Three East Coast Bangers
The Book House
Millburn, NJ
August 27, 2023
Gibson's Bookstore
Concord, NH
August 28, 2023
Barnes & Noble
Hingham, MA
August 29, 2023
New Jersey, New Hampshire, and a Beastly Evening with Paul Tremblay
Much like New York City, Stephanie and I planned on staying in Boston for a few days, primarily because I had three events there, but also because we wanted to spend some time in the city. As it turned out, we didn't do much other than work, but before any of that, we had a date in New Jersey.
Millburn, New Jersey is the home of a lovely little family-run bookstore called THE BOOK HOUSE. Ironically, I assumed this event would be smaller than my big stop in New York at The Mysterious Bookshop - but YOU NEVER KNOW.
As it turned out, I had a pretty good group, so much so that the store quickly ran out of books and I ended up signing a small stack of bookplates for folks who came out but couldn't get a copy of BOYS IN THE VALLEY on the day of the event. Afterward, we had a lovely social outing with my friend Jonathan Lees, and then we hit the road, bound for Boston!
Originally, I had planned on taking a day off, but some of my Facebook friends mentioned that it would be a damn shame if I didn't drive an hour north from the city and visit GIBSON'S BOOKSTORE in Concord, New Hampshire. My thinking was - hell, the tour's nearly over, I'm way past burned out as it is... why not?
And God bless 'em, Gibson's was so welcoming and excited to have me come up. They ordered a bunch of my books, made a lovely display, and promoted the event heavily in the few days or so between me calling them to gauge their interest and the event itself.
Stephanie and I really enjoyed seeing Concord, and Gibson's is such a wonderful bookstore that we were thrilled we made the decision to drive up for the day. Ryan, the horror bookseller / rockstar at Gibson's was such a delight to meet and hang out with and, as it turned out, a good amount of folks came by to say hello and buy a signed book.
I honestly can't recall which day, but at some point during our whirlwind tour of all the area, we had a business lunch with my good friend and amazing publisher, Paul Miller, of Earthling Publications. What did we discuss? STUFF. Stuff that we will hopefully be announcing sooner than later. Paul was also kind enough to take multiple duffle bags filled with books I'd acquired (yes, more books!) home with him for shipping back to Los Angeles. A savior!
After spending some time risking our lives and sanity driving around the Boston area, we finally made our way to Hingham, where we met up with my friend and one of my very favorite authors, Paul Tremblay, for a pre-event dinner. Paul is one of the nicest folks around, and although we'd known each other for years, it was the first time we'd been able to sit and chat for an extended period of time, and it was such a pleasure.
Dinner and cocktails finished, we tromped over to the Barnes & Noble for the event. And man, what an event!
Bookseller Lisa, who set the whole thing up for us, was on-site and AMAZING. She was so sweet and excited, and such a wonderful host. Barnes & Noble had put on an amazing display, and we had a full room of folks to chat with.
Paul and I talked about his new book, THE BEAST YOU ARE, and of course BOYS, but we also just talked about writing and publishing and had so much fun answering questions and chatting with all the great folks who came out.
After the discussion, we both signed a crazy amount of books, and a few of the Fracassi Freaks showed up with some stacks - which I loved!
But all good things come to an end, and I was so tired at this point I couldn't speak coherent sentences, and there was one more big push before I could make my way back to Los Angeles for some R&R.
It was time to find that energy reserve, though, because the next couple dates were gonna be huge...
Next up:
Copper Dog Books - Beverly, MA - 8/31 - w/ Christopher Golden
Little Ghosts Books - Toronto, CA - 9/1 - w/ Nick Cutter, Ian Rogers, & Andrew Sullivan
The End?
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