A Book Signing to Remember (despite the spinning room)

Song of the Day: She Will Be Loved – Maroon 5

A few weeks ago, before the madness of the holidays consumed me, I participated in my first ever official book signing. with romantic suspense authors Melissa Ohnoutka and Will Graham. It was a grand event held at Drew’s Pastry Place. A pastry shop you might ask.  Yes, we meet there, along with fellow MuseTracker, Stacey, every Friday. Drew’s support of our merry band affectionately dubbed The Usual Suspects is amazing and it only made sense to have our signing there.

Like relatives who cause you severe mental anguish by forcing upon you an endless slide show of their vacation to *insert boring, mind-draining destination here*, I am sharing my experience with you. And what a great turn-out we had! So many family, friends, and even a few fans came out to support us.

Let me begin with a reminder. You may remember from a previous blog post, Dressing the Part – Corsets, Torture, & Voyeuristic Pirates, that I intended to dress as a pirate wench for books signings and bought a corset. Investment, I said. After my dear hubby cinched me up and I was on my way to the signing, I learned a valuable lesson. Corsets and driving do not mix. Take a moment, if you will, close your eyes and visually imagine my distress –back straight as an arrow, boobs doing the steering, cursing each right light…

I digress.

For your viewing pleasure, I give you a pictorial of the book signing.

Quick! Take the blasted picture before I pass out! Must...smile..then breathe...

The Authors in question. Melissa Ohnoutka, Will Graham, and yours truly.

The set-up. Each of us were given flowers, a lovely gift from a fellow writer. Thanks, Nancy!

It all felt surreal. I iz real author now.

Supportive friends!

Who's that behind Melissa? Best-selling author Christie Craig showing us the love.

Enjoying a rum ball. Yum!

The beautiful cake Drew whipped up for us.

We couldn't cut the cake without Drew. I won't mention why he was grinning so, but I will say it wasn't because we gushed about his creation.

The Usual Suspects. It was so wonderful to share the signing with such great friends.

I couldn’t have asked for a more spectacular book signing.  Despite the corset, I didn’t pass out from lack of oxygen and managed to stay quite coherent throughout. Once my boobs drove us home, I was so glad to have hubby un-harness me. But you know, I’d do it again in a heartbeat.

The Most Interesting Man In The World- Dos Equis Eat Your Heart Out

You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you.  ~Ray Bradbury

By: Stacey Purcell

Is he the most interesting man in the world?

Well, you’d have to read Prodromos and Spider’s Dance to find out, but I was lucky enough to pin down Nicholas White for a short interview. He’s funny, brave, smart and a hero in real life- I just can’t find his secret cape anywhere! I hope you enjoy learning about a man who lives by his own code.

Who are you?

My name is Nicholas White. I’m a computer security consultant and electronic forensics analyst.

Where do you live?

Currently, my fiancée Michaela and I live in Houston, but we’re considering a move to the UK. That’s home to her, and I don’t have any family left, so there are no real ties here in the States.

Are you the hero of your own story?

“Hero” might be too strong a word. I ran across some information I wasn’t supposed to, and all of a sudden my only goal was to get out of the mess alive. It was close, but I had some luck, and got out of it.

Do you embrace conflict?

My grandfather was an Irishman from the Auld Sod, and he taught me “Na sir ‘s na seachainn an cath”: Neither seek nor shun the fight. I don’t like confrontation, and won’t start one, but if pressed…. well, as I said, I don’t look for it.

How does the author see you?

Will Graham has done what I would say a more than fair job. His title, SPIDER’S DANCE, is a little over the top, and he made me a lot calmer than I am in real life. Michaela laughs a lot at some of the things he wrote about and, according to her, I was nowhere near as cool when we were dating as Will described me, but I’d say he got me around 95% accurate.

Do you keep your achievements to yourself?

Various Non-Disclosure Agreements over the years, you know. Most of them have probably expired, if such things ever do, but frankly, I think most people would find them dull and very un-interesting. I know Will had to get permission from the Department of Justice and the FBI to write about some of the incidents in SPIDER’S DANCE and especially PRODROMOS, but I’d really rather not go into that.

Do you have any skills?

Well, I know a little bit about computers.

What, if anything, haunts you?

That one we don’t talk about. A couple of cases that didn’t work out the way I’d hoped. Michaela yells at me all the time about that, especially a young girl who went missing several years ago. I wasn’t called in until she’d been gone for two weeks, and it didn’t end well. Her body was found almost two years later, but that one still bothers me sometimes. A lot.

Have you ever failed at anything?

Are you kidding? My successes might seem impressive, but when compared against the failures, the successes pale into minuscule insignificance.

Have you ever failed anyone?

I’ve made some mistakes that had unintentional consequences, but deliberately set out? No.

Are you honorable?

I try to be. Whether I am or not, well, I’m not the best judge of that. I know I can irritate people easily, but I don’t do it on purpose.

Have you ever had an adventure?

One or two. I’ve been fortunate that my work has taken me to places and cities I probably never would have visited. Although, there was this one time in Las Vegas that was supposed to be a vacation, but it turned into something else entirely. Will Graham has written about that one, too. It will be in THRILLER 3: LOVE IS MURDER from ITW, June of 2012.

What is the most important thing that ever happened to you?

Ironically, a murder. A co-worker was killed in his office, and my fiancée was one of the investigating officers. That’s how we met. That’s a true story. We met over a homicide. Life works funny sometimes, but there you have it. Tell me God has no sense of humor… go ahead, try.

Do you have any hobbies?

If you want to count my DVD collection, I guess I collect old movies. I love the old Universal Monsters, anything with Bogart, Alfred Hitchcock’s movies (nothing past PSYCHO, I’m afraid) and I read voraciously. We have an iPad, and a Kindle, and a Nook, but I still buy traditional books depending on the subject or author.

What’s on your iPod?

Is there any music after the Rat Pack?  (laughing)  I like a mix of stuff, but most of my music taste goes back to the 50’s and the 60’s.   

What are the last three books you read?

BLOOD & TREASURE by Jennifer Bray-Weber, TARGET OF BETRAYAL by Melissa Ohnoutka, and THE BLACK STILETTO by Raymond Benson. I enjoyed and unreservedly recommend all three of them!