At a bookstore appearance, he saw a thug from the old neighborhood who had stolen his last dollars when he was a homeless teenager.

At Bush's first bookstore appearance in Annapolis, Maryland, a line formed at 9 a.m. for a 2 p.m. book signing.

But Haddon, who lives in England, won't be making bookstore appearances in the United States.

Her sudden literary celebrity has brought her attention around Mobile, where she has made bookstore appearances and lectured.

At a bookstore appearance just before lunch "we were mobbed," Ms. Paterson says.

All right, once the publisher discovers you really are a good guy and, what's better, also a good sport he's going to wheedle you into bookstore appearances.

Wells, a former actress, is said to be a sprightly reader of her work at bookstore appearances, but this time around she has nixed a potential book tour.

He added that he stopped all promotional efforts and refused bookstore appearances after Sept. 11.

When Knopf sent Anne Rice on the road for her "Vampire Armand" last year, she combined bookstore appearances with a blood drive.

Its bookstore appearance comes from the arrangement of some books with their colorful covers showing, rather than spine-out in traditional library fashion (although there are plenty of spine-out sections, too).