Dear Friends,
It’s almost time. THE BLOOD MIRROR is coming out October 25thUSA/27th UK! It is with much excitement and some trepidation that I announce my tour for the (big?) release.
Borderlands San Francisco, CA – Tuesday, October 25 at 6pm
(RSVP to the Facebook Event and/or add event to your Google Calendar)
A store we love so much we re-scheduled the whole tour so we could make it on the one day they’re available. (The staff is leaving for a week the next morning to host events at World Fantasy.)
Favorite memory:
When perhaps the most award-winning audiobook narrator in the world Simon Vance said, “You’re an excellent reader. You could do your own books.” He was flattering me and it’s not at all true, but DANG was I flattered.
Tattered Cover, Denver, CO – Wednesday, October 26 at 7pm
(RSVP to the Facebook Event and/or add event to your Google Calendar)
I’ve now visited three different Tattered Cover locations on my tours. This time we’re back at the beautiful Colfax location. If you imagine an old English library with cozy nooks and warm wood, you’re imagining this place. Book lovers rejoice!
Favorite memory:
I was reminded what a privilege it is to be a writer when I met a woman for whom I did a small thing for me that was a big thing for her at a low point in her life. (Intentionally vague so I don’t sound like ra-ra me, I’m so great.)
Another was when a guy from New Jersey who was a HUGE fan just happened to be browsing in the store with no idea I was even on tour, and he looked up and there I was. As he told the story, a couple of fans from Germany, said, “That just happened to us, too!”
Schuler Books, Lansing, MI – Thursday, October 27 at 7pm
(RSVP to the Facebook Event and/or add event to your Google Calendar)
A new stop for us, but I remember fondly that a bookseller at Schuler Books wrote my first big (very positive!) review for my debut novel. It was a huge encouragement. I’m also delighted to get back to Michigan where I attended college: “Take that, Professor Unnamed! I made it!”
Favorite memory: To be made!
Joseph-Beth Bookstore, Lexington, KY – Friday, October 28 at 7pm
(RSVP to the Facebook Event and/or add event to your Google Calendar)
A new stop, but I’ve been told for years how fantastic this store is and how much I need to go there on tour. We’ve had amazing experiences at Joseph-Beth in Cincinnati, so we have high hopes.
Favorite memory: Could be of you!
Mysterious Galaxy, San Diego, CA – Saturday, October 29 at 2pm
(RSVP to the Facebook Event and/or add event to your Google Calendar)
One of the greatest indie SFF bookstores in the country and our good friends. Always a highlight of a book tour.
Favorite memory: Hanging out with staff until 1am at a cool 1950’s diner after my signing and hearing stories about wilder authors than I am. 😉
University Bookstore, Seattle, WA – Sunday, October 30 at 1pm
(RSVP to the Facebook Event and/or add event to your Google Calendar)
Back in the glorious Pacific Northwest, where Duane W. reigns over a magnificent SFF section. He knows everyone and everything. On a lucky day, you might see Terry Brooks or Robin Hobb browsing the aisles here.
Favorite memory: Two–Seeing Terry friggin’ BROOKS in the audience as I’m trying to do my reading for my first ever tour. And, trying to spell the Hawaiian young man’s name that I swear was 16 letters long. It ended ‘-aloha’, that’s all I know. This nice young man may or may not be the reason that I hand out sticky notes and ask for names. Even if your name is “Bob, with the usual Z.”
Powell’s, Beaverton, OR – Tuesday, November 1 7pm
(RSVP to the Facebook Event and/or add event to your Google Calendar)
My home bookstore, where the staff is smart, the authors are kind, and every reader is above average. Everyone knows the downtown Powells, but THIS is where the SFF cognoscenti go.
Favorite memory: Trying to number the books I signed as a special bonus. Between trying to talk to the readers, shake hands, answer questions, and write an inscription on the first page, I signed at least two books “To Brent Weeks, -Brent Weeks” and number #137 three times. Not my finest hour. (This may be the reason I stopped numbering books.)
Blackguard Captains!
We will again be selecting a few readers at each location to be a street team. This means if you like to share your excitement for Lightbringer and would like to help me out at my signing, you could get free books, front row seats, and even loot. Click HERE if you’re interested.
Some Answers to Some Common Questions:
A… uh, book tour? What does one do at a book tour, uh, stop?
We all get together and read quietly while holding our lighters aloft and swaying. First one to finish the book yells Bingo! Then all the losers have to tear up the pages they didn’t read yet, crumple them, set them on fire with their lighter, and throw the flaming pages at the person who finished first. Survivors win a napalm bookmark.
Oh, sorry.
You come and sit like in class. For 45-60 minutes, the author may talk, read a chapter or short story, or just take questions. Usually some talking and then time for questions at the end. You raise your hand and get called on. Real questions from the audience are the norm; long monologues that don’t actually contain questions are discouraged. You will normally remember the question you really wanted to ask only as you’re on your way home.
After the talking part, you get a chance to meet me and get your book personalized (“To Jedidiah Be’elzebub Moncrief,”) and signed. You have to stand in line for this part. So either sit in front (I’m not a spitter, honest), or be ready to chat with other book lovers for a while. We do some things to make the line more efficient if the crowd is big, but I’m always going to shake your hand, make eye contact, say hello, and sign your book. If you have a brief question, you’re welcome to ask it. It’s not expected, though. I’ll stay until every book is signed. (Some stores have their own protocol for how many books you can get signed each time you go through the line.) You can get a picture with me if you want.
If you don’t like lines or have elsewhere to be, so long as I have permission from the hosting store, I will sign some books when I arrive at the store and have them set aside so you can just grab and go–even before the talk if you like. (Hey, maybe your kid or your sister is a fan, but you’ve got no interest in fantasy. No problem.)
Can you come to my city?
Yes!… if it’s on the list above. Yes!… maybe next time. We do try to add new stops every tour.
Why aren’t you coming to my city? Why, Brent? Why do you hate North Dakotans/Tibetans/Merovingians/people in a town five minutes away from your tour stop?
Short answer: I go where my publisher sends me. And every Montanan hates North Dakotans.
Longer answer: It requires a fortuitous confluence of factors for a stop to get on a book tour list. Some of this is data driven: have a lot of my books sold in a certain geographical area with a certain population density? Some of it’s driven by the bookstores: I sell lots of books in the D.C. and NYC areas, but there aren’t any sizable bookstores that want to host SFF events. (Yeah, even to sell lots of books. Baffling.) Some of it’s driven by experience: We went to this town, and had an awesome experience with the bookstore and the fans… let’s go back! Some of it is scheduling: a great bookstore might want me to come and we’ve had great luck before, but they can only host me on days that I can’t be there. Some of this is simply Orbit’s budget: I’m on the West Coast, so the East Coast is just harder, and other countries didn’t make it onto the list at all this time. (This is a big country: it takes longer for me to fly to New York than it takes a New Yorker to fly to London.)
When’s the next book come out?
I hate you. Ahem. No, honestly, I’m working hard on it already. I’m not going to make any promises to fans (I have made promises to my publishers!) except this: I will continue to work hard not just to finish the book, but to finish it in a manner that makes it a compelling capstone to the Lightbringer Series. One factor in why this book tour isn’t longer is to give me more time to write. So forgive me if I can’t make it to you this time–I’ll try to make it up to you with more awesome epic fantasy, faster!
