“Yeah, we’re kind of a miserable bunch,” Todd said. “I guess it goes with the territory.”

“But here you are,” said Hogan. “The happy author. It’s a first for us, it really is.”

“I think that secretly all writers want to be on TV,” Todd said. “If Charles Dickens were alive today, he’d be on every show going. You’d be asking him, so how did you come up with the idea for Scrooge?”

“Can we get Charles Dickens?” said Hogan, turning to an imaginary aide. “I hear he’s the best.”

There was more laughter. Hogan turned serious.

“A lot of people love your book,” he said. “And I have to say—and I do mean have, because my wife made me promise to—I have to say that one of the things which surprised me about this book, and there’s a lot of surprises in it, is that—well, I guess I should just say it—”

“Say it!” said Todd, almost laughing now.

“The surprise for many readers is that this is a book by a guy,” said Hogan. He turned to the audience. “If you haven’t read this book, and you should, it’s—I don’t know how to put this—it’s a woman’s book.”

“Do you think so?” said Todd.

“I know it’s an odd thing to say,” said Hogan, as the cameras turned to catch women in the audience nodding in agreement. “And it’s not to put down women, or say that this is, you know, a silly book, quite the opposite. But if your name wasn’t on the cover, I’d say, and many people would say, that this was a book by a woman.”

“I’m flattered by that,” Todd decided to say. “Because it’s a book about a woman, and it’s a book set in the world of a woman’s thoughts, and to hear that you, and others, particularly women, not that you’re a woman, Tom—”

“Not that I’m a woman,” said Tom, to laughter. “I’m glad we’ve established that.”

“—to hear people say that is a sign, to me, that the book has succeeded.” Todd sat back, feeling like a man who has just successfully dug himself out of a hole.

“Jane, you’re a woman,” said Tom, to more laughter. Jane didn’t join in, Todd noticed. Todd had a feeling that Jane wasn’t much fun.

“Yes, Tom, I am,” she said in what Todd thought sounded like a patronizing tone.

“Did you read All My Colors?” asked Tom.

“I did,” Jane said. “I had a spare couple of hours this afternoon.”

There was an oooh from some of the audience.

“Sounds like you didn’t like it!” said Todd. Dammit, now he was nervous again.