I made my annual visit to the dentist today. Great news - no work needed. Last year was torturous and expensive. Dr. K marveled at how many crowns he has put into my mouth since I began seeing him in 1985. I immediately thought he should refer to me as Crown Vic. Since my teeth were being cleaned at the moment, I was unable to speak and forgot it by the time I was out of the chair. The average life expectancy of a crown is five years. Only two of mine have had to be replaced. The good doctor quipped that if all his patients were as vigilant as I he would be out of business. He ordered a copy of Killing. He has purchased my three prior books as well and was most impressed. His lovely assistant/wife, Ann, said that A Hitch in Twilight was too scary for her. She may want to kill me after reading my latest. Thanks, Doc.
Since I was in Bay Ridge, I decided to set up shop on the busy strip along 86th Street between 4th & 5th Avenue. Since it was a long walk from the car and I wasn't sure if the same friendly police officer was still assigned to the beat, I lugged only one crate. It had probably been two years since I'd last been there. I had the chance to visit with Yacov, a Russian immigrant who sets up a table of children's educational fare and date books outside the Bank of America. He loves to talk politics and frequently refers to his life in the former Soviet Union, which he believes was and still is superior to that of the USA. Of course, that doesn't explain why he had come and remains. He asked if I'd ever applied for food stamps and was disappointed I hadn't, as he is facing a phone interview and is curious about what will be asked. I asked how his ex was, and he said she was doing great teaching piano to students from all parts of Brooklyn, Staten Island, even Queens. She doesn't even have to travel. She is regarded so highly that her students go to her. I was tempted to ask why she didn't help him financially, but decided it wasn't worth risking any friction. Good luck, Yacov - with the books, that is.
Although I had no luck selling books, I met a woman who has an interesting story to tell. Linda's father was a photographer on Iwo Jima when the iconic shot of the soldiers raising the flag on Mount Suribachi was taken. She claims her father took a similar shot but was beaten to the punch on getting it to the press by Joe Rosenthal. He had scores of war pictures his second wife, upon his death, took with her to the Dominican Republic, where they were inadvertently destroyed. Linda said she had 40 pictures of Marilyn Monroe, most of them signed, destroyed by her abusive ex. She wonders if she should publish her father's story without the pictures. I told her only she could answer that, but that the book was certainly far less marketable without them. With them, the proposal would have caught the ear of any publisher of pictorials. The ones I've had at the floating book shop have always sold quickly, and none were as intriguing as that. I suggested she publish the book to Kindle, which would allow her to test the waters for free. Good luck, Linda.
Read Vic's stories, free: http://members.tripod.com/vic_fortezza/Literature/
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