Let's meet at some upcoming readings!

In the space of a few days less than two weeks from now, I'll be doing two local readings and book signings. Here are the basic details, which you can also find on my site's Appearances page:

29 August 2010, 2:00
McIntyre's Books
Fearrington, NC

2 September 2010, 7:30
Quail Ridge Books and Music
Raleigh, NC

At both of these events, I'll be talking about the child soldier issue, Falling Whistles, and the Children No More giveaway program--as well as reading, answering questions, and all the usual signing stuff.

If the tone turns too grim, I may even do a few bits from my stand-up shows!

If you're anywhere in the area, I'd greatly appreciate your support--particularly if you buy a copy of the book, which would help make the booksellers happy and send more money to help rehabilitate and reintegrate child soldiers.

I hope to see you there!

Last night's signing

at McIntyre's Fine Books, a truly lovely bookstore, went pretty well. Though more people in the audience were friends or acquaintances than not, we still had a decent crowd, and there were multiple people I did not know. A couple of them brought copies of One Jump Ahead, which was nice to see.

I read the start of Slanted Jack, then went crazy and for the first (and probably only) time read the completely raw first page and a quarter of Fatal Circle. I think folks liked the new bit, but I won't have more to show for a few years. I then read a couple more selections from Slanted Jack, answered questions, and signed books.

One of the nice surprises of the evening was that Glennis (of The Missing Volume) and Thomas showed up. They had recently moved to the area, heard about the signing, and decided to join us. It was great to see them.

A group of ten of us, including Glennis and Thomas, headed out to a nearby (as much as things out that way can be near one another) Toreros Mexican restaurant for dinner. These folks have some of the best queso I've ever tasted, and their fajitas quesadillas with steak are wonderful and richly flavorful. The food and the conversation were great fun.

I'm now done signing for a while, and I have to say that though I enjoy the performing, I'm glad I'm done. The signings take a lot of time, they force you to confront the small size of your audience, and they encourage the sort of writerly neuroses for which I am justifiably well known. I'm glad I'm now just writing.

Tonight's signing

was, at least in my experience, pretty darn successful. Between the three writers we brought a total of 11 friends, but the rest of the audience outnumbered us and our friends. The panel discussion ran the full hour, and the audience grew over time--which is definitely an improvement over shrinking while you speak. My fellow panelists, Lisa Shearin (who really made this happen) and James Maxey, were entertaining and gracious. The Barnes and Noble folks were as nice as could be and had a lot of our books in stock. The audience members asked good questions and seemed genuinely interested in the answers. My friend and the senior SF writer in the area, David Drake, showed up from Chatham County and provided interesting commentary.

I think everyone there had a good time.

I don't know how many books the Cary Barnes & Noble sold, and that is the ultimate measure of the success of any such event, but I'm hoping it's a decent number.

After the event, the 11 of us in the writers and friends/families group retired to Gypsy's Shiny Diner for dinner and further conversation. No one booth there could hold 11 people, so we split up, but we all still managed to chat a reasonable amount.

I had a good time and would definitely do other signings with these folks. Maybe next year, when we'll all have new books on the stands.

Doing a signing tomorrow: come on by!

At 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, September 9, 2008, which is tomorrow to me and today to most of you reading this, I'll be signing at the Cary Barnes & Noble with local fantasy writers Lisa Shearin and James Maxey. Lisa and I had lunch once, and she was a fellow Compton Crook Award nominee. She's also the one of us who deserves the credit for making this happen. I haven't met James, but I look forward to doing so.

If you're in the area, feel free to drop by, chat, and even buy books (though that is, of course, optional, it's always in good taste at a signing).

I should also mention why I consider Tuesday to be tomorrow given that my computer claims that it is 1:16 a.m. on Tuesday. The simple answer is this: tomorrow doesn't start until I go to bed and then get up for the day. Thus, if I pull an all-nighter, a whole day never gets to be.

Some of you may view this as a very Mark-centric view of time, but fortunately for me, I'm Mark, so it all works out.

I hope to see some folks tomorrow. Tonight, I have more of Overthrowing Heaven to write.

Quail Ridge comes through

Waiting for me in this morning's email was a thread about doing a signing of One Jump Ahead at Quail Ridge Books and Music. QRB is indeed going to stock the book and also host a signing. During the day, we worked out the details by phone: I'll be at the store at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, July 26. The reason for waiting so long is to give the good folks there a chance to promote the event.

I'm quite happy that QRB came through; thanks to all who helped make this happen.

If you're in Raleigh that day and want to chat, please come to the signing--and buy a copy of my novel, if you haven't picked one up already. I want bookstores to make lots of money on my books.