It was intensely nerdy, but everyone I talked to was genuinely sweet and in love with comics. They were true fans; something I’m not used to seeing in the jaded world of publishing. I spent most of the day walking around to the various booths and talking to publishers; shamelessly promoting my book; and meeting fans (I have a couple, as it turns out!) I ran into a guy I met hiking on a trail in LA—he is the “deaditor-in-chief” of a magazine called Girls and Corpses—as well as the lovely Sarah Grace McCandless and Sierra Hahn, a Dark Horse editor who dates my friend Craig Thompson. I had one wistful moment when I stopped by the Drawn & Quarterly booth to check out Yoshihiro Tatsumi’s A Drifting Life and saw my Eisner sitting behind glass with his name on it: The horror! I didn’t make a scene or anything, but I did run my fingers longingly over the glass, leaving behind a few accusatory prints.

Panel with Ray Bradbury and Sam Keller

Everything was forgotten a few hours later when I attended one of the best panels I’ve ever been to: A conversation between the almost-90-year-old Ray Bradbury and his biographer, Sam Keller. Bradbury was brought out in a wheelchair to a standing ovation. Though he couldn’t hear well—Keller had to lean in and repeat every question—he was sharp as a tack, lively and so thoughtful. He talked about his magnum opus, the novel Farenheit 451, his lifelong support of the library system (he believes a college education is worthless), his view that the Internet is “goddamn boring waste of time,” and how he stays so young at heart (“What you see in front of you is a 12-year-old boy. Boys keep running and running and they never look back; they don’t worry about the past or the future or their duties, they just keep running. You stay in touch with your inner child by exploding every day.”)

What struck me most was his joie de vivre and absolute lack of cynicism. His biographer asked who he considered to be the true love of his life, and Bradbury paused for a long moment before responding, “I’m the world’s best lover: I’ve always loved to write short stories, so I wrote short stories. I love to direct, so I directed a movie [1983’s Something Wicked This Way Comes.] I love poetry, so I wrote poems. I love novels, so I wrote novels. I love to paint, so I painted pictures. Anything I’ve ever wanted to do, I’ve done—and I’ve loved every minute of it.” He talked about his belief that NASA should do more in terms of space travel; he hopes humans will move to Mars and ultimately move “out and up into the universe [here he lifted his arms above his head] so we can become immortal.”

Zombie Parade

When asked if he had any regrets about his life, he said, “Just one: That I didn’t get to spend more time with Bo Derek.” Apparently, she approached him in a train station in Paris thirty years ago. “You’re Ray Bradbury,” she said. “I love you!” He responded, “Who are you?” She said, “I’m Bo Derek. Can I please travel on the train with you? Please?” Bradbury broke into a mischievous smile as he recalled his answer: “Yup.” Keller leaned into the mike and added, “And the rest of the story is censored.” At the end of the discussion, we gave him another standing ovation and sang “Happy Birthday” as he faux-conducted! I was so, so impressed with this man (and his sensitive, empathic biographer). So honored to have had an audience with him a few weeks before he turns the big 9-0. It was just magical.

On the way to the awards

Well, let’s first get to the obvious: I didn’t win in my category (”Best Reality-Based Work.”) But neither did the guy who I was sure was a lock (David Small, author of Stitches.) The award went to Yoshihiro Tatsumi, author of A Drifting Life, a book that took him more than 10 years to complete and looks pretty amazing. Going into the awards I was so convinced I didn’t have the slightest chance to win, I was able to kick back and really enjoy myself. But late in the evening, when my category was finally announced, I started to think, hey, maybe…you never know. I’d already gotten to hold a few trophies in my hand as I’d presented them onstage to other winners–they were heavy!–and so I had a moment where I allowed myself to fantasize about hearing my name called and taking one home.

With my date, Karen Ramos

Alas, it was not to be. But maybe if my book ever sees a second printing, we will be able to put something on the cover that says that it was nominated.

Overall, the night was a blast: I’ve been to a number of awards ceremonies but I’ve never been there as a presenter or a nominee, and I really enjoyed the special treatment we got. We were seated at large round tables at the front of the room, which were roped off from a huge crowd that was viewing the presentation.

On stage presenting

There was a Mexican food buffet, and some star power (Jason Schwartzman, Michael Cera, Anna Kendrick and the cast of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World were the first presenters of the night), as well as a cocktail party after the ceremony. I got to present in three categories; Carol and I took turns mangling the names and opening the envelopes. One of the guys who came up on stage said, “My wife loves your dress” as he took his trophy! After the ceremony, we all filed into the lobby for a small after-party. I met a few of the winners, talked to the evening’s M.C., Bill Morrison, co-founder of Bongo Comics with Matt Groening, for a long time about the comic book series he just created with The Go-Go’s Jane Wiedlin. And I have to admit it, the highlight of the evening was having one of the judges come up to me and say, “Your book should have won. It was one of my favorites of the year. I read it twice, and I don’t usually read chick books.” So I walked away feeling like a winner. OK, need to get my energy up for today’s task: The convention center. Camera out, camera ready.

With my co-presenter, Carol Tyler

Eisner Winners

Carol Tyler, James Hudnall and me

Which is all very cool, but how do you come up with a song that properly represents two books with titles like “The Impostor’s Daughter” and “You’ll Never Know: A Good and Decent Man”? Any ideas? Accepting all suggestions!

But that’s not all: It comes packed with extras like a recommended reading list *cough all my friends’ books cough*, a Reading Group Guide, and an Q/A conducted by none other than Merrill Markoe, Emmy Award-winning co-creator of The David Letterman Show and the author of eight or so books herself. Convinced? Please head over to Amazon now and purchase your gift copy. I’ll know if you did it, because the book’s ranking will change. I’ll wait right here…

Laurie: “Hey Carol, the ‘Best One-Shot’ I know is someone who never called me again. Do we really want to give this person an award?”

Carol: “I know what you mean, Laurie. The nominees are…”

Expect lots of photos on this blog. Amanda just told me Brangelina is going to be there. One of my books is going DIRECTLY into their goody bag. Even though it has adult content, I think Maddox has seen enough of the world to handle it. If it goes into a second printing, I’m going to ask him for a blurb.

So imagine my horror when I watched the interview between Jake and Vienna on last night’s episode of The Bachelorette and Jake was revealed to be a sociopathic, controlling rageaholic with secret “issues” related to his refusal to kiss or touch his fiancee! It was as if the entire relationship that I’d watched unfold over six weeks was a sham. OK, but seriously, it was a deeply disturbing episode. First of all, the host, Chris Harrison, exhibited misogynistic tendencies, grilling Vienna about “why she ran to the press” and “why she was planning to stay in LA if she didn’t want to go into acting,” while letting Jake sit comfortably by on the couch, smirking his disgusting, smug smile. Chris also asked Vienna if she wanted to apologize to Jake for anything, but didn’t ask Jake the same question–or any question, for that matter, that wasn’t an attempt to protect their Bachelor and make it seem like they hadn’t cast an angry, possibly abusive man who clearly doesn’t like women (and by that I mean he doesn’t want to touch them on their girl parts.) At one point, Jake exploded, telling Vienna to shut up, revealing the tip of what is obviously a volcano of anger. Then, in an attempt to win viewer sympathy, he enumerated the various ways she “undermines” him, such as using GPS after he’d “already given her directions”–he threw it violently into the back seat–and re-measuring his bedroom to fit their furniture, when he’d “already measured it.” This woman has no respect for him, dammit! Such a creep. Such a jerk. Thanks a lot for sending me crashing back to reality, Bachelor franchise.