During filming of the final Season Three episode—a couple of weeks back—I arrived at our hotel late. The sun was going down and we’d spent a hot and difficult day shooting in the desert. As I cleaned out my truck in twilight, I heard someone murmur quietly, and under his breath: “Look it’s the Meteorite Man.”

Even though I was tired and a little cranky, I stopped what I was doing and turned around to say hello. Here was a very well dressed older gentleman and his wife, out for a sunset walk. Taking the air, one might say. The gentleman was a fan of my show, Meteorite Men, asked if we were filming in the area, and when the new season would air. I replied that we were filming in the area, and that the new season would start in November on Science. I then asked him where he was from and he said: “Nowhere.” I thought the man was being glib until he added that he and his wife were both retired and now permanent RV-ers. They wandered the country, spending a month here, a week there, and generally taking their own sweet time to see things that interested them. Apart from the appalling cost in gasoline, it seemed a very attractive lifestyle choice. While I could immediately relate to their peripatetic nature, I felt somewhat envious that they were able to see things at their own relaxed pace, because when we are on the move, we are really on the move, and there is no time for sightseeing.

We began filming for Season Three of Meteorite Men in late June, just in time for the big burn, exactly as we did last year, even though we all hoped we would start earlier and avoid some of the summer heat, but we have to deliver the shows when they are needed. This time around I saw seven countries, six states, many airplanes, many meteorites, two eagles, two sunburns, two near cases of dehydration, two quite severe cactus-related injuries, one amphibious vehicle, one giant nest full of giant storks (and I mean giant), one broken toe, one concussion, one Russian cop who looked exactly like Benny Hill, and plenty of other amazing sights.

Steve and I returned to a couple of favorite sites where we’ve hunted in the past, and also broke exciting new ground, visiting some meteorite locations, and even a country or two that we’d never seen before. We continued to receive valuable academic help from the Center for Meteorite Studies at ASU, and the University of Edmonton in Alberta. The highlight, for me, was doubtless working with our new off-road recon truck, “The Mule.” In an earlier and simpler form it’s been my meteorite hunting vehicle for years, and has actually already appeared in several episodes. But, for our third season we thought the MM needed a rougher, tougher, go-anywhere vehicle, and “The Mule” was born. All-Pro Off Road made the crash bumpers and bed rack for me, my friends at Dan’s Toy Shop put the whole thing together, and 1-Day Paint and Body in Tucson, mixed the color for me specially, because I can be a bit nitpicky about such things. In fact, the story of desinging and building the Meteorite Men truck is so much fun it should probably have its own blog entry later on.

So, here I am back in my office with a broken toe, looking forward to seeing what post-production has done to the new episodes. We had a great team this year. Executive Producer James Rowley directed the first four international episodes, and Jeff Fisher handled the other four. Nice guys, and smart. Our director of photography, Per Larsson, has won two Primetime Emmys and pretty much invented Amazing Race, so I expect the look of the show to be nothing short of dazzling and spectacular. For the last few episodes we were lucky enough to work with cameraman Joe “Boots” Parker, who not only lives here in Tucson, but is a former U.S. Army Ranger, and a wildlife photography specialist. What a superb choice he was for us, and I made a new friend in town. Senior Producer Sonya Bourn returned to keep the entire box of monsters on the road and relatively injury-free, once again, and is the only member of the road crew who made it through all three seasons.

Good people worked hard, traveled far, and brought their expertise to bear. Meteorite Men Season Three will premiere on November 28 at 9 pm on Science. Did we find something rare and amazing in every episode? I really can’t remember. Or, if I can, I am proably not supposed to tell you.

Tune in and find out. I think I can promise you one thing—you won’t be bored.

 

Text © by Geoffrey Notkin. Photgraphs by Suzanne Morrison © Aerolite Meteorites LLC
All rights reserved. No reproduction without written permission.

