The creatures that ate Hackensack

[pbray]

Well that's a lie. We left it more or less intact.

Yesterday's signing at the Barnes & Noble in Hackensack went well-- S.C. Butler scbutler, Barbara Campbell and Daryl Gregory are all great fun to hang out, as is brain-friend Joshua Palmatier jpsorrow.

Jill Fisch, the CRM, was very helpful, and didn't mind when we rearranged her store in order to make our selves and our books more visible. The store staff got into the spirit of the event, requisitioning their own souvenir lizards. The only glitch was the store's inability to get copies of some books :-( but fortunately we'd been alerted ahead of time so those authors brought their own copies to supplement the store stock.

Phil De Parto from the Bergen County Science Fiction Association helped coordinate the signing, and proved to be a wonderful shill as he directed incoming customers to meet the captive authors on display for one afternoon only.

After the signing, the five of us, plus Daryl's wife Kathy went out for drinks/dinner and then the drive home. Drive was uneventful, but long day as I got home twelve hours after I'd left.

And here we are from left to right, Joshua Palmatier, Patricia Bray, Barbara Campbell, S.C. Butler, and Daryl Gregory. Note that this was Barbara's camera, which explains why she is under the "Using Your Brain" sign.

Comments

[lagilman]

Sounds like a good signing all-around. If I hadn't been under massive Revisions Deadline I'd have come out to abuse see y'all, being semi-local.

[pbray.livejournal.com]

And we would have carried you off to the adjacent Cheesecake factory to join us for post signing libations :-)

Good luck with the revisions!

[antonstrout.livejournal.com]

Phil had me out talking to his group at the Borders last year. Good peeps, them!

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Very nice folks. He'd invited us to the club meeting later on Saturday night, but for those of us who had 3 or 4 hour drives home, it would have been just too long a day in January when there was no telling what the weather would be like. But I'm hoping to be able to get down to see them at a more temperate time of year.

[lagilman]

Hrm. Clearly I need to speak to this Phil....

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Emailed you his contact info.

[jjschwabach.livejournal.com]

If Barbara is using her brain,that explains the slightly hungry look on your face...

[pbray.livejournal.com]

You noticed that, didn't you? As well as how I left my own seat at the far end so I could crouch next to the tasty brains.....

[jjschwabach.livejournal.com]

Well, they smell so much better when they're in use...

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Yeah, he's extremely cute, but not the most technically inclined. Heck, I'm not at all graphically inclined, but nonetheless have figured out how to resize jpgs and crop them :-)

Common Interests?

[vespican.livejournal.com]

I know you will get the standard LJ message that says I have added you to my "Friends List." I did so because of your stated interests in things such as THE AGE OF SAIL, SAILING SHIPS,and the like. Certainly I understand if you do not "friend" in return. Even with the relatively short "friends list" I have now, I can spend entirely too much time reading it.

Of the group of writers that you seem to be associated with, I've only had the chance to read Joshua's books so far. I do look forward to acquiring and reading yours in the near future, as well as others within the group.

And one day in the not so distant future, I hope I will be joining that circle of published writers.

Dave

Re: Common Interests?

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Hi Dave! Glad to have you here. I am a sailing geek, and even have an unsold novel from the 90s set in the golden age of British Naval Power, a la Horatio Hornblower, and the novels of Alexander Kent and Patrick O'Brian.

The fantasy series that I just finished up is set in a world much like our Mediterranean in the Roman era, where the sea trade dominates and rival empires battle for control of the shipping lanes. As you can imagine, I had great fun writing the shipwrecks and sea battles. If you want to check it out, the first book in the series is THE FIRST BETRAYAL, followed by THE SEA CHANGE, and then THE FINAL SACRIFICE came out in August 2008.

Good luck with your writing! The key, as everyone has probably told you, is perseverance. Just ask Joshua-- I met him when he was still unpublished, and within a few years we were hanging out at booksignings together.

Re: Common Interests?

[vespican.livejournal.com]

I'm finding that I enjoy the journey nearly as much as I expect to enjoy reaching the destination. Of course I want to be published, sale a million books (or more) and become filthy stinking rich. At the same time, the real and virtual friends that I've made and the knowledge I've gained (and am gaining)make it worthwhile, even at the point I'm at now. It is gratifying to have had even a few folks read my work and comment favorably on it.
Dave