City of Mirrors / The Twelve / The Passage by Justin Cronin, with thanks to Orion Publishing and Hachette NZ.
A city like Wellington attracts its fair share of apocalyptic vampire plagues, and though non-launch author events are usually strictly a lunchtime business, we knew we had to make an exception for those who can’t travel in daylight. 13th September 2016, the second the sun crept behind the Majestic Centre, seats filled to hear Justin Cronin read from City of Mirrors, the third instalment of the Passage Trilogy. We put out extra seats, but the crowd was seventy-odd, which we like to see. Justin arrived a tad early, joining us in the back room, where we gave him a copy of Elizabeth Knox’s Wake. “Oh wow, thank you so much!” he said, flipping through the book eagerly. But he seemed distracted, and kept looking at my neck, and insisted on a moment alone with his drink bottle. “Strict diet, man,” he said, when I offered a glass of water.
Justin read first, then took questions – ranging from incredibly cheeky spoiler requests (“You can’t ask that! I knew you were going to ask that,”) to the nature and influence of organised religion in his trilogy, his writing process, and an inevitable “why vampires?”. Upon closing we expect a few people to line up and get their books signed. In this case, 2/3 of the room stood, moved half a metre to the left, and formed a giant queue reminiscent of Guillermo del Toro’s 2009 fiasco. These vampires… they’re in cahoots.