On April 4 The New York Times published an inflammatory article titled “Black-Market Trinkets From Space.” The author, a respected Pulitzer prize-winning senior writer, William J. Broad, included a quote from geologist Ralph P. Harvey that likened international commerce in meteorites to the drug trade. Mr. Harvey has since stated that his quote was taken out of context, and that’s happened to me enough times in interviews, so I have no reason to doubt his word.

Rather than discuss the myriad contributions made to the science of meteoritics by commercial meteorite hunters and dealers, Mr. Broad preferred to talk about “an illegal sales market” and “looters.” The argument was made that “The rampant looting of meteorite sites and skyrocketing prices for the fragments . . . dramatically reduce who can get samples to do the research.” That statement is so inaccurate that almost anyone in the field of meteoritics—commercial dealer, collector, or academic—will dispute it wholeheartedly. The recovery of meteorite specimens by commercial outfits has dramatically increased the amount of material available for study. This isn’t my viewpoint, it is a universally recognized fact.

Anne M. Black, President of the International Meteorite Collectors Association (IMCA), wrote a detailed and comprehensive rebuttal, which was published on the IMCA website, and in which I am quoted. With the express permission of the IMCA, I am reproducing that rebuttal in its entirety:

 

IMCA Insights – April 2011
Rebuttal to “Black-Market Trinkets From Space”
Article written by W. Broad and published by the
New York Times on April 4, 2011
by Anne M. Black

NEW YORK TIMES
The ads are for chunks of meteorites, bits of asteroids that have fallen from the sky and are as prized by scientists as they are by collectors. As more meteorites have been discovered in recent years, interest in them has flourished and an illegal sales market has boomed — much to the dismay of the people who want to study them and the countries that consider them national treasures.

“It’s a black market,” said Ralph P. Harvey, a geologist at Case Western Reserve University who directs the federal search for meteorites in Antarctica. “It’s as organized as any drug trade and just as illegal.”

RESPONSE
Not so! Every year in February the whole Meteorite Community descends on Tucson for two weeks. Within just one hotel, Hotel Tucson City-Center (formerly InnSuites) I counted ten meteorites dealers with large banners and ads on all the Bulletin Boards, and this is just one hotel during a show that takes over the whole city of Tucson, a city of about 1 million inhabitants. Other large mineral shows around the globe (Munich, Tokyo, Sainte Marie aux Mines) also have a large number of meteorite dealers. And the Ensisheim Show is only about meteorites, and this year will be the 12th year that show has brought in collectors, dealers and a number of scientists in that small town in eastern France. And if you do not go to shows, you cannot miss the meteorites on eBay, 5,731 of them as of right now (although, to be fair, quite a few of those are really meteorwrongs!). You will find meteorites have been sold by the largest and most reputable auction houses (Sotheby’s, Heritage, Botham-Butterfields) for quite a few years now. There is even a rather successful show on television, Meteorite Men, on the Science Channel. So if this is your idea of a “black”, “illegal” market it certainly is the most widely publicized of them all.

To be fair, I called Dr. Harvey and asked him about his comment, and he told me that he was only referring to the Gebel Kamil meteorite, and “speaking of illegal activities…illegally obtained meteorites.” He also asked me to reassure the meteorite community that his comment was certainly not meant as a general statement about the whole Meteorite market. Here is what he authorized me to publish:

“To be most specific, my ‘black market/drug trade’ comment was a small part of a response to Mr. Broad’s expressed incredulity at the volume of meteorites that have been removed from Northern Africa and the scale of operations implied by Gebel Kamil online sales. Unfortunately the author used a quote from me for dramatic effect; leaving out 40 minutes of context and leaving the erroneous impression that I think all meteorite collectors are criminal. Nothing could be farther from the truth – I have made a career out of meteorite hunting, working within some of the strictest legal constraints (look up NSF regulation 45 CFR Part 674, RIN 3145-AA40 in the US’s Federal Register, Vol 68, No. 61, p.15378 for a little light reading). I have no problems with legal meteorite collecting and I am constantly impressed by the great number of private (non-governmental) meteorite hunters who have chosen to impose severe constraints on themselves where legal frameworks are not clear”.

