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pics from the June 2007 BOOK SIGNING

WHO:
Kevin Kim, author

WHAT:
Book-signing event for Water from a Skull

WHEN:
Saturday, June 16, 2007, from noon to 2PM

WHERE:
The Korea Times Building, 3rd Floor (Munhwa Center).
7601 Little River Turnpike
Annandale, VA 22003

WHY:
The book signing celebrates the publication of Water from a Skull. Copies of the book will be on sale at a reduced price of $20 (the normal price is $21.95 plus shipping when ordered online). I will be giving a short talk about the book, doing a brief reading from one or two passages, and taking questions. The rest of the time will be devoted to signing copies of the book and allowing folks to get to know each other.


What follows is a series of pics in roughly chronological order, taking us from the book signing's humble beginnings to the speech made by the outgoing president of Mom's Korean-American wives' club to pics of my brother David playing cashier, me doing a reading, and various friends and family members milling about.

Pics 1-3 = The desk where David and I sat. Attendees signed a guest register, paid David the cashier, and got their new book signed by yours truly. The first pic also once again features my ass, visible in the doorway.







Pic 4 = Dr. Steve, my buddy since 8th grade, brightens up what could have been a dull photo.



Pic 5 = Food prep in the room off to the side.



Pics 6 and 7 = David and his big big brother at work, doing their thing. Christina Chong is in the corner, snapping her own pics. My brother Sean snapped many of the pics you see here.





Pic 8 = A glimpse of the gathering crowd. We ended up with close to 50 people.



Pic 9 = Another shot of the table where the action was. I signed books from noon to 12:30, then stopped to do my presentation: a spiel about me and my book, a reading of two passages (this was a snoozer for most of the audience), and a Q&A session which was somewhat livelier than the reading.



Pic 10 = A rare glimpse of the back of my head.



Pic 11 = Altered photo. Kevin gives himself a jawline as a joke.



Pic 12 = The outgoing president of the women's society gives a short speech before my 12:30 spiel.



Pic 13 = My reading, as seen from the back of the audience.



Pic 14 = Luminaries.



Pic 15 = In the back are Dr. Steve and my two brothers, Sean (left, black shirt) and David (right), along with a friend from church (foreground, left) and one of Mom's many Korean acquaintances (foreground, right).



Pic 16 = A surprise visit from my Georgetown friends! All praise to Mike D (tallest of the bunch), who reads my blog and who alerted the others to this event. I was floored when everyone from my past showed up. That really made my day. I've pixelled out my buddy Joe's son (he's got two sons, and a sister is on the way) based on other parents' feeling that one shouldn't display pics of the kids online.



Aside: along with my GU buddies, we had some stars from the blogosphere show up as well: Jason was there, as was Corsair, and somehow Charlie the KimcheeGI managed to show up despite his demanding job as a drill instructor, kicking ass and taking names. The amazing Pastor Bled also made it over, which was fantastic.

Pic 17 = Two big-shots, whom I won't name here lest they Google themselves.



Pic 18 = Many of the ladies in the Korean women's society, including Mom.



I was going to make the above into a Photobucket slide show, but you need Flash 9 to view it, which seemed like too much of a pain for everybody. I hope you enjoyed the above quick overview of Saturday's event. It was quite something. My thanks go out to the local Korean community for all their effort, and especially to Mom and Dad for having worked so hard to put this together. I literally did nothing but come, talk, and sign. (Yes, that's the correct use of "literally," Steve. But be warned: some "misuse" is warranted.)


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FAQ

Welcome to the Water from a Skull FAQ blog!

The purpose of this blog is simple: to answer questions people may have about my new book on religious issues, Water from a Skull.

I hope to provide the prospective buyer with the kind of information one might find from reading an Amazon.com entry about a book-- everything from bibliographical information to price to customer reviews.

Comments to this blog will be allowed, but will be monitored. Civility is expected and will be returned. Write in with questions of your own, and they will probably be added to the FAQ list, which will grow and change over time.

As of this writing, the book is now available through CafePress.com. Please visit this blog now and again to see what new questions are being asked and answered.

Shall we begin?

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Water from a Skull FAQ

1. What is Water from a Skull?

Water from a Skull (hereinafter "WS") is a collection of my academic, personal, and online writing, primarily on the topics of religion and philosophy, spanning the years 1999 to 2006. Most of the essays in the book are very short (perhaps only 2-4 pages), which means the book has a ridiculously large number of chapters.

2. How long is the book?

Depending on how you count the pages, the book is about 306 pages long. The book is uploaded onto CafePress as a PDF file; the PDF itself is 305 pages. Obviously, physical paper pages have two sides, which is why the book is 306 "real" pages.

3. How are you publishing your book?

I am publishing my book through CafePress.com's online, publish-on-demand service; I maintain a store there. The book link is here.

