While the most fun of book fairs is talking to visitors about your books, not far behind is meeting the other authors and marveling at the diversity of their subject matter. For example, this unlikely trio at last Saturday’s Bishop Hill Book Fair.

On my right is Andy Zach, who writes about zombie turkeys. You read that correctly: turkeys. Rather than the usual scary approach to the undead, he’s taken an absurdist/humorous tack. At first it was turkeys and later other animals – as opposed to humans – infected with a rogue virus that means they can’t die.

As you know, the guy in the middle writes police procedurals, although he would like to think his approach has a unique twist. Instead of a big city cop or PI, an FBI agent or an international spy, his major character is a young female deputy sheriff in a semi-rural county of Iowa who has a real talent for getting herself into trouble!

Then there’s Reg Ankron, the gentleman on my left. He has written the first two volumes of an academic-level three-volume history of Stephan A. Douglas, the Illinois Senator and candidate for president in 1860 who lost to Abraham Lincoln. His basic premise is that from a historical perspective Douglas has gotten lost in the giant shadow of Lincoln, a fate he doesn’t deserve.

Oh, and I forgot. When Andy Zach does a reading from one of this Turkey Zombie Apocalypse books, he uses a turkey puppet to act out the scene. Now, come on, wouldn’t that be worth visiting a book fair to see?