Author road trip to Portland! With biscuits!
Cross-posted from my blog because stuff this good can't be contained in just one place.
First up, thanks so much for all the people getting Succubus Shadows and giving reviews/feedback! I'm so glad people are enjoying it, and it's great from a publishing side to have the opening week clustered with sales. So, thanks again for everyone's support.
Speaking of support, I rode down to Portland last night to go to Mark Henry and Jaye Wells's signing at Powell's Books in Beaverton. It was a very strategic operation, involving me getting Jaye at the airport (she's from Dallas), then us meeting Mark at his place, and then Mark driving us all down to Portland (which is about 3 hours from Seattle). The schedule was pretty tight to make it on time, but as you can see, we had good omens leading us:
Jaye and Mark were every bit as entertaining as you might imagine, though Mark struggled a bit to find a semi-safe excerpt to read (some teen readers of my books were there!) and even tried reading Tori Spelling's Mommywood instead of his own books. Even that sounded dirty when he read it, so he gave up and switched back to his stuff...with a little censoring.
After a Q&A involving gross but delightful candy prizes (cherry-flavored blood!), they signed some books. The Beaverton Powell's staff is always great, and they ran everything beautifully. They even let me sign some of my own stock on the side.
We had grand intentions of going downtown afterward to show Portland's nightlife to Jaye, but we lost a little of our momentum when--yes, I'm going to say it--Mark got us lost driving to our hotel. We ended up out on some dark country road with alpaca farms and solitary houses that looked like they contained serial killers. When we finally turned around and made it back to civilization (thanks to the GPS on my phone), we opted for drinks near our hotel and dramatic readings back in the room.
Mark gallantly slept on the super uncomfortable fold-out couch, giving Jaye and me our own beds. While getting ready for sleep, I noticed in the bathroom that we had all neatly laid out our dental cleaning supplies side by side. Can you guess whose are whose? Even if you can't, I think it's obvious we take our dental care very seriously.
This morning, after Mark and Jaye had fed their Twitter addictions seconds after getting up, we had breakfast and went and did stock signings around Portland. Naturally, Powell's famous downtown flagship store was on the list. I signed their stock over in the children's section. It's a sign of how short I am that that little kid's table really doesn't look as miniature as it should.
Meanwhile, Jaye got to go through a right of passage and sign the store's SF/F author post--a post protected and kept under glass when not being signed. It might even have lasers around it.
We rounded out our stock signings over at Jan's Paperbacks in Beaverton, whose staff was super nice. So, for Portlanders wanting autographed copies of our books, I'll sum up where we left them: Jan's, the Beaverton Powell's, the downtown Powell's, and the B&N at Washington Square. If you want to pick up something, call first to make sure they've still got that book.
After all that signing, we worked up an appetite--and needed someone else to shake things up. So, we met up with the awesome Lili Saintcrow and had lunch at Pine State Biscuits, which is a tiny, tiny restaurant that was jam-packed with people. The place is insanely famous for its Southern menu, filled with fried stuff, sweat tea, and yes, biscuits. Gravy is literally ladled out from a vat and then poured liberally on food.
That's Mark's lunch. Mine was a biscuit sandwich containing fried chicken, pickles, honey, and spicy mustard. I never thought that combination would have worked, but it was great. It also made me feel dirty afterward (and want to go to the gym), and I can't even imagine how our arteries felt. It was one of those so-good-it-has-to-be-bad-for-you places. It was delicious, so go visit Pine State when you're in Portland if you can handle it.
We stopped for some cleansing tea (I just opted for cleansing), and then it was time to go.
We parted from Lili and headed back up to the Seattle area. For those also in Seattle, Jaye and Mark are going to be at Norwescon this weekend signing and doing panels, as will another of my favorite people: Jeanne Stein. The three of them will then be signing at University Bookstore on Monday at 7pm. Good times will ensue.
And now that I'm home, it's back to Iron Crowned and lots of gym time.