NEW YORK TIMES
The discovery of a rich and historically significant meteorite crater in southern Egypt, just north of the Sudanese border, has shown the voracious appetite for new fragments. Just as scientists appeared to be on the cusp of decrypting the evidence to solve an ancient puzzle, looters plundered the desolate site, and the political chaos in Egypt seems to ensure that the scientists will not be going back anytime soon.

The mystery began thousands of years ago with Egyptian hieroglyphs, which refer to the “iron of heaven.” Archaeologists have long debated whether the Egyptians made artifacts from iron meteorites that fell to Earth in fiery upheavals. The main evidence came from ancient knife blades of iron that had high concentrations of nickel — a rare element in the Earth’s crust that was considered a signature of extraterrestrial origin.
But doubts grew as investigators found terrestrial sites rich in nickel that ancient peoples could have mined. And scientists in Egypt never found an impact crater and a nearby lode of meteorites.

Then in June 2008, Vincenzo de Michele, an Italian mineralogist and former curator at the Natural History Museum of Milan who had explored the Egyptian desert for nearly two decades, was scanning the area on Google Earth when he saw something unusual.

He told Mario Di Martino of the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics in Turin, and together they formed an expedition that surveyed the site in February 2009. To their delight, the desolate area bristled with iron meteorites — more than 5,000 of them — and they named the crater Gebel Kamil, after a nearby mountain.

The team members signed a note of discovery and put it in a bottle at the crater’s bottom. The find was a first. It was the only meteorite crater ever discovered in Egypt — its mouth 15o feet wide — and the team vowed to keep it confidential as long as possible.
But a return expedition in February 2010, found that the bottle had disappeared. The secret was out.

A few months later, in June, meteorites from the crater were for sale at a show in Ensisheim, France. In a review, the International Meteorite Collectors Association called them arguably the world’s “most fascinating new iron find.” The Egyptian rocks, it added, “received a lot of attention.”

RESPONSE
In that review of the Ensisheim Show of 2010, it is also stated that “a lot of decent size shrapnels” were available. According to the Meteoritical Bulletin Database, about 1,600 kilograms of shrapnel fragments have been recovered. I mentioned that fact to Dr. Harvey who expressed surprise at that number: obviously he had not been told that the pieces were that plentiful.

From the Meteoritical Bulletin Database:

NEW YORK TIMES
Popular or not, the meteorites were taboo. In Egypt and elsewhere, scientists say, it is illegal without a permit to remove meteorites from a country.

RESPONSE
Not so! Egyptian law bans the exportation of all artifacts, regardless of whether they are made of ceramics, iron, or Libyan Desert Glass. So an artifact made of meteoritic material (an iron knife for instance) cannot be exported but any mineral in its natural shape can. In fact all the sellers of souvenirs around the pyramids or in Luxor are well aware of that. When you approach them, they are eager to tell you that all their pieces are authentic, found by themselves in a long forgotten tomb far in the desert. But when you remind them of the law, they quickly change their tune and tell you that those pieces are authentic copies of authentic pieces found by themselves in a long forgotten tomb far in the desert. It is actually rather amusing to get them twisted like pretzels around their words. I discussed this with Dr. Harvey who expressed surprise, as he had been assured that the exportation of meteorites had been entirely banned by Egypt.

In fact there are few known, published, specific laws about the searching for and exportation of meteorites. An article on this subject was published in “Meteoritics & Planetary Science” in 2001. It is a good starting point. It does state for instance that India decided that all meteorites found there were the property of India in 1885, and that Canada and Australia require export permits (Canada since 1977, Australia since 1986); but the article is ten years old and therefore outdated. One obvious example not mentioned in that article: Argentina banned all exportation of meteorites as of January 1, 2008.

