This week we have a real change of pace episode. On April 30, my recording technician Turk and I attended the second annual “Meet the Authors of Indiana County, Pennsylvania, and Beyond” book expo at Windgate Vineyards and Winery in Smicksburg, Pa. This unique event was hosted by the award-winning winery’s owners Cay and Dan Enerson. Twenty local authors–none of whom I had ever met before–including Paul La Violette, Barbara Michel, Timothy Spence, Nancy Skultety, Denise Weber, Jay Hawkins, William Betts, Jr., Elizabeth Baran and Ray Goss–greeted and mixed with the public and sold and signed their books and of course sampled the wine. Attending book shows is a must for authors during these difficult times when publishers’ marketing budgets–always tight–have been slashed even further. My friend Al Galasso of the North American Bookdealers Exchange has stressed over and over again to me the importance of attending book expos. For twenty-seven years NABE has been showcasing books at tradeshows on the west coast and elsewhere giving countless authors product exposure to the book market, library field, mail order arena, media outlets and internet book buyers. He has urged me again and again to hit the road. So that’s what Turk and I did. We spent the morning driving through the rolling hills of Pennsylvania, and passed through Punxsutawney, the home of that weather prognosticator, the famous groundhog Punxy Phil. Attending a book show is like visiting an aquarium. You meet a lot of colorful and interesting characters. The mini-interviews which follow were recorded live in the art gallery at Windgate Winery. The show concludes with a follow-up phone interview with William W. Betts, Jr., and a reading from his biography of the Seneca war-chief Cornplanter, “The Hatchet and the Plow.” If you would like to know more about Mark Seinfelt’s work be sure to visit his website: www.markseinfelt.com. Also visit the Windgate Winery site, www.windgatevineyards.com and the Amazon page for “The Hatchet and the Plow,” http://www.amazon.com/Hatchet-Plow-Times-Chief-Cornplanter/dp/1450267130