An Unusual Author Tour Stop
by John Mutter -- Publishers Weekly, 8/12/2002
Gary Pomerantz, author of Nine Minutes, Twenty Seconds, just issued in paperback by Three Rivers Press, made an unusual stop on July 12 on a tour for the book: Burwell, Ga., where the commuter plane that is the subject of his bestseller crashed in 1995.
The occasion was officially billed as "a celebration of the human spirit and the Carroll County spirit, honoring the community that came to the rescue of a fallen plane." Held next to the Shiloh United Methodist Church, the "reunion" featured residents who helped crash victims, people who provided medical care, survivors and Pomerantz, whose book chronicles the fate of the plane and its passengers. More than 100 people attended, many of them meeting for the first time since the crash; others, such as relatives of victims, had not met anyone involved in the crash.
Local bookseller Dorothy Pittman, owner of Horton's Books in Carrollton, Ga., described the event as "just wonderful." Co-pilot Matt Warmerdam, who just returned to flying this year, was particularly moving, Pittman told PW. The setting, an outdoor pavilion with open sky, was particularly appropriate, she added.
Horton's, which supplied books to the service, has sold quite a few copies of Nine Minutes, Twenty Seconds, including 50 on the day of the event. Articles in the local newspaper and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution publicized the event.
