On Friday afternoon, four young publicists from Tor Books were spotted in a corner trying to get one of them, Melissa Broder, into an 8-foot-tall hot-dog costume; it did have an air pump so the wearer could breathe. They were promoting Invasion of the Road Weenies (Starscape/Tor Books) by David Lubar.

Finally, they zipped Ms. Broder up. Fiona Lee took her hand, or paw, or whatever, and led her across the convention floor. "Would you like your photo taken with a giant weenie?" Ms. Lee asked, over and over again.

I think this marks the first time I've ever seen a NY Times writer reduced to the phrase, "or whatever."

Photo nabbed from NYC Photo's post, Interesting Creatures [at the BEA].