London Pix (Finally)

I’ve been lazy about posting pix from the London trip. All that resizing and formatting… feh. But I needed a blog update for today, so I pulled some together. More will follow.

So as many of you know, I snaked into London just before they closed the airports. The above sign was what I saw getting off the tube. The tube, BTW, is what British people call the subway. I would make fun of that, but theirs goes right to the airport, like a fucking civilized modern city, so I was able to zip right to and from Heathrow without spending a fortune on a cab or car rental, or having to wait around forever. I wish New York would get up to speed with that. Getting to JFK or LaGuardia is a pain in the ass.

But I digress.

On Thursday I just got my bearings, had proper English brekkie, and visited some bookstores, like the one my buddy Dave lives next to in Camden Town:

Visiting stores was a mixed blessing, because almost every major bookstore I visited was sold out of Desert Spears. The initial print run was already sold out, and the second printing was still being shipped. Might be days before they had copies.

So on one hand, HOLY SHIT! That is fucking awesome! Sold out all over town! Me! Ha!

On the other hand, you mean to say I just crossed an ocean so I could sign books, and there aren’t any to sign? That is bullcrap. But what can you do?

The next day I visited the fine folks at Harper Collins UK, where they again had a huge display of my books in the lobby. Emma, my editor, says that the display case is under constant video surveillance, because people are constantly trying to swipe the first edition copies of bestselling books it often houses:

After the Harper visit (where I did the video interview I posted the other day), I had a public signing at The Forbidden Planet London Megastore, which was once again a great time.

Two-time Peephole contest winner Dwayne didn’t think I would recognize him, so I called him out in line as soon as he showed up:

“Peephole contest” sounds kind of dirty, now that I think of it…

Anyway, there were awesome Desert Spear posters at London Book Fair:

And at the Voyager Books 15th Anniversary party, photographer Keira snapped a shot of  with two of the lovely ladies of Harper Voyager, Alice my publicist (center), and Emma my editor (left). I feel bad that I’ve forgotten the name of the guy with the brown beard. Beautiful women make me forgetful:

Posted on May 15, 2010 at 6:17 pm by PeatB
Filed under Appearances, Bookplate, Desert Spear, Events, Fans, Sales, Warded Man, World Traveler, Writing
4 Comments »

4 responses to “London Pix (Finally)”

  1. Man, those photos look awesome! How much I wish I could’ve been there! I’m glad you had a good time [and Über-glad I pre-ordered my book].

    Waterstones rocks, baby!

    I have never before thought about how daft ‘The Tube’ sounds….huh. There y’go, teaching me about my own culture again, heh.

    Glad you enjoyed nodnoL, I think part of me is waitin’ for The Daylight War almost as much for the tour as the book – just so I can make it this time around, hehe.

    Didja get to keep any posters?

    Posted by Elicius, on May 16th, 2010 at 6:24 am
  2. We were supposed to get posters, but the stupid con lost them. Gr.

    Posted by Peat, on May 16th, 2010 at 10:13 am
  3. Awesome photos Peat, especially the HC lobby, that’s amazing. Makes my bookcase display/shrine look pitiful. haha.
    Shame about the posters, that really sucks!

    Posted by Lauren, on May 16th, 2010 at 7:43 pm
  4. Makes me even more annoyed I couldn’t make the signing that was only the couple of hours away from here!

    Posted by Mark, on May 21st, 2010 at 7:36 pm