'There I was -- surrounded by macram tigers'

One of the joys and challenges of this job is receiving hundreds of book pitches each week. They pour in through the mail, over the Internet or -- if I forget and pick up -- by phone. Mostly, they form a meaningless blur of plots and praise, but every once in a while, a pitch arrives that's so quirky that I have to stop and admire the sheer strangeness of it.