I'm back in Brooklyn after two weeks' hurly burly in Toronto and Pennsylvania.
I had a movie playing in the Toronto Film Festival this year, and was up for pretty much the whole run of it. I had the pleasure of meeting somebody who said to me "Did you know that there's a JT Petty who writes children's books?" The other nicest thing I heard came from somebody who came up to me after a screening and said "I loved it, and I'm amazed you haven't been lynched."
The best movie I saw at TIFF, by far, was
Pan's Labyrinth, from Guillermot Del Toro. Not a movie for kids, but incredibly scary, moving, and (scariest of all) relevant to state of the world.
From there it was straight to King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, to promote the Squampkin Patch at the
New Atlantic Independent Booksellers Association conference at the Valley Forge Convention Center. The Valley Forge Convention Center is at least as big as Deleware. The book conference was in the basement, below a gun show, which was below an elaborate Indian wedding. In love with America, I tried to snap some pictures.
"Pictures ain't allowed," said a large man with an assault rifle.
"Are you sure?" I asked.
He said nothing, and motioned significantly with his rifle. The picture below was the closest I got.
