• ·

    More on RAW …

    5 Comments

    So I thought I’d share a little more about the RAW event. I’d never been to Huntington before, and I thought it was a cool college town. There’s lots of Marshall green everywhere.

    After checking into the hotel, Wheezly and I walked around for a bit and got something to eat. The hotel is on the main downtown street, and there were lots of shops and restaurants within walking distance (i.e., right across the street), which was really convenient. Seriously, I thought the location could not have been better.

    After that, I went down to the ballroom for that night’s dinner/mixer. Over the weekend, I talked to some folks I knew like Tina, a bookseller who now works for Sherrilyn Kenyon, Krista, a reader that I met at another event last year, and lots of other people I’ve seen at various events. I also met a lot of new people, including some folks who’d driven down from Toronto for the event.

    Among the authors I got to talk to was Nalini Singh, who flew in from New Zealand and has a gorgeous accent. If you like a healthy dose of sci-fi in your romance, you should check out Nalini’s Psy-Changeling series. She’s also writing a new urban fantasy series and had some excerpt booklets at RAW. I picked up one of those and am looking forward to reading that. And that was about it for Friday night.

    Saturday, of course, was the big booksigning. It was crazy, but in a good way. I don’t know how many books were sold at RAW, but I’m willing to bet it was up in the hundreds. J.R. Ward was there for the Saturday signing, and her line was looong. (I wanted to meet her, but it just didn’t happen). So were the lines for Lora Leigh and Jacquelyn Frank. Eventually, the three lines intersected in the middle of the room, forming a mass of readers.

    Of course, my line was not nearly as long, but traffic was pretty steady. Lots of folks had me sign trade copies of Karma Girl and Hot Mama, and lots of other folks told me they were looking forward to trying the Bigtime books. So it was all good. 😎

    Things finally started slowing down around 2:30/3 p.m., so I was able to go around and talk to some of the other authors, like Shirley Damsgaard, a very funny lady I met at an event last year. Shirley writes the Ophelia and Abby mysteries. I was also sitting next to Delilah Devlin, who writes westerns. I love me some westerns, and I’m definitely going to have to check out her books.

    After the Saturday booksigning, there was a masquerade party/dinner. More food, more drinks, more conversation, more fun. Sunday was a bit quiet. Lots of folks left Sunday morning. I stuck around for part of the booksigning that afternoon and signed some more Bigtime books, including one for a lady who works with my aunt and was up in the area visiting friends/family. So that was nice that she came to the signing to get the latest Bigtime book. 

    And that was a wrap for RAW. Overall, a very fun event with lots of folks who just love books and reading. I definitely plan to go back. :ww:

  • ·

    I’m baaack …

    Sorry I’ve been incommunicado the past few days, but I went to the RAW (Readers and Authors Appreciation Weekend) event hosted by Lora Leigh on Sept. 19-21. The event was held in Huntington, W.V., the home of Marshall University (of We Are Marshall movie fame).

    This was my first time at RAW, and it was a lot of fun. What makes RAW a little different from some of the other RWA conferences out there is this one is geared specifically for readers. There are no editor/agent appointments, no how-to-get-published workshops, and none of the stress that goes along with those things. Instead, there were a couple of dinners, a couple of book signings, and lots of free time for authors and readers and friends to get together.

    If you’re looking for a more relaxed, informal event, I’d highly recommend this one. I plan on going back next year, if Lora will be kind enough to have me. 😎

    For those of you interested in going next year, Lora said the event will be held the last weekend in September at the Pullman Plaza Hotel in Huntington, W.V. (the same place it was this year). Also, Lora is planning to open it up to 400 readers next year instead of capping it at 250 like she did this year. But things could change, so definitely check Lora’s Web site for more details as they become available.

    More on RAW to come …

  • 901 and counting …

    Finished Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. I bought this book for Wheezley a while back (he’s loves Gaiman and Pratchett), and he gave it to me to read.

    This one’s about the demon Crowley and the angel Aziraphale, who team up to stop the end of the world. That’s really all I can say in the way of plot summary, because there are so many characters doing so many different things in this book. You’ve got the four horsemen, a young witch, a ragtag bunch of kids, a witchfinder, demons and more.

    Gaiman and Pratchett may have written this book together, but it seemed like much more of a Pratchett book to me. It definitely had his brand of mad-cap, zany humor and kooky characters doing kooky things. This could easily have been one of Pratchett’s Discworld novels. If you’d told me Gaiman wrote this, I would have been surprised. It’s pretty far afield from the seriousness of Gaiman in something like American Gods.

    All that aside, there’s a lot to like about Good Omens. Crowley and Aziraphale are a hoot and are often compared to spies who have more in common with each other than they do with their superiors. Plus, there are a lot of funny gags and clever lines throughout the book.

    The book dragged a bit in the middle, as the focus shifted from Crowley and Aziraphale to other characters, including 11-year-old Adam Young, aka the Antichrist. To me, Crowley and Aziraphale were much more interesting and entertaining than Adam and his friends. I also thought the ending was a little weak in that the world didn’t end just because Adam decided he didn’t want it to. That was a bit of a letdown.

    But overall, this is a fun fantasy read. Pratchett fans will especially like it. Thumbs up.

    Up next: Something from the TBR pile.

    Books in my TBR pile: About 12.