4. How much does the book cost?

The price is fixed at $21.95 (US), plus shipping. Shipping cost will depend on several factors. If I'm not mistaken, Super-saver shipping costs $4.00 if you're in America.

5. What if you're not in America? What if you're in Europe or Asia?

I expect that both shipping cost and shipping time will be affected by geography. CafePress displays a cost calculation whenever you buy a book. I live in Seoul, South Korea; while I have not tried to order a CafePress book for delivery to Seoul, I assume it's possible.

Note to readers: in the unlikely event that delivering a book to Korea turns out not to be possible, please email me and I can make arrangements to have the book shipped to Korea.

UPDATE: Delivery to Korea is possible, and according to CafePress, standard shipping for one copy will set you back $7. I ordered three copies of the book from CafePress, and received them in about two weeks from the date I placed the orders. This seems to derive from one week of processing time, plus one week for shipment.

6. Are there discounts for buying the book in bulk?

I'm hoping that some enterprising church leader (for youth groups or young adults or even adults) will get the idea that this book is worth discussing, and will order in bulk. CafePress does offer discounts for bulk orders; visit this page of their website to learn more.

Discounts for books will vary according to a book's size, but the discount rate seems to be roughly 35% once you are over the 15 mark. Order 15 books or more, and you will receive significant discounts.

7. Are you hoping to make a fortune off this book?

Ha! I'll be pleasantly surprised if I manage to sell a couple hundred copies of the book in a year's time. I have no illusions that a book about religion will be my path to filthy lucre, especially given the huge mound of scholastic debt under which I labor. Leave that God/Mammon hypocrisy to the likes of Deepak Chopra!

If, by some miracle, I can persuade people to buy several million copies, I have plans for that money-- personal debt erasure, helping out family members and friends, and so on. But let's be realistic: I don't envision myself being asked on speaking engagements for having written this book.

8. What made you write this book?

I've always been interested in religious questions, and in recent years one of the most fascinating questions for me has been that of religious diversity and the reconciliation of various religious truth claims and convictions. I'm still not sure whether I feel most comfortable pursuing these questions in a more philosophical vein or in a more praxis-oriented one. My suspicion, at this point, is that the philosophical angle is something of a dead end: while I'm a religious pluralist insofar as I believe that no single tradition completely captures the truth, I have yet to encounter a satisfactory philosophical model of religious pluralism, and have grown suspicious of all attempts at model-making. Models, analogies, and metaphors mislead as much as they lead.

But perhaps your question goes deeper. Maybe you're asking about my Muse. Well, I've always liked writing. I'm no Hemingway, but I can't keep away from the keyboard. It sounds trite to say it, but writing is a means of self-expression for me. It's often calming, and sometimes it's good to get the thoughts out there, "on paper," so to speak, in order better to see whether I'm on the right track about whatever is currently consuming my attention. Very often, the process is more important than the product. In the case of Water from a Skull, however, it's all about getting something together for the consumer, so the pressure's on.

9. What does the book look like?

If you're intent on judging a book by its cover... well, it's going to look something like this:

FRONT COVER




BACK COVER




THE ENSEMBLE



Book dimensions are 7.5" (wide) by 9.25" (tall), making the book squarish in appearance. The ISBN you see above is the actual ISBN for the book. The cover design is entirely by yours truly, including the brush art. The back cover photo's a bit old. I'm fatter now. However, that's one of the few photos of me out in nature (Taos, New Mexico, at about 10,000 feet elevation, to be exact), which is a more appropriate setting for a religion-related book than, say, a photo of me in front of a bookshelf (cf. that scary photo of David Tracy on the cover of his Plurality and Ambiguity).

10. When is this book coming out?

As of St. Patrick's Day 2007, the book is on sale!

11. What if the book contains egregious typos or other problems?

CafePress has a return policy, which is one reason why I won't see your money for 45 days after you pay: you are allowed (if I'm not mistaken) 30 days to demonstrate your satisfaction with any CafePress product. If, during that period, you are dissatisfied for any reason, you may return the product and CafePress will return your money. I won't see a penny. If, however, you go beyond the 30-day period without complaint, you will not be able to obtain a refund from CafePress. This makes the issue of satisfaction entirely between you and CafePress. I've never heard of a lunatic who demanded a refund because he or she merely disagreed with a book's content.

At the same time, I'm going to do the best I can to eliminate inconsistencies, catch typos, and so on. While I can't guarantee perfection, I'm aiming for it. I have no interest in selling an inferior product.

12. What are the book's chapter titles?

The book has five sections, and they are:

Section 1: Interface
Section 2: Christianity
Section 3: Buddhism
Section 4: Mind
Section 5: Insights

The first section, which deals with religious pluralism, is probably the longest in the book at 70-some pages. Pluralism has long been my pet topic, but philosophy of mind is rapidly becoming just as fascinating to me.

The chapters are, for the most part, quite short, which means the book contains many chapters-- too many to list here without boring you.


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