I’m in the Atlanta airport right now, getting ready to board…seems like I just got here yesterday.  Wait, I did…

Yesterday, after rounding up my baggage in the claim area, I met the driver Robert, who had already arranged his schedule of dropby bookstores.  It felt strange to be coming through the Atlanta airport for something other than DragonCon.  Rebecca and I have come to DragonCon for the past twenty years or so, missing only once; it is definitely one of our favorite cons of the year.  The town seemed empty without all the extra fans.

On the short flight from Chicago, I had managed to work on the draft of the Writers of the Future video script, but while I rode in the car, I used my laptop (love my new, small MacBook Air; it’s perfect for traveling) and my Verizon card to log on and catch up on email, answering questions from the audiobook narrator for the upcoming rerelease of my first novel Resurrection, Inc. from audible.com.  Brian Herbert called and we discussed a few more changes to Sisterhood of Dune, and then I hit the first bookstore.

We hit 7 dropby bookstores throughout the day.  [Insert description of all the other days and all the other dropby bookstores.]  It’s now two weeks since the release of Hellhole, and with the evening signing in Decatur, GA, Brian and I have hit a total of 98 bookstores.  So far. And I still have Dallas and Houston to go.

Because I have so many special fans in the Atlanta area, Tor Books arranged for a pizza party at Capozzi’s, a local Italian restaurant near Eagle Eye Books.  Fifteen very close friends came, including Special Forces members, DragonCon staff, other writers, and just friends; it was great to see them outside of a convention setting. We had plenty of pizza and salad and cannoli, then trooped over to the bookstore.

With DragonCon Writing Track director Nancy Knight

With Special Forces members Brian Conway, Melissa Arredondo,
and David James

The bookstore hadn’t expected quite so many people to show up.  All the seats were quickly filled, then people sat on the floor, then stood in the back.

Maybe Hellhole isn’t such a bad place after all…

David James and Brian Conway try to intimidate the audience

After my talk, I was whisked to a back room where a chair and table were set up, and I signed books until the line was done.  Our friend Shannon, who is always disturbingly helpful, took a great many photos.  (Shannon had been the media escort for Rebecca and me when we were guests at a Disneyworld celebration in 1996 and we’ve kept in touch ever since.)

Back at the hotel afterward, I walked a couple of blocks to have a beer at my favorite Atlanta microbrewery, Max Lager’s; two years ago at DragonCon, Max Lager’s had brewed a special “AnderZone IPA” and hosted a large party and reception for me and my fans.  Now, I just quietly enjoyed a beer.

Up again at 5:45 AM to get to the airport.  Dallas tonight—my first Dallas-area signing in fifteen years—at the Borders in Allen, TX at 7 PM.