It seems like another era. The Mid-South Independent Booksellers Association, the youngest and smallest of the regional booksellers associations, held its annual meeting September 6—9 in Oklahoma City, Okla.

Although booksellers were bubbling with enthusiasm, some grumbled about the change of venue, which typically alternates between New Orleans and other cities in the region. Still, Annie Bright, a sales rep with Southern Territory Associates, praised it as "the smoothest show I've worked in 16 years," adding, "It's gangbusters—everybody's been pleasantly surprised."

The meeting attracted some 150 people, primarily booksellers from Oklahoma, Texas and Arkansas. It was a slight drop in numbers from the previous years (some Tennessee booksellers opted to attend SEBA's show in Nashville instead). Dana Harper, a bookseller at Brystone Children's Books in Fort Worth, Tex., appreciated the more modest scale of the show. "It seems like a smaller show. But that means it's more manageable and you get more personal attention from the reps."

Joe Holmes, who served as the executive director of the show, was pleased, saying simply, "It turned out quite well, didn't it?"

Donna Paz kicked off the events with her seminar, "Exceptional Frontline Bookselling," after which booksellers were taken on a tour to a trio of local stores, Best of Books, Jean Barnes Books & Gifts and Full Circle Books. Friday began with children's book author Molly Bang promoting her title Nobody Particular: One Woman's Fight to Save the Bays (Holt). She was followed by Gerald McDermott, author of Jabutí (Harcourt).

The rest of the morning included four workshops aimed at improving selling children's books; the afternoon featured a pair of Paz workshops. Booksellers who attended a seminar given by ABA president Avin Domnitz on "Basic Bookstore Finances" raved about it.

At the annual membership meeting, some members expressed frustration that, because of the size of the region and the preponderance of rural stores, they never see a sales rep. The region still appears to be struggling to create an identity separate from, but equal to, that of the Southeast Booksellers Association.

The MSIBA board has recently seen some changes. Donna Cressman, of Maxwell Books in DeSoto, Tex., is vacating her position as vice-president but staying on the board; Jerry Brace of Brace Books and More of Ponce City, Okla., stepped down. Newcomers include Jennifer Anglin of Enchanted Forest Books in Dallas and Susanna Nawrocki from the Twig Bookshop in San Antonio, Tex. Debbie McClure from the Abilene Bookstore will take over as v-p.

Friday evening was the highlight of the weekend. A sudden, furious thunderstorm broke as the booksellers and exhibitors assembled at the Bricktown/Southwestern Bell Baseball Park for the annual Humpty Dumpty Silent Auction Dinner. The buffet barbecue featured an appearance by Oklahoma Governor Keating; a gallery of paintings by artist Mike Wimmer, illustrator of Home Run (Silver Whistle Books); and a local country rock band.

One weekend event featured local favorite Jim Dent, who conducted his presentation much like a church revival meeting; his most recent book, The Undefeated (St. Martin's), looks at a 47-game winning streak the Oklahoma Sooners football team had in the 1950s. Jerry B. Jenkins, whose Left Behind series has sold more than 10 million books, talked up his new novel, Hometown Legend (Warner).

Of the fall titles, nearly everyone had high expectations for Kathy Hepinstall's The Absence of Nectar (Putnam), her follow-up to Book Sense pick The House of Gentle Men (HarperPerennial). Regional fiction titles, such as Stephen Harrigan's The Gates of the Alamo (Penguin), sell consistently well, as do very local titles, such as Del Lemon's The Story of Golf in Oklahoma (Univ. of Oklahoma Press).

Of course, the world has since changed beyond anyone's imagination, but booksellers were saying two weeks ago that the Christmas season was looking "predictably, like last year." Dana Harper said, "Even though people are talking about the economy being bad, we're not really worried. Independent bookstores are doing well, especially since Book Sense caught on. The bookselling industry as a whole seems to be doing well." We hope that will be the case.