Entries from November 2008 ↓

To finish out my battle madness set of photos I will, as promised, post photos of the readings here to prove to myself that I attended these events, in some form or another. I am working under the assumption that I took these photos, since they came from my camera, and not some doppleganger that filled in while I lay fainted on the floor. 

At any rate – these were all lovely audiences, smaller than the incredible ones at Elliot Bay Books and Powell’s, but certainly no less sharp.

Amherst Books (note: in the end neither I or Amitav Ghosh showed for my proposed duel, as I’d described in this post. It’s for the better, as I really only had one performance shirt and it would have looked sad with a hole through it.)

I was on Amherst College radio too and that was a blast.

This is what the window of Raconteur Books looked like when I arrived. So cool.

The reading was dark and intimate and there was free wine!

Take a look at this dictionary that was there with an opening letter to the KING – I photographed the first page (click for large view). I post this for ‘the happinefs of the people’:

And then finally I read (presumably) at Pandemonium Books in Cambridge, MA:

There are some incredibly nice people in this photo.

Many thanks again to all.

And now I’m home – where I seem to have caused an altogether impressive amount of havoc by introducing slide whistles to the children, and vice versa.

Thanks to all who came to a reading or provided a couch to sleep on (fitting!) or who resisted the temptation to mob me after I’d knocked down the entire set of their play.

- Funny story there. I watched a great, small production of Shakespeare’s Cymbeline in Manhattan with my good friends Ned & Bronwen.

The theater was set up so that you had to walk past the stage to leave – the entire audience faced the door. Since there was another play that followed, the whole audience was still seated.

This was very clear in my mind – that it was as if I were on stage, as I leaned against that which very much seemed to be a stable wall near the exit.

When that  stable wall  began to move, I did my best to try to arrest its fall by frantically clutching at it with my finger nails. Then the entire set collapsed with a great boom and all eyes in the theater turned as one toward me. Oh Jesus! The theater manager said, several times. I tried six or eight apologies in rapid succession, and then I ran for the door.

Here’s Sylvie, who seems to have changed somewhat in my 12 day absence. I haven’t been able to locate the rest of the family – except the cat, who was locked up in the keep. 

I’ll post the last three audience pics and some errata in the next day or so. Happy Thanksgiving!

I’m in Northampton, Massachusetts and am about midway through my little book tour. It’s been tremendous fun. 

Powell’s in Portland was my first reading – it was a lovely time with many friends in attendance. It was there that I realized that I suffer a taste of battle madness. Battle Madness – popularized by vikings – is when you go into battle and perform admirably with your axe, and then can’t remember a thing about it later. So it was in Portland. I remember being very graciously introduced by a Powell’s employee Amber, and then I came to in the Under Wonder Lounge with a pint in my hand and my axe at my feet. Sure there are a few fleeting images here and there, and I remember thinking – ah, I’m getting Theo’s voice right, but that was about it.

Thus by the time I read at the Elliot Bay Book Co.  (introduced by Anthony – thanks!) in Seattle I’d decided to start photographing the audience at the beginning to prove to myself later that I’d actually been there. Here’s the evidence (click for full view):

I had to take it in three shots – there were so many awesome, awesome people there, thanks in no small part to the review in The Stranger. I should also admit that I prefaced the photo-taking by saying I would not post it to my blog with nude photos of myself. True! Lucky for you, there are no nude photos of me. The reading was just incredibly fun (what I remember of it) and they sang me happy birthday at the end. I love you Seattle! The next day I got on a plane and flew over the surface of Jupiter:

Which was unexpected. And then landed in Russia:

Where I read with Caitlin Kiernan at the Fantastic Fiction reading series hosted by Matthew Kessel and Ellen Datlow - which was, apparently, just a great, great time, from what I remember of it.

Incidentally, one of the symptoms of Battle Madness is foaming at the mouth. So I’m told.

Tonight I read in Amherst at Amherst Books and tomorrow in New Jersey – if you have friends in the area I’d be grateful if you let them know, as these might be a bit on the quieter side and then what am I to do with my axe? My tour schedule is here.

Incidentally – Amitav Ghosh also reads from his book Sea of Poppies at Amherst tonight – I tried to find something to link to here for time/place but  the intertubes failed me. It looks like just a great book, which is a shame, since I suspect that after our simultaneous readings we’ll have to joust or something.