Monday, April 5, 2010

Clarksville, Louisville, Evansville & Elizabethtown

Clarksville, IN
My adventures for the last few weeks have been plentiful and prosperous. Last week I went to Clarksville, IN for The Almost Famous Book Faire. It took place in the Green Tree Mall and I think there were at least 70 authors of just about every genre in attendance. I've never sold in a mall before and it was a different experience. For me the day was a great one. Selling in a mall can be difficult. Usually people simply don't go to the mall to buy books. Still, the day was a great success for Thomas Riley. I spoke to hundreds of people and with the help of Christiana we had a good day in the sales department. Again, I don't have a lot of pictures but I was in a lot of pictures, so anyone that was there, I'd love to get my hands on them. I think these are the only two pictures I have:
Christiana at the table:


I'm always the last one to leave book fairs and cons so I had to take a picture of my lone table amongst the empty ones. Oh, so loneley.


Louisville
The next day I went to Barnes & Noble in Louisville, KY. I'll tell you I love that town. Even though I didn't get to grab a pizza at Wick's or a Diner-styled meal at Twig & Leaf there is something just awesome about Louisville. This was my first signing at a major bookstore and I couldn't have been more pleased, selling out of copies in 1 hour and 24 minutes... Yes I counted. My friend's Clover and Mary showed up as a surprise and actually got pictures! Enjoy:


and...



Evansville
The week flew by and I found myself at Barnes & Noble in Evansville, IN. There's something about this town that I simply love. It's hard to describe but Evansville is my escape-ville. It's like my own personal getaway. Not too small and definitely not too big. I guess this feeling stems from when I played in a band. We would play little clubs in Evansville and besides having a strong fan base there, everyone was really great to us. So I liked the town from the first time I visited. Since then I've been there on research trips and explored the haunted library, grave yards and the odd little strip on West Franklin Street which I loved so much that I wrote an entire book (The Adversary) based in Evansville which features an abandoned tattoo shop on W. Franklin St. (Picture below. This is where Fallon and Aleser take up residence when they come to America.)Anyway, the B&N signing was awesome! Sold out again. Two for two.


Fallon's house:


After the signing I had dinner at The Gerst Haus which is a great German place. We have the other one in Nashville but this one is somehow better. I also stopped by Turoni's for a few hand crafted beers. Thanks guys!

Elizabethtown
Elizabethtown, Kentucky... on Easter... Oops right? Surely no one is going to go to Barnes and Noble... much less but a steampunk book right? Wrong. Elizabethtown was huge. The staff was perfect and again, Sold out of books. Three for three. This one was extra good because they offered to buy more if I would stay and sell more... well of course I did. Great day!


Fort Knox
Oh! en route to Elizabethtown I passed what I'm pretty sure was my first nuclear reactor and out of the blue I passed Fort Knox. Unfortunately I wasn't quick enough to get a photo of it. It goes by really quickly. Oddly enough, I just used Ft. Knox (Or Fort Duffield as it was called in the 1880s)in my latest short story "Engine 316" which I just submitted to Kerlak Publishing for their steampunk anthology.


Next up
I'll be in St. Louis, MO this weekend... all weekend for the Steamposium steampunk con. I have no idea what to expect but I'm pretty excited. Three days of 100% steampunkery. If anyone is close, drop by, say hi and don't forget your top hat.

3 comments:

  1. Awesome! Thanks for posting about your travels. I love reading your blog!

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  2. Congratulations on a great book tour! If you ever get up near Madison, WI I'd be happy to bring in Steampunk book buyers!

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  3. Had a great time at the steamposium - I hope you got to enjoy the atmosphere outside of the dealer's table. :)

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