Mary G. Thompson’s Shelfie
This is one of my shelves of signed books. They’re right next to the computer where I do my writing because it’s always fun to look at the books and remember the events where I bought them or the friends who wrote them.
Several of these books are by friends I did my MFA with at The New School (Caela Carter, Jess Verdi, Amy Ewing), which also makes me sad because we graduated in 2012 and I don’t see those ladies nearly enough since I moved to Washington, DC. But then there are friends I’ve met since moving here (Madelyn Rosenberg, Lenore Appelhans, Pintip Dunn), and I think about how great it is that I get to see all my DC writing friends.
Looking at The Boneshaker by Kate Milford reminds me that when I met her and got my book signed, I was just embarking on my author journey. A mutual friend had introduced us because we were both Clarion Books authors — The Boneshaker was just published, and my first book, Wuftoom, was in the pipeline. I’m sure neither of us knew how winding the road through publication and career longevity would be, but that first meeting with Kate was a milestone in growing from a baby author to the toddler I am today! Also, I just noticed that she dated her signature 1/8/2010, but it must have been 2011, since in January 2010, I was still living the opposite of the dream in San Diego, working as an attorney and despairing of ever selling the book!
It just goes to show you that things eventually do change for the better, and in the publishing industry, you literally never know what’s about to happen. And in case anyone was worried, I realize that my illustrated copy of Frankenstein, published in 2008, is not actually signed. It was just too big to fit on any other shelf, so it got stashed there!
Sticking out next to it is the La Luna card John Picacio gave me after I went to his Loteria event at a World Fantasy Convention and was almost the only person in the room who didn’t win anything, except the pity of the artist! It’s also not signed, but it’s a great memory. Looking at this shelf and my other signed books always reminds me of my awesome community of authors and how much fun it is to be part of it. And now I need to go out and buy more books!
Mary G. Thompson is the author of the forthcoming sci-fi/horror novel Precious Children (2026), One Level Down (2025), Flicker and Mist, The Word, Wuftoom, and other novels. Her contemporary thriller Amy Chelsea Stacie Dee was a winner of the 2017 Westchester Fiction Award and a finalist for the 2018-2019 Missouri Gateway award. Her short fiction has appeared in Dark Matter, Apex, and others. She holds an MFA in Writing for Children from The New School and completed the UCLA School of Theater, Film & Television's Professional Program in Screenwriting. She lives in Washington, DC.
Shelfies is edited by Lavie Tidhar and Jared Shurin.
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