I have to confess, one of my favorite things to do is sign books. With Haunted, each book got a cute little ghost alongside my signature. With Betrayed, I’ve been working on mini guillotines.
At first, I was doing monochrome–and I confess, the pool of blood was very unrealistically rendered.
Then I moved on to add color.
And added some clever things to say. If you don’t know about Picpus, read my book or click here. Actually, it is probably advisable to do both. It’s a fascinating cemetery in Paris, with two mass graves for victims of the Terror.
Finally… I made the controversial decision to go with a pun.
If anyone wants signed copies, they are at the Citrus Heights Barnes & Noble, mysteriously known as the “Birdcage Barnes & Noble.”
My morbid sense of humor permits me to get away with this lightheartedness (I kid you not–I originally typed lightheadedness…oh the puns keep coming, even when legitimately not intended!), but I hasten to assure that I feel empathy for the people who died in such an awful way. Accounts of the scenes at the guillotine are harrowing, and please know that I can very viscerally imagine how brutal it would have been to stand in line for one’s turn. I am confident that my book, if not the inscriptions, duly honor the victims for their wretched and unfair ends.
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Lynn Carthage is the pseudonym of an acclaimed fiction writer who has been a Yaddo fellow and teaches novel writing. Connect with her on Facebook and Twitter.
