Romance Author Booksignings: October and Beyond
This past month I attended a booksigning for William Kent Krueger, who was promoting his latest Cork O’Connor mystery, Northwest Angle. I haven’t read the series, and still am not sure if they will suit me. But I love listening to authors speak, so jumped at the chance to attend.
There was a large audience, and many had attended previous signings by the author. As soon as the event began I knew why there were so many repeat attenders; he is one of the most engaging writers I’ve encountered. The time went by quickly as Mr. Krueger entertained us with stories about his writing process, his decisions about his characters, and future directions his writing might take.
Mr. Krueger commented that authors writing a series can either write a character that remains static over the series, or they can write a character that changes and ages over time. Mr. Krueger made the decision early on to have Cork O’Connor and his family age and change throughout the series. He noted that this has allowed him to bring some of his own experiences at different points in his life into the series.
Mr. Krueger writes every day in a local Minnesota coffee house. He said that he tried to write in his home office, but found it was both too quiet and too distracting. Until fairly recently he wrote in longhand, but has switched to a laptop. Cork O’Connor is part Irish and part Anishianaabe. Mr. Krueger did extensive research into the Anishianaabe culture before writing the first book in the series, Iron Lake, and continues to do research, and actually have most of his books vetted by Anishianaabe acquaintances. In the end, I ended up buying one of his books; he was just that entertaining.
Have you been to any booksignings recently? I’ve found a number of romance author booksignings in the coming months. As always, I could use your help. Do you know of any authors who are coming to your home town? If so, please let us know about it. If you know of any events that we missed between now and mid-November, please post them in the comments section. If you know of any events occurring after mid-November, please send them to us at aarbooksign AT gmail.com and we’ll add them to our mid-November post.
Disclaimer: I found these signings by extensive searches of both author and bookseller Web sites. They all appear to be free, but please contact the bookstore before you attend an event for additional information. And please let us know if you do attend a booksigning, and how you liked it. A few of the authors on the list aren’t strictly romance authors, but have either been reviewed at AAR in the past, or have appeared in AAR forum discussions.
Upcoming Booksignings: October and Beyond
Deeanne Gist, October 22, Humble LifeWay Christian Store, 11:00 a.m., 20426 US Highway 59 NorthHumble, TX.
Jeannie Lin, Jennifer Jakes, and Elizabeth Means, October 22, Rose’s Bookhouse, 4:00 p.m., 8935 Veterans Memorial Parkway, O’Fallon, MO.
New Jersey RWA Literacy Book Fair and Author Signing (features a large number of romance authors including Victoria Alexander, Suzanne Brockmann, Rachel Gibson, and Brenda Novak) , October 22, Renaissance Woodbridge Hotel, 4:00 p.m., Iselin, NJ
Toni Blake, October 25, Katy Budget Books, 7:00 p.m., 2450 Fry Road, Houston, TX (other events at the author’s Web site including Parma, OH and Lansing, MI).
Gwyn Cready, October 25, Eljay’s Books, 5:30 p.m., 3233 West Liberty Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA.
Kiki Hamilton, October 26, Barnes & Noble, 7:00 p.m., 19401 Alderwood Mall Parkway, Lynnwood, WA.
Toni Blake, Beverly Jenkins, Kerrelyn Sparks, October 27, Barnes & Noble, 7:00 p.m., The Streets of Westchester, 9455 Civic Centre Blvd., West Chester, OH.
Emerald City Writers’ Conference Book Fair, (features a large number of romance authors), October, 29, Westin Hotel, 4:30 p.m., 600 Bellevue Way NE, Bellevue, WA.
Jodi Thomas, October 29, Sam’s Club, 1:00 p.m., Amarillo, Texas (other events at the author’s Web site including Waco and San Antonio, TX).
Nora Roberts/JD Robb, Mary Blayney, Patricia Gaffney, Mary Kay McComas , Gail Barrett, Susan Donovan & Marisa de los Santos, October 29, Turn the Page Bookstore, 12:00 p.m., 18 N. Main St., Boonsboro, MD.
Lauren Willig, Tasha Alexander, and Deanna Raybourn, November 1, Mysterious Bookshop, 6:30 p.m., 58 Warren St., New York, NY.