Incidentally, in the United States, when a meteorite falls or is found on private property, it automatically becomes part of that property; it is the principle of accretion. And the owner of that property is free to do whatever he pleases with it.

Obviously, there may be other laws, rules and regulations regarding meteorites around the world, but finding a precise, accurate and absolutely up-to-date text is a daunting exercise. Anyone is free to attempt it but, warning, there are mostly rumors, hearsay, and unverifiable reports.

NEW YORK TIMES
Yet scavengers have disseminated them widely: on Star-bits.com, one of many sites that sell a variety of meteorites, the 10 fragments with rich patinas are said to be from Gebel Kamil. The costliest of the 10 — a two-pound rock, just large enough to cover the fingers of a man’s hand — is priced at $1,600.

Eric Olson of Star-bits defended the marketing as legitimate and beyond Egyptian law. “I didn’t buy them from the Egyptians,” he said in an interview. “I bought them second- and third hand.”

The scientists say they have relatively few samples compared with the booming illicit sales.

“We have at our disposal a very limited number of specimens to study and exhibit,” said Dr. Di Martino. He and other members of the Gebel Kamil crater discovery team, he added, don’t have the money to buy them on the flourishing black market.

Dr. Harvey of Case Western Reserve said the quandary applied to the scientific community as a whole. The rampant looting of meteorite sites and skyrocketing prices for the fragments, he said, “dramatically reduce who can get samples to do the research.”

RESPONSE
Let’s consider a few facts here:

First, the rule created by the Meteoritical Society: 20% or 20 grams, whichever is less, of a newly-found meteorite is to be sent to a special lab for analysis, classification, and publication in the Meteoritical Bulletin if you want to know what it is you have found. And according to the latest figures, 40,264 have already been published and 12,342 are still being studied. That’s a whole lot of meteorites!

Also, I was recently told by one meteoriticist that she had “well over a year’s worth of work” on her desk at this time. Yes, meteoriticists have been flooded with material and it is not rare to have to wait a year (or more on rare occasions) for a response. Some institutions even had to stop accepting new material. So I would not say that the number of samples for research has been reduced; in fact, what I see, and what I am told by scientists, would indicate a glut of specimens.

NEW YORK TIMES
The black market has exploded in size mainly because of a rush of new meteorites arriving from North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. Starting in the late 1980s and 1990s, explorers and nomads discovered that dark-colored meteorites stood out against flat, featureless areas covered by sand and small pebbles. And dry desert air helped preserve the rocks from space.

The pace of collecting began to soar after explorers scrutinizing the sands of Libya discovered a number of meteorites from the Moon and Mars. These rare types formed during cosmic smashups, eventually fell to Earth and fetched high prices.

The collectors association, founded in 2004 in Nevada, now has hundreds of members around the globe. And while some traders deal in legitimate exports, many do not.

RESPONSE
Since I could be prejudiced when it comes to the IMCA, I will let Geoff Notkin, co-host of Meteorite Men on the Science Channel, author of Meteorite Hunting: How to find Treasure from Space and hundreds of articles, answer this comment:

“The worldwide community of meteorite dealers and collectors chose voluntarily to form the IMCA (International Meteorite Collectors Association), in order to establish high standards of conduct and ethics; it was not forced upon us. A sweeping statement accusing the IMCA of illegal activities is not only brazenly inaccurate, it is also a malicious insult to the organization’s many members who have made remarkable discoveries, and made extraordinarily generous donations to the science of meteoritics. The vast majority of hardworking academics in the field recognize the invaluable, and ongoing, contributions made by those who have a commercial interest in meteorites. Any researcher with a realistic understanding of the meteorite world embraces the opportunity to work with hunters and dealers who regularly bring new and important finds to academia, rather than likening their efforts to the drug trade.”

