First leg of tour in the rear view mirror

I set up two events for last week, bracketing personal business, as I never do anything for one reason! 

I had a signing event at the Barnes & Noble in Morgantown West Virginia, for sentimental reasons.  IT was okay, sold some books, met some old friends, I was underwhelmed at their enthusiasm at the store.  While they had promoted it on Facebook, they had not put it on their website, there were no signs announcing the signing (I am used to B&N putting up signs, even if occasionally misspelled), and only a single PA announcement.

Plus, they only ordered the softcover of QUINTESSENCE.  The hardcover outsells the softcover 4-1 online.  But I survived.

Then I had a reading at the Monongalia Arts Center (MAC).  Small crowd, but enthusiastic (sold more books), saw a few more old friends, and did my first ever public reading of The Sonnets of Grace, from QUINTESSENCE.  I had not read these aloud before.  I was very pleased with them and I think I did an adequate reading.

So, that's in the past, thanks to all who turned out, listened, bought books...

a day or two late, but earnestly trying to keep my word.

Still working on setting up the tour.  I have 8 venues I am waiting for further word on...4 I have locked in on specified dates, although I had to move the one at the Bokeh in Evansville, IN, from March 18th to the 11th, as the 18th of March is...St. Patrick's Day and the organizer was concerned about the drunkenness of the crowd.

If you know a venue for a reading or a signing:  schools, colleges, bookstores, coffee shops, bars, bordellos, churches, let them know and let me know.  Scheduling is NOT something that I enjoy, but it is a necessary evil.

May have to move the date of the Florida gig, as it is on Easter, which may skew the audience and means public transit will probably be much more expensive. 

Less than two weeks until I kick off on the 15th of February at the Barnes & Noble in Morgantown, WV.  Great thing about bookstore chain readings is I don't have to haul stock around with me.  I'm not, by nature, a peddler or merchant.

I promised I'd post this weekend, and here I am.

I was in the midst of a writing frenzy, being careful to keep it below the Planck temperature, to avoid the instantaneous destruction of all reality, which would be uncool.  But I have some plans of what to do with the next Creation.

Yes, I have been writing...so much.  And working.  And playing CEO for Venetian Spider Press, and setting up to tour.  There have been deaths and near deaths of those I know and love.  A great wall of depression strikes me from time to time.  I fight through it.  Shortcuts are for cowards.  You stand until every bone cracks, then you fight with your words and will.  I have no lover to take comfort with, which is a shame, but I seem to of recent times taken to being enamored with women who are unavailable for one reason or another.

Life is a scatterfield of wasteful and useless diversions.  I know, I indulge.  But still I press on.  I figure when I do die it will be in mid-sentence.  No "rosebud" for me...more like "ro..."...

My third book of my mysterious trilogy at VSP will be out on my birthday this year.  Its title is "tachyon".  Those who know me and know this word will just smile and nod...everyone else will have to learn.  It shall be hardbound, like "Selected Poems and Passion:  1972-2011" and "Quintessence".  With not a single poem in common with either of those.  And the cover design is out of my hands, on purpose.

I reconnected this week with the editor of my first book (PanthEon, Pantera Press 1996), Jan Innes, she had wonderfully nice things to say about "Quintessence".  That made me smile.  I have always valued her judgement.

Being as hands-on as I tend to be I am not trusting to others to organize the tour, which is unfortunate as I don't really have the time to devote enough attention.  But I will have a few more dates in short order, currently we are:

February 15 - Barnes & Noble Bookstore - Morgantown WV
February 18 - the Monongahela Arts Center - Morgantown WV
March 17 - The Bokeh Lounge - Evansville IN
April 12 - The Scone Age Bakery - Dunedin FL
May 14 - The Guild - Evansville IN

other venues under discussion include the White Whale Bookstore in Pittsburgh, the Literati Bookstore in Ann Arbor Michigan, the Barnes & Noble in Manassas, VA, and other stops in Delaware, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, North Carolina, Texas...and the list goes on.  I figure to wrap the tour with the NBPF in New England around the first of September.

Yes, yes, it has been about 18 months since my last posting.

Wow, I have been rude!

Here's the scoop, between consulting work, my writing, my books, starting up a new publishing house (Venetian Spider Press http://www.venetianspiderpress.com) and planning my anti-entropy campaign against all madness and the violence of indifference...I have been alarmingly busy.

So, to straighten things out, I am accelerating.

That's right.  I don't have a brake on this life, and no lover to distract me (always willing to consider a volunteer), I find the best solution is to steer my craft towards the inevitable black hole and spend the next few decades picking up speed.

I will fill you in on all details later, but for now know that my 2020 Tachyon Tour kicks off at the Barnes & Noble in Morgantown, West Virginia, at 2 pm on February 15, 2020.  The tour should take me to a dozen states (as in U.S. states AND states of being) and if you have a hungry venue, let them know or me know or us both know!

I promise, on my sainted mother's eyes, to post at least once a week going forward (and to pic up the pace on the Amomancer Blog (http://amomancer.blogspot.com) as well.

Be patient just a few more days.