Eric Van Lustbader
Readers of my many posts to Zoetrope.com know that I have an almost infallible penchant for meeting writers on the train going to and from New York. I choose a seat, invariably next to a writer. Or one sits down next to me. Or one is behind me in the cafe car. Or one strikes up a conversation on the train platform (no, that's a lie - he turned out to be the CEO of Houghton Mifflin, a publisher, but still...).
Well, today, was no different. Actually, it was different. I wasn't on a train. Indeed, I wasn't in any conveyance when I arrived at Salander O'Reilly Gallery to meet my friend Neelon. He'd told me that we'd also be having lunch with his boyhood friend, Eric, whom I, well, frankly, I didn't give Eric another thought before arriving. Hello, hello, handshake, let's look at the art, etc...you know how early conversations go when you have not a clue as to who the other person is. But inevitably the what-do-you-do question pops and soon it comes out that he's, yes, a writer, but not just any writer this time, as the auteur in question, Eric Van Lustbader, has a book on the NY Times best-seller list, The Bourne Betrayal. Turns out, thriller fans, Eric has the franchise from the Robert Ludlum estate to continue the Bourne adventures -- this being Eric's 25th book.
