Starting at 8:15 AM, after I had run to the Starbucks around the corner from the hotel, Brian and I met in his room, picked up the two phone extensions, and began working our way through 13 radio interviews around the country, one after another, with occasional breaks.  We talked on stations from Raleigh/Durham, Los Angeles, Grand Rapids (MI), Portland (ME), Baltimore (MD), Charleston (WV), Boston, Peoria (IL), Colorado Springs, Denver, Cleveland (OH, Pittsburgh (PA), and Jackson (TN).  Toward the end, in between interviews, I ran back to my room to change into dressier clothes.  Finally, at 2:15 the last interview ended and we met our escort, Jim Bride, a man who is extremely interesting and knowledgeable about the Boston area.

For the afternoon we had a talk, signing, and tour at 38 Studios, a gaming company founded by Curt Schilling (famous pitcher for Boston Red Sox), Todd MacFarlane (creator of Spawn), and fantasy author R.A. Salvatore.  A full room of programmers, artists, and game designers got their books signed and asked us questions, then we received a tour of their facility (in an enormous old brick mill building), seeing the amazing new graphics and innovation for a fantasy MMORPG they are developing.

Signing at 38 Studios

With R.A. Salvatore

Afterward, on the way to our evening signing at the Harvard Coop, Jim Bride took us on a brief literary tour of the area, stopping at the beautiful and serene Walden Pond and then Thoreau’s cabin; we then drove past the old homes of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Louisa May Alcott, and Nathaniel Hawthorne.

On the shores of Walden Pond

Signing the guest book inside Thoreau’s cabin

For the signing in the Harvard Coop, the store manager Richard had written an extensive and well-research four-page introduction for our talk.  By this time, after talking all day, our brains were exhausted, but the fans in the crowd gave us energy and we finished our talk and signing.  Every person there received a free WINDS OF DUNE slingsack, and we signed the remaining copies of WINDS in the store, before going out for a nice seafood dinner with Jim Bride.

We got back to our rooms at about 10:30 for decompression and sleep before starting all over again on Friday.