And again a few facts: Officially our association is only a little over 6 years old, and we have presently 365 members all over the globe. And all those members have volunteered to live by our Code of Ethics as condition of membership. Among other things that Code requires of members that they: “…agree to abide by all Federal, State and Local Laws and regulations related to the purchase, sale, trade or other related transactions concerned with the securing or disposing of all Meteoritical material.” Whether any of those laws is beneficial or harmful to meteorites is an entirely different discussion. Those laws do exist and must be respected.

NEW YORK TIMES
One buyer expressed remorse after reading about scientific angst over the thriving market. “I’m very ashamed,” the buyer wrote on a blog. “I’m surely a part of the problem.”

Still, many collectors defend the hobby as advantageous for scientists, saying the market is producing many discoveries and creating many opportunities. Amateurs often turn to experts for analysis and authentication and, in return, share the extraterrestrial haul.

“The scientists do not have time to go hunt for their own meteorites, so somebody has to do it for them,” said Anne M. Black, president of the collectors association. “It’s common sense.”

Even some scientists applaud the new market.

“I see it as a good thing on balance,” said Carl B. Agee, director of the Institute of Meteoritics at the University of New Mexico. “It’s beneficial mainly because of the huge diversity of meteorites not previously known about and not accessible.”

RESPONSE
Thank you, Dr. Agee, and I am delighted we finally met this year during the Tucson show. I am sorry you missed Dr. Carleton Moore and Dr. Laurence Garvie from ASU, and Dr. Arthur Ehlmann from Texas Christian University, who are frequent visitors to the Show; as one of them told me: “The Tucson Show! It is Christmas all over again!” And thank you for posting this on two meteorite-forums:

“Since I am quoted in this article, here’s my reaction to it. The reporter seems very confused, in that he lumps together a story about the Gebel Kamil crater in Egypt and the legal meteorite trade (NWA) based primarily in Morocco. During the interview with him I spent a fair amount of time trying to explain to him how beneficial the NWA’s have been for planetary science research. For example, I mentioned how the number of rare Angrite meteorites has more than doubled due to African finds – a huge enhancement to our understanding of the early solar system, and of course I mentioned all the lunars and Martians, and other rare classes. I told him that I was not terribly well informed about the Gebel Kamil crater situation, but in my opinion the highest priority would be to protect the impact structure from degradation as these are quite rare on Earth. I also told him, that the Gebel Kamil meteorites on the other hand, are probably not hard to come by, and I’m sure if I wanted to study one for research, I could get a sample at a reasonable price or even get one as a donation from a collector, which museums benefit from frequently. I did get the feeling that he was hoping to hear something negative from me. As such he ended the interview rather quickly, but said something like ‘oh, the NWA meteorites sounds like an interesting story, I need to come back to that at a later time’. So of course I was disappointed to see what mess the final NYT version was.”

Yes, collectors and amateurs do routinely help the scientific world. Just a few examples:

One long-time collector I know has already made plans and signed an agreement so his entire collection will go to Harvard when he is no longer of this world. Another one has already donated some rare, valuable pieces to the Field Museum in Chicago. Personally I have loaned rare material I was lucky enough to obtain to Dr. Alan Rubin at UCLA, Dr. Ted Bunch at NAU, and Dolores Hill and Dr. Ken Domanik at the University of Arizona in Tucson.

Finally, I called Dr. Laurence Garvie, Curator of the meteorite collection of Arizona State University and Editor of the Meteoritical Bulletin. He was clearly appalled by what he had just read in the New York Times. He promised to write to the Editor, and allowed me to quote him: “Of course! We absolutely need the private sector. Some of the most interesting meteorites, Acfer 094, NWA 5000, SAU 493, etc. were brought in by private hunters. Those are meteorites scientists are drooling on! And look at those angrites, we had 2, not counting Antarctica, now we have 15!” He also noted that getting loans is never a problem, “I could get a Gebel Kamil if I was interested, I would only have to ask.”

