Finally! Part the First

You have been very patient, and I appreciate it!

I don't know if I'm on my head or my painted tail with all the obligations and duties and thing that must be/should be done. I've learned an important lesson, and while it has come with some bruising of the soul, I'll mend and be the stronger for it.

More on that later.

Here then is the report from the Launch of Isle of Swords (sorry no maiden could be found to swing a bottle of champagne into the bow of the book) so read on, read on for more details of the event and some other pictures too!


My sea rogue escort and I took the time to get food before going to Barnes & Nobles, and discussed throwing spit wads at the Capt'n in great detail over dinner. We had it all planned out, the trajectory, the amount, the velocity, everything. When we walked inside, my pirate had a change of heart and taking me aside said in a hushed tone of regret and empathy "You know, I bet he's really nervous, we really shouldn't fire spit wads at him." I reluctantly agreed to behave. Entering the event area my pirate signed up for the costume contest and received an eye patch, a number, and some doubloons for his troubles. We said hullo to the Capt'n and grinned like idiots at each other as he seemed delighted that we'd come. It's all ways nice to feel like coming out to an event meant something to the author. Then, we scouted seats.

Some fans sat and read, others wandered and laughed, admiring each other's costumes or lamenting that they hadn't worn one themselves. The atmosphere was warm and friendly with nerds and geeks mingling with slightly less rabid fans, checking out the piles of Isle of Swords at the signing table or browsing The Door Within paperbacks to find the 'lost chapters'.




Around twenty minutes till the reading was to start, the staff at Barnes & Noble started setting out cookies (and not those pressed and prefab things from bags, oh no, these I am pretty certain came from the cafe' and had chucks of peanut and chocolate in them. I say 'think' because as soon as they were set out a hoard of eye-patch clad piranha arrived and began devouring them) but I wasn't going over, I had no desire to lose fingers. My rogue shipman had no such fears, and as he walked about talking with others of his stripe I counted at least four cookies devoured.

Things were filling up when we got seats and then I decided I'd 1) get better photos if I stood in the back and 2) there were a lot of marauding rogues without chairs and one would likely settle if I gave up my seat. I did, and within moments a cookie fed raider claimed it.
Everyone was delighted with the props, the large skull was a particular hit as was the Capt'n's cutlass and feathered hat. He sat on the stage, smiling and talking with the fans as the clock ticked closer to the hour the event was to take place, bantering with the adults too and disappearing now and again when the event staff snagged him to ask questions.



Speculation about The Door Within being made into a movie was rampant, showing that enough of his on-line readers and students had come to the event to make the gathering really feel clannish despite the growing size. The forty some chairs were finally filled and people were still making places for themselves when the overhead speaker announced that the reading from Isle of Swords and the sneak peak/listen of Isle of Fire was about to begin. Dramatic audio cues silenced the pirate chat and all eyes turned expectantly towards the stage the Storyteller took his place.

Before he started, he asked this question "How would you define treasure?" and the answers were varied and ranged from "gold" to "something that you take" to "learning" as one of his students piped up. An interesting question and one that harked back to another Captain's definition of treasure, which as he pointed out to his young friend "Is not all ways silver or gold."

Then, the reading began and as all ways the Capt'n did not disappoint, imbuing the tale with the wonderful spark that made it real as he read. The store, the audience, everything faded away as the words painted the picture (helped out by some audio enhancements of gulls and water) of someone waking up on an island terribly hurt, with no memory, and only a small pouch full of clues to what or who they might be. For those interested he read from Isle of Swords Chapter 2 and the entire audience without exception was caught up in the tale.



He took time after the first reading to do some Q&A, and then moved into an Isle of Fire excerpt both ominous and and intriguing. If I wrote it here, I'm sure through various channels and minions that he has I'd wind up marooned, and I don't want that. So, just like the rest of us, you'll have to track him down to hear that bit or wait till Isle of Fire is released next year.

After the reading was finished and he had a second to grab something to drink (he'd been reading for roughly 30 minutes) one of the Barnes & Noble staff got him to the table and rounded up the fans into some sort of wobbly line for the actual signing. I snapped some more shots and then got in line, weaving in and out through the stacks with the other fans. My pirate dashed off to purchase his copy of Isle of Swords not trusting that there would be books left on the table when we got up there as we were nearly dead last in line. The best part of waiting over an hour to see the Capt'n again? Talking with this really cool family! My pirate struck up a conversation with their rogue seafaring son as he was carrying all three of The Door Within trilogy in paperback (with lost chapters) and he (very rightly) pointed out that they were the better deal than the hard covers because they were 1) cheaper and 2) had more stuff in them. Plus, if you took clear contact paper and covered them with it, they were nearly as durable as the hard cover.