**Excessive exclamation points are used in this post because I know Jaye likes them.
First up, thanks so much for all the people getting Succubus Shadows and giving reviews/feedback! I'm so glad people are enjoying it, and it's great from a publishing side to have the opening week clustered with sales. So, thanks again for everyone's support.
Speaking of support, I rode down to Portland last night to go to Mark Henry and Jaye Wells's signing at Powell's Books in Beaverton. It was a very strategic operation, involving me getting Jaye at the airport (she's from Dallas), then us meeting Mark at his place, and then Mark driving us all down to Portland (which is about 3 hours from Seattle). The schedule was pretty tight to make it on time, but as you can see, we had good omens leading us:
Jaye and Mark were every bit as entertaining as you might imagine, though Mark struggled a bit to find a semi-safe excerpt to read (some teen readers of my books were there!) and even tried reading Tori Spelling's Mommywood instead of his own books. Even that sounded dirty when he read it, so he gave up and switched back to his stuff...with a little censoring.
After a Q&A involving gross but delightful candy prizes (cherry-flavored blood!), they signed some books. The Beaverton Powell's staff is always great, and they ran everything beautifully. They even let me sign some of my own stock on the side.
We had grand intentions of going downtown afterward to show Portland's nightlife to Jaye, but we lost a little of our momentum when--yes, I'm going to say it--Mark got us lost driving to our hotel. We ended up out on some dark country road with alpaca farms and solitary houses that looked like they contained serial killers. When we finally turned around and made it back to civilization (thanks to the GPS on my phone), we opted for drinks near our hotel and dramatic readings back in the room.
Mark gallantly slept on the super uncomfortable fold-out couch, giving Jaye and me our own beds. While getting ready for sleep, I noticed in the bathroom that we had all neatly laid out our dental cleaning supplies side by side. Can you guess whose are whose? Even if you can't, I think it's obvious we take our dental care very seriously.
This morning, after Mark and Jaye had fed their Twitter addictions seconds after getting up, we had breakfast and went and did stock signings around Portland. Naturally, Powell's famous downtown flagship store was on the list. I signed their stock over in the children's section. It's a sign of how short I am that that little kid's table really doesn't look as miniature as it should.
Meanwhile, Jaye got to go through a right of passage and sign the store's SF/F author post--a post protected and kept under glass when not being signed. It might even have lasers around it.
We rounded out our stock signings over at Jan's Paperbacks in Beaverton, whose staff was super nice. So, for Portlanders wanting autographed copies of our books, I'll sum up where we left them: Jan's, the Beaverton Powell's, the downtown Powell's, and the B&N at Washington Square. If you want to pick up something, call first to make sure they've still got that book.
After all that signing, we worked up an appetite--and needed someone else to shake things up. So, we met up with the awesome Lili Saintcrow and had lunch at Pine State Biscuits, which is a tiny, tiny restaurant that was jam-packed with people. The place is insanely famous for its Southern menu, filled with fried stuff, sweat tea, and yes, biscuits. Gravy is literally ladled out from a vat and then poured liberally on food.
That's Mark's lunch. Mine was a biscuit sandwich containing fried chicken, pickles, honey, and spicy mustard. I never thought that combination would have worked, but it was great. It also made me feel dirty afterward (and want to go to the gym), and I can't even imagine how our arteries felt. It was one of those so-good-it-has-to-be-bad-for-you places. It was delicious, so go visit Pine State when you're in Portland if you can handle it.
We stopped for some cleansing tea (I just opted for cleansing), and then it was time to go.
We parted from Lili and headed back up to the Seattle area. For those also in Seattle, Jaye and Mark are going to be at Norwescon this weekend signing and doing panels, as will another of my favorite people: Jeanne Stein. The three of them will then be signing at University Bookstore on Monday at 7pm. Good times will ensue.
And now that I'm home, it's back to Iron Crowned and lots of gym time.
**Excessive exclamation points are used in this post because I know Jaye likes them.
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