The annual West Hollywood Book Fair occurred this past Sunday, but most of my publisher's (Vanilla Heart Publishing) books destined for the fair didn't get there. Several days prior to the fair, burglars broke into the storage area where the books and promotional items were awaiting transport to the fair and stole almost everything.

So far, none of the books and promo items have been recovered and the thieves have not been caught. Speculation is the burglars were looking for electronics and other merchandise the could fence and thought the heavy book cartons contained TVs and DVD players. The books are probably in a dumpster by now.

Volunteers got a new booth set up with a credible number of books, but we didn't get the publicity out of the fair we'd been hoping for.

Malcolm

P.S. The only way I knew to express my contempt for the thieves without getting sued for libel was via a satirical post about the lost books here: http://jockstewart.typepad.com/morning_satirical_news/2009/10/night-bear-waking-up-in-la.html

Strange - and unfortunate.

Good chance the books are in circulation—among crack dealers, drug
users and criminals of various types. Maybe they'll read something that
will turn their life around.

I thought it was rather strange, too, because it sounded like the kind of thing I would make up.

That's a thought, Phil. Maybe they'll become real human beings.

Malcolm