Elvis and Me

Dears,

I really love this: Publisher’s Weekly has announced the sale of BIAJ to Fingerprint Press in India. As if that wasn’t cool enough, my sale followed the sale of Elvis Costello’s memoir to Holland.

Indian Rights

One of my favorite songs of all time is Costello’s  “Veronica,” which was inspired by his grandmother’s battle with Alzheimer’s disease. These are some of the lyrics:

Well it was all of sixty-five years ago
When the world was the street where she lived
And a young man sailed on a ship in the sea300px-Veronica_US_12'_promo_front_sleeve
With a picture of Veronica

On the “Empress of India”
And as she closed her eyes upon the world and
picked upon the bones of last week’s news
She spoke his name outloud again

Veronica sits in her favourite chair and she sits
very quiet and still
And they call her a name that they never get
right and if they don’t then nobody else will
But she used to have a carefree mind of her
own, with devilish look in her eye
Saying “You can call me anything you like, but
my name is Veronica”

I never noticed, until today, that he mentions India. Where Brain in a Jar and me are going.

What’s more, I received a very nice email from the Publisher at Fingerprint, who said, “We are very excited to launch this book in India. It will be almost a first of its kind, as there are not many books that cover this topic.”

Love,

Nancy

Hooray for Bollywood!

Dears,

india

Big news! Great news!

Brain in a Jar publishing rights for the Indian Subcontinent have been sold to Fingerprint Press in Delhi.

What does that mean, exactly, you ask?
Here, I translate:
  • BIAJ will come out in the English Language, in paperback, for audiences in India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Afghanistan,  Pakistan, Myanmar, Bhutan, and Maldives.
  • The story will be the same; the cover and design will be different.
  • I do not yet know a publication date.
  • Perhaps most exciting to me is the fact that the contract requires that I make a book-related appearance in India after publication.

After telling David the news, I inadvertently screamed out, “Hooray for Hollywood!”

To which he said, “You mean: Hooray for Bollywood!” Gods and goddess, I love that boy. bolyywood

What I really mean is that — in any language or any place — this couldn’t have been scripted any better.

Thank you, India (and Priya and Fingerprint), for inspiring my father and part of my story. Brain in a Jar will feel right at home with you. See you soon.

Love,

Nancy

Nelumbo nucifera (Latin for Lotus)

Dears,

I’ve always wanted to begin a story with the words, “The End.”

Because, as we’ve all learned, the end is just a new beginning.

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And thus, I’ve decided to write about one instance at the end of the first month of Brain in a Jar‘s second life. (FYI: The first brain in a jar was my grandpa’s brain which sat for many years on my father’s neurology-practice desk. The second brain in a jar is my book about my father which now sits on my writer’s desk.)

I laugh to think that I wrote the book to establish my identity as separate from my father’s, yet I’ve metaphorically done the exact same thing he once did.

We are the history of the future.

Yesterday morning, I woke up in New Jersey at the home of my Indian-born agent Priya Doraswamy. We’d just completed a long, wonderful weekend of book signings and readings and Indian-food eating and wine drinking. (The weekend also represented the last stop on my month-long mission/book tour.)

Over coffee, Priya and I talked about the rebirth of her writer-representation company, now named Lotus Lane Literary. I kept wondering why the name sounded so familiar. And then I remembered: My father was fascinated by India, and Hindu Gods in particular. In fact, he named his boat after Lord Vishnu’s mount, Garuda. But when Beau went through a major change in his life, he renamed his boat “Lotus Lady.”

When I told Priya, we both shivered at the serendipity.

Renewal is blossoming this year. Take time to stop and smell and the lotus.

Love,

Gal

NYC READING/SIGNING EVENT FRIDAY, MAY 3 @ 5 P.M.

logo

 

Dears,

I sure am hoping to see you on FRIDAY, MAY 3, @ 5 p.m. at Le Poisson Rouge on Bleecker Street.

It’s seems right that a mermaid would appear at a place called the red fish.

Lots of love,

Ole Gal

Sitting, Seeing and the Senate

The other day I saw Senator Patrick Leahy’s Office. Not a lot of kids get to do that. Then yesterday I was on a plane to Florida. Now I am in Florida. And say goodbye to the blog, it’s my last day of typing. So yesterday was O.K. ish. Anyways I will tell you what I did:

-Yesterday, I saw Nancy Bercaw Number 2′s Exhibit at the American History Museum

-Then we walked/drove to get to Leahy’s Office

-When we got there, Mommy and Me had to wait for the other people

-While we waited I signed the computer guest book thingy

David

-Then they finally arrived

-The aide named Kara came to us

-We walked to the office that way —->

-The other people talked and talked and talked

-The aid finally said to ME, do you have anything to say?

-I said yes, then I walked over to her and gave her my Mommy’s book, and said: This is a book my mommy wrote about my grandpa.

-SO MUCH WAITING I AM GONNA vnqrbsecdsmvcdbnsmssssssssssssssssssssssssssss

-So I sat there for a while

-Then we left, no more excitement for the rest of the day.

I think that should be all I say for today, so BYE!

Hair Cut and Cousins

Yes, yes, and yes. I can spell correctly, here: Sorry For The Slight Inconvenience 2 Days Ago. I DONT EVEN KNOW WHAT HAPPENED THAT WAS INCONVENIENT! So, yesterday I got a buzz-cut. It looks so cool, but i still think it makes me look like a bully.

List:

-Yesterday, I stayed at home until like 12:00buzz cut for D

-Then I got ma’ Buzzkit’

-Then we walked to the Panera Bread, and shopped at Gamestop

-On the way home we picked up Nancy Bercaw 2

-Drove home, waited

-Finally Reva got home and her and me walked to the park

-When we got back home, Scott was there

-So we drove to Panera Bread and bought dinner

-Then we drove home and watched a movie

Thats all for today!

Aside

sary fur thu incunveenyuns uv yesturday

Image                                                  Image                             Today I woke up remembering badly, that I did not type up a blog post for you yesterday!

Then I thought for a long time, i’m not sure how long I thought.

ImageThen I asked Mom for this here’ computer… SHE SAID I COULD USE IT! So I went on to Minecraftia, and Metaserve (thats where I play with friends, look Minecraft up on wikipedia) was offline, so no fun today, then I decided to get another server to play Minecraft with people on… I’ll skip forwards a bit, because I would have had to explain sooooo…… much stuff about stuff. Anyways, its time for a run-through of my day! Here it is: 

-We WALKED! to Talkoma and had lunch at a bistro, I had a chicken quesadilla, mom had chicken tacos, I think!

-We walked to the Metro and mom had some trouble with the machine.

-The Metro train was scary, it was leaning to the side at one point, and you never knew when the door would close.

-We got off in Metro Center and walked around and saw my friend Willam from my old school: Brewster Pierce.

-Then we saw the monuments and the memorials.

-Mommy and I caught a taxi cab and rode it to the Alzheimer’s Association forum.

-We stayed until the Vermont rep spoke, then we left.

-Now I am here, blogging, BYE!

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