Margaret Mallory, November 1, Barnes & Noble, 7:00 p.m., 1530 Black Lake Blvd. SW, Olympia, WA
Rachel Caine and Chloe Neill, November 3, Barnes & Noble, 7:00 p.m., 3333 Oakview Dr, Omaha, NE (other events for Ms. Caine at the Barnes & Noble Web site including Roseville, MN and Muskegon, MI).
Shannon K. Butcher, Angie Fox, Alexandra Ivy, Jade Lee, & Shiloh Walker, November 5, Rose’s Bookhouse, 12:00 p.m., 8935 Veterans Memorial Parkway, O’Fallon, MO.
Diane Kelly, November 5, Barnes & Noble, 12:00 p.m., Parks Mall at I-20 and Cooper Street in Arlington, TX.
Carrie Bebris, Jeanne M. Dams, and D.E. Johnson, November 6, Aunt Agatha’s, 1:00 p.m., 213 South Fourth Avenue, Ann Arbor, MI.
Kristan Higgins, November 9, Durham Public Library, 7:30 p.m., Durham, CT.
N.M. Kelby, November 10, Square Books, 6:00 p.m., 160 Courthouse Square, Oxford, Mississippi (other events at the author’s Web site including Minneapolis).
Janette Kenny, November 12, Books a Million, TBA, 1843 Village West Parkway Kansas City, KS.
Sci-Fi Authorfest V (features a large number of authors including Meljean Brooks, Lilith Saintcrow, Ursula K. Le Guin), November 13, Powell’s Books, 4:30 p.m., 3415 SW Cedar Hills Blvd, Beaverton, OR.
Claire Sanders, November 19, Katy Budget Books,1:30 p.m., 2450 Fry Road, Houston, TX.
Sheila Roberts, November 26, A Book for All Seasons, 1:00 p.m., 703 Highway 2, Leavenworth, WA.
Regina Jeffers, November 26, Park Road Books, 1:00 p.m., 4139 Park Road, Charlotte, NC.
Diana Gabaldon, November 29, The Poisoned Pen, 7:00 p.m., 4014 N Goldwater Blvd # 101, Scottsdale, AZ.
Janet Evanovich, December 3, Barnes & Noble, 1:00 p.m., Colonial Plaza Market Center, 2418 E Colonial Drive, Orlando, FL.
Mandy Baggot, December 8, Waterstones, 5:30 p.m., 7-9 High Street, Salisbury Wiltshire
Tami Hoag, December 27, Barnes & Noble, 7:00 p.m., Apache Mall, 1201 12th Street SW Suite 425,Rochester, MN
– LinnieGayl AAR
I definitely agree with Mr. Krueger when he said that “”authors writing a series can either write a character that remains static over the series, or they can write a character that changes and ages over time.””
Thanks for this interesting post.
Linnie, if what I said makes sense, that’s great. I’d be willing to bet that Krueger’s set of distractions vary somewhat from mine, but we’d probably look at each other’s list of distracting elements, laugh, and sympathize. Sigh. I still haven’t brushed that poor dog!
Elizabeth, thanks for the insight on the writing. Mr. krueger’s comments about the house being too distracting are defiitely starting to make sense.
Thanks, SuperWendy!
For those in the Southern California area – THIS Saturday 10/22 Tessa Dare, Sylvia Day and Zoe Archer will be signing at New & Recycled Romances in Costa Mesa.
http://www.newrrbooks.com/photo-album.htm
It’s a great bookstore to check out. They predominately deal in used books, but do have a selection of new titles to purchase as well.
LOL! I’m with Krueger on the coffee house idea. I have a lovely home office and when we renovate (God help us!) I’ll have an even lovelier studio just out in the garden. But a lot of the time I work in the local library or a coffee shop after I’ve knocked off the absolutely necessary morning chores. The house is far too distracting. It’s too easy to get up and make a coffee, or pot of tea, and too easy to think “”Must call so-and-so”” or “”Better brush the dog”” or even “”That bathroom needs cleaning. Stupid stuff. Going to the library gets me away from all that. Dog needs a brush, though. Might do that tomorrow instead of a load of laundry.
I went to a Diana Gabaldon signing here in South Australia when she was promoting Echo in the Bone. She was fabulous. Very funny and forthright, and very revealing to hear how her process works. Listening to how other writers write is endlessly fascinating to me.