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Live chat with Ann Druyan about The Demon-Haunted World - CANCELED

Posted: Fri Feb 20, 2015 2:06 pm
by Chris OConnor
Ann Druyan has agreed to a live chat with BookTalk.org members about The Demon-Haunted World. What this means is we would all meet in the BookTalk.org chat room at a predetermined date and time for a casual discussion on the book.

In September of 2004 we did a live chat session with Ann on Carl Sagan's "Pale Blue Dot." It was quite fun and I encourage you all to read the chat transcript.

The live chat for The Demon-Haunted World would be quite similar. We can ask Ann questions and she will respond. This is not a formal interview where one person asks questions and the audience sits back and watched. YOU can talk to Ann directly, but we have to work together to space out the questions so she isn't overwhelmed. Ideally you can go to the chat with a question or two already written down so you can copy and paste your question into the window when there appears to be a good opportunity. But you can also just wing it and interact more casually.

Back when we used to author chats we would aim to schedule them on Thursday nights at 9:00 pm Eastern. When we held our chat with Richard Dawkins over in the UK we did the chat on a Saturday or Sunday. I forget the exact time.

I'm asking all of you to be as flexible as possible because it is impossible to make everyone happy. Please post here in this thread and let me know when you are available. Since Penelope is our Book Discussion Leader and lives in the UK we might want to aim for a Saturday or Sunday. Doing a 9:00 pm Eastern chat would mean she has to be online at 1:00 am. I'm guessing that might not be very appealing.

How do you guys feel about these dates and times:

Saturday, March 14th or 21st at 11:00 am Eastern (3:00 pm UK)
Thursday, March 19th or 26th at 9:00 pm Eastern (1:00 am UK)


I've sent an email to Ann and will let you know when she is available.

Re: Live chat with Ann Druyan about The Demon-Haunted World

Posted: Fri Feb 20, 2015 9:09 pm
by Cattleman
While I am not reading the book, I would love to participate in the discussion. My personal preference is either of the Thursday nights, but that may not be feasible for either our discussion leader or our guest. That should be the first concern.

Re: Live chat with Ann Druyan about The Demon-Haunted World

Posted: Thu Mar 19, 2015 7:05 pm
by Taylor
Question; Is the live chat still on the table. :hmm:

Re: Live chat with Ann Druyan about The Demon-Haunted World

Posted: Sun Apr 05, 2015 3:53 pm
by Chris OConnor
Ann informed me that she has too many projects working right now so the live chat is just not feasible. She did agree to a telephone interview but that doesn't appeal to me. Our email interviews and live chats are an opportunity for BookTalk.org members to interact with our authors. Me interviewing Ann on the phone doesn't feel right or fair and therefore I'm going to pass. You guys can read interviews with Ann or other authors on the web. Our live chats and email interviews are something special and how BookTalk.org is different than the rest.

I'm really sorry but this even doesn't look like it will happen. Perhaps in the future Ann will have a more open schedule. She was gracious with us in the past and I will remain grateful for that. I'm sorry to have disappointed you guys. I really am.