From there the conversation naturally gravitated to content of the books, favorite passages, things we wished that the Capt'n hadn't done to characters, the possibility of the Capt'n revisiting the Realm at some point in his career, what item/person/animal each of us would like to be able to reach into the books and pull out and keep from the Realm*, and then a shared sadness that the trilogy as magnificent as it was, had come to an end.

As the night wore on and we didn't move much in the line, the crowd got a little testy with students of the Capt'n who would run off six or eight at a time leaving one 'place holder' and then whenever the line moved they came back and pushed the fans that had made some progress back eight or nine spaces as they reinserted themselves into the que. I reassured those around me that as long as the store was open, he would be glad to sign books and told them of how he and Sharon Hinck, Bryan Davis, and Christopher Hopper did just that when we hosted them over the summer---they stayed right to closing to make sure every last fan's book was autographed even though they were dead on their feet. That calmed some down, and then my pirate and I managed to re engage speculation about the Capt'ns sequel, if cookies were actually available to pirates, and the starfish-like regeneration capabilities of lawn gnomes.

*shudder* Lawn gnomes are evil for a variety of reasons, and the thought of each bit of gnome regrowing what it lost in lawnmower accidents is enough to make even the most stalwart fantasy fan flinch.




* They were:
1) Fury
2) Captain Valithor
3) Son of Fury
4) Aidan
5)Dragons
6) Nock
7) Bolt
8)Falon
9)Moon Rascals
10) Lantern Spiders

Right, well Firefox is being ruddy aweful and IE's not doing me any favors either. Huh, looks like I'll have to post this and then do part two later this week. I promise I'm not delaying on purpose!

Okay~ Part the Second now since Firefox is finally cooperating (might have something to do with the fact that I have a sledge hammer on the desk now) and if any of you are using FF and having trouble seeing this page, reset your preferences and clear your cashe, that's what fixed it for me. Sorry 'bout the color change but if this page and background load for others the way they've been loading for me all they can see is white. And white text on a white background is nothing at all! Hence, the color change for that little bit. I love the tabbed browsing, I hate the resetting FireFox does when it updates itself. Letsee when last we left our intrepid heros. . .

We were waiting in line.

As we passed a table filled with fantasy books including; The Looking Glass Wars, The Sisters Grimm, The Merchant of Death, Monsterblood Tattoo, The Phantom Tollbooth, and The Door Within our crewmate suddenly looked up at me and asked. "Hey, you said you write, but what do you write, what kind of books?" And so I told him that I was working on getting a story published and that I wrote fantasy, and a little bit about the characters and the plot and where I was taking the story.

Pushing his glasses up from where they had slid down he looked very seriously at me and said "Well, you need to write faster so I can go out and find it and buy it and read it. I love fantasy! I read it all the time and I can tell that yours will be good. I want to read what you are writing."

My heart just about jumped out of my chest, is there any thing that will spur a story teller on faster than that?! Now when I am tired I think back on that plea and I push a little harder and remind myself that I do have an audience waiting. I can't ask them to wait forever.

Around 8:45 some of the Barnes and Noble staff came around taking pictures with Polaroids and that was great fun, especially since the pirates around us really got into character. We finally got up to the signing table and I smiled, hanging back a bit and watching the fans who had moments before talked so passionately and openly about what they liked and didn't like in The Door Within suddenly become tongue tied as they stood on the opposite side of the table from the Capt'n and pushed their books across the fabric for him to sign. He was warm and engaging as all ways, asking their names, making sure the spelling was right, joking and talking with them, trying to get the quiet ones to at least smile and the fans with some control over their tongues he bantered with and allowed them to gently 'take the mick' so that when they left the table their faces were flushed and their eyes danced with merriment. I know that the young bloods that met him that night will remember the fun, the teasing, and the easy going author who talked to them like they mattered for a long, long time.

Here ends the report of the Isle of Swords Launch party, hopefully you've enjoyed reading it and if it provoked you to come to the next event ;) then I have not typed in vain.

Until I rant or post again,
I remain your not-so-humble
~Scribe