NEW YORK TIMES
At stake for science in the rush for meteorites are secrets of the cosmic bombardment, the development of the solar system and possible clues to the existence of extraterrestrial life. Last month, scientists hotly debated whether a new meteorite study produced convincing evidence of microscopic aliens.

As for the Gebel Kamil crater, Dr. Di Martino said it was futile to try to save its otherworldly riches from the looters.

“Considering the social, political and geographic situation there,” he said of the remote corner of southwestern Egypt, “it will be completely useless to protect the area” — unless the authorities put in “a permanent garrison of marines and/or a minefield.”

He and the team of scientific explorers are still eager to revisit the site, mainly to better date the crater. But they worry that the political chaos in Egypt may further endanger their find.

The turmoil has already resulted in the delay and possible cancellation of a new expedition to the Kamil crater and raised doubts about the security of a collection of the meteorites in Cairo.

With the secret out, the scientific team announced its discovery in July 2010 and detailed its findings in the February issue of Geology.

There, the team hailed the discovery as a potential link to the “iron of heaven” and estimated the impact site as less than 5,000 years old.

Luigi Folco, the expedition leader and meteorite curator at the University of Siena, said in an interview that if the age estimate is correct, “ancient Egyptians living along the Nile could have seen this major event.” The craggy rock from space is said to have exploded with the blinding flash of an enormous bomb.

Dr. Di Martino said the allure for amateurs was not the advance of history but the pleasure of owning the latest find.

Since it’s a new meteorite, he said, “the collectors like to have a piece of it.”

RESPONSE
Yes, Collectors take, but they also give, and give a lot.

So, in conclusion, no, the Meteorite Market is not a black or illegal market, it is wide-open, highly publicized and thoroughly legal. Of course, as in any segment of the economy there are a few rotten apples in the mix, but it is also self-policed by an association that, I hope, will keep on growing. And it is a market that is not simply accepted by the scientific community, but is very much welcomed.

Anne M. Black
President, IMCA Inc.

My esteemed editor at the The Voice of Tucson, Mark B. Evans, emailed me recently to ask if I would be taking a booth at this year’s Tucson Festival of Books. Since I myself published a new book just last month, I really should have organized precisely that, but the idea of renting a booth had simply not occurred to me. My excuses would probably be that I was focusing on shipping out copies of the new science book, recovering from the 2011 Tucson gem show, and pondering what we could and should do during the upcoming third season of my TV series Meteorite Men. Okay, they’re excuses, but fairly good ones at least.

To my delight, Mark asked if I might be interested in appearing at the TC.com Voice of Tucson booth during the weekend and, of course, I said yes. Enthusiastically. So, my staff and I packed a big meteorite, and many small ones, a few boxes of books, and some photos and collectibles into the Aerolite Meteorites truck and headed down to the U of A campus in preparation for two 1 to 5 pm stints on Saturday and Sunday. Somebody told me that 80,000 people were expected—that’s roughly the same number of spectators in attendance when I saw Joe Cocker, Echo & The Bunnymen, and Ian Dury & The Blockheads at the massive Glastonbury Festival in the UK! Are there really that many people here interested in books in this modern world of social media? Good news if it’s true.

I was expecting some traffic around the campus, but was not prepared for complete mayhem: Closed streets, police barricades, and more bumper-to-bumper car jamming than I have ever seen in Tucson, and that includes the gem show. We eventually waded through the morass of vehicles, dolly-dragged our books and space rocks past the crowds of pedestrians, and met up with Team Voice of Tucson.

One of the issues with appearing at big public events is that I often miss things I’d like to participate in, because I am manning the booth. That’s not a complaint, just a fact. I had hoped to catch a couple of science fiction writer panels, but once I started talking to viewers of my TV series, meteorite and science enthusiasts, and fellow writers, I found myself happily engaged for the rest of the day. The was, however, one event I was not going to miss: The featured lecture by astronomer Mike Brown, author of How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming—a lively and entertaining speaker. We had a brief chat after his presentation and Mike seemed truly delighted that he’d made his large audience laugh. No surprise there—he talked about his work with a gently self-deprecating humor that was both engaging and illuminating.

