March 27, the second day of my HELLHOLE AWAKENING book tour, was my birthday, and I celebrated it in Dallas with a terrific signing at a Barnes & Noble. I flew in from San Diego, then arranged to meet some friends as well as a large group of 501st Legion members for dinner at the Cheesecake Factory adjacent to the bookstore.  Total of 27 people at the dinner—which included cards and a North Texas Squad t-shirt and patch, and a cheesecake with candles, before the group rushed over to the back room of the store to suit up for the talk.

We had a very large crowd, over 80 people, and I gave a talk about my main influences from Frank Herbert and Rush, gave out door prizes (including some leftover petrified gummi sandworms from the PAUL OF DUNE tour, a LAST DAYS OF KRYPTON t-shirt, and a BUTLERIAN JIHAD mug), then signed lots of copies of HELLHOLE AWAKENING, CLOCKWORK ANGELS, and the Dan Shamble novels.

It was a terrific birthday.

Tomorrow, heading off to Houston for the next stop.