Je fais du schmooze

A great time was had last night as faces were put to names (or pseudonyms, even) and much Moroccan tea was raised in web salutation. The Hookah Lounge last night was filled with bloggers from across the land, welcomed into the Penguin fold with open arms by us humble corporate lackeys eager to humanise the contact, and press some flesh in the name of community.

Rather predictably, my fanboy moment came from meeting Dan Hon ("of the Hon brothers"), another mastermind from the Perplex City gang and previously COO of Mind Candy. I wrung every last drop of ARG info I could without seeming to pump him militarily, and now Colin and I are hoping to collaborate with him on future projects, not least an ARG we're beginning to think about dabbling with for The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters paperback and Gordon Dahlquist's next hardback, The Factory of Souls.

Many thanks also to the bloggers who gave us a huge amount of entertainment from their literary conversations - since the Penguin offices are normally filled with the kind of chat that passes for small talk in most Thai jails, it was delightful and educational to hear debates on the true nature of Proust, and the (mis)translation of Kafka's cockroach.

And finally, thanks to everyone who made it. Although I never got round to matching all the faces to the names, it's good to know that you people do actually exist. Here's to the Christmas Party.

Sam the Junior Copywriter

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Comments

[Mark Thwaite]

Hiya,

It was a lovely evening -- the few hours I could spend with you, that is. Thanks for arranging it.

And I found out that Sam was a girl, so that was nice ;-)

Mark

[Cas]

It was indeed a great evening. My thanks as well for the tea, the food and the talk.

Cas

[Steve Mitchelmore]

Yes, thanks from me too. It was good to meet you all and see Brick Lane for the first time.

I would have liked to have stayed longer and spoken to everyone. Which one were you Sam?

[San Jose Plumber]

Sounds like you had an excellent time. Keep on keeping on.