Droppings, they were the most successful item on the menu, which is… no, let’s not go there.
Anyway, thank you everyone who came to the launch. I really appreciate your support. And I hope you’ll enjoy the book. You know you’re breaking the Unwritten Rule of publishing if you read RecipeArium. So, indulge while you still can.