Another high point was a surprise visit to the TC.com booth by author and illustrator Eric Rohmann. He was extremely complimentary about my TV show, and went on to relate an extraordinary tale about how he’d found a genuine meteorite in Illinois, at the advanced age of nine, and later had it positively identified by the Field Museum in Chicago. He certainly had me beat! I was in my thirties before I found my first meteorite. As we were chatting I pulled out a copy of my book and began inscribing it to him. “Oh, we’re going to do the book exchange thing now, aren’t we?” he asked, in a jovial manner. “We don’t have to do that,” I replied. “I’m just giving you a copy after hearing that amazing story.”

Eric then asked if I happened to like squirrels, so I freely admitted that Beatrix Potter’s The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin has always been a favorite of mine. I added: “And with a name like Notkin, you can imagine what the kids called me at British school.” So, he inscribed a copy of his gorgeous children’s book, Last Song, “For Geoff Nutkin.” I’ll treasure it.

The low point of the event was our first-ever meteorite theft. Well, to be entirely fair, I should really say attempted theft. On the Saturday afternoon, a family with five unruly kids descended upon the booth. These were the type of kids who are compelled to rub and grind their hands over every piece of merchandise within reach, crease book covers, and knock things on the ground. I noticed that one little boy palmed a small iron meteorite—worth about $50—from my table and then walked off in an overly-elaborate nonchalant manner. I called out to his parents: “Hey, your young man is walking off with a meteorite he hasn’t paid for!”

“Is this true?!” the father boomed (to his credit he believed me, instead of instantly lashing out at me for accusing his son. Perhaps it was regular behavior for his kid). Sure enough, once the kid’s sweaty palm had unfurled, the stolen space rock appeared. The dad dragged him back to the booth and forced him to apologize. He looked pretty shellshocked and I bet he was in for a decent spanking later on. Richly deserved in my opinion.

Another surprising and not entirely useful event was the inexplicable performance, on the main Arizona Daily Star stage, by a teenage rock band, at 4 pm on Sunday. I’ve been a professional musician for more than two decades, so don’t think I’m being a fuddy-duddy. I’m a punk rocker too and nobody likes the guitar feedback more than I do, but really, at a book fair? Organizers please note: There is a time and place for everything. Our booth was adjacent to the big stage and as a result of the band attempting to rock out we were unable to conduct any business (or even talk) for the last hour of the festival. Suggestion: Next year, if you want to feature some rock ‘n’ roll—and there’s nothing at all wrong with that—please ask the nice people at Plush if they’ll host a post-festival gig for you, instead of blasting the passers by, who were doubtless expecting a somewhat more literary experience. Odd thing, but bookworms and rockers don’t usually fit together that well.

Towards the end of the afternoon an older lady came up to the booth, looked at our display table for a moment, then asked if the meteorites were free (as least this one asked, instead of just palming one). “No,” my charming sales manager replied. “Meteorites are rare and valuable. Can I show you anything, perhaps a copy of Geoff’s new book?” To which the punter answered: “No, I’m just here for the free schwag.” Thank you for participating! One of my staff members also commented: “Most of the people here don’t seem that interested in books.” Whether or not that was true, they were out on a sunny day, at least looking at printed words, and that beats Xbox in my book. Oops, accidental pun.

I really had a blast at the festival, so don’t think I’m knocking it with my little anecdotes. I enjoyed the whole thing immensely, and I plan on returning next year when we will hopefully have less theft, no rock ‘n’ roll, and I may even be able to finally catch up with author Charles de Lint.

The author wishes to thank fellow Voice of Tucson blogger Andy Morales for permission to use his photograph.