BOYS IN THE VALLEY 2023 TOUR DIARY

Parnassus Bookstore Nashville, TN August 15, 2023 Nashville After making the longest drive of the entire tour (a whopping nine hours!), we finally arrived in Nashville to prepare for the big event at Parnassus Books. I was especially excited about this one because I'd be meeting up with friends from Los Angeles who had recently relocated, as well as my buddies Greg Greene and Jeff Terry, who promoted the event tirelessly, with Jeff handling MC duties while also recording the entire event for his incredible YouTube channel, The Jeff Word . We stayed the night with our transplanted friends and their lovely kids, then experienced a little bit of downtown Nashville, cruising a stretch called "Whiskey Row" which was... uh... loud. And crowded. And loud. And not so great. But hey! Folks seemed to be drinking and having fun... at 10am. But hey! All good. I did enjoy seeing the Johnny Cash Museum - the Man in Black is a favorite of mine. After that was over we headed to Parnassus

Whitty Books Tulsa, OK August 12, 2023 Two Friends Bookstore Bentonville, AR August 13, 2023 Tulsa & Bentonville After getting back home to Los Angeles after the Oregon adventure, Stephanie and I had less than 48 hours to kiss the cats and child, unpack, do laundry, and repack for a 3-week driving excursion across the United States. But I was EXCITED. This was the part of the 3-month tour I was really looking forward to - driving through middle America, through Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky all the way up the coast through Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, and Boston. I was ready! We flew to Tulsa from L.A., got the car we'd essentially be living in for the next few weeks, and made our way downtown to a funky little hotel on Route 66. After checking in and seeing a few sights (like a dinosaur bookstore and a giant gold digger statue) we caught up with Mitch Hull, one of the admins and founders of the AWESOME Facebook fan group, FRACASSI FREAKS.  Mitch and his wonderfu

  WordHorde Emporium Petaluma, CA July 30, 2023 Powell's Beaverton, OR August 2, 2023 Book Bin Salem, OR August 3, 2023 NoCal / Oregon I was up before the sun to catch my flight from Houston to Santa Rosa, California, and after a pit stop in Dallas finally arrived in Northern California for a few events and some much-needed downtime. My in-laws picked me up and got me to a bed where I pretty much slept for a day before my wife and kid showed up after driving from Los Angeles.  We'd planned a family trip in Grants Pass, OR, and I was going to utilize the some of the time to hit a couple more bookstores, but first I was thrilled to make an appearance at the amazing WORD HORDE EMPORIUM OF THE WEIRD AND FANTASTIC, located in Petaluma, CA, and run by Ross Lockhart, who also happens to run one of the premier horror publishers, Word Horde Publishing. The event at Word Horde was a total blast, and it was so fun to see folks who had driven HOURS to get some books signed or take a pictur

  BookPeople Austin, TX July 26, 2023 The Poisoned Pen Bookstore Scottsdale, AZ July 248 2023 AUSTIN / HOUSTON After wrapping things up in the Phoenix area, I caught a flight to Austin, TX, as part of this whirlwind week of events!  Things in Austin started rough. I made the mistake of taking an airport Taxi (versus an Uber) and was immediately hoodwinked - taken the LOOOOONG way to my hotel and ended up spending a stupid amount of money which was tough as I'm counting nickels here.  To make things worse, the hotel we had booked me at was... not going to work out. There's bad hotels, there's dumps, there's potentially unsafe...and then there's the La Quinta Inn in downtown Austin. Yikes. So, after a panicked, frustrated call to my awesome wife, I was immediately booked in a nearby Marriott near 6th Street (and luckily we got a full refund on the La Quinta disaster). After a mile-long walk through 110 degree heat (w/ luggage) I finally got settled and began to cool d