The rain was falling pretty steadily by now, so we took refuge in a bar and had a few beers before heading back to the hotel to dry out. Earlier in the day, we’d seen signs for a free gig where Taylor Swift was playing down by the NBC building, and I joked that I wanted to go see her. The idea was nixed, but turns out we got to see her anyway…For dinner we went to Little Italy, and had a lovely pasta dish followed by a Cannoli (which I’d only had for the first time recently in Baltimore). As we were finishing dinner, a large posse of folk came into the restaurant who all looked very showbiz, and as we were looking at them, a tall blonde girl came in with them, none other than Taylor Swift herself. They went to their table, and I resisted the urge to be uncool and ask her for a photo, which, given how the rest of the trip turned out, I’m regretting.Anyway, it was Book Expo the next day, and the event itself was really busy, with lots of folk coming over to the booth, getting their books signed and chatting about what the 40K universe was all about. It was quite an experience to talk to people who knew little or nothng about Warhammer and trying to explain it to them in a way that wouldn’t turn them off it and get them excited enough to stock BL books in their library/school/book shop. Overall, I think I succeeded, and everyone who took a book away looked very happy with their new possession. Interest in BL was high, and we could have gone through our entire stock of books on the first day. We’d brought a load of Courage and Honour, as well as The Killing Ground and Heldenhammer, but we also had Henry Zou’s novel, Emperor’s Mercy. The piles of books you saw in the picture of the booth had been severely dented by the time day one came to an end.Inbetween signing and chatting, I took a look around the show, which was pretty damn big (though apparently it was smaller than last year) and picked up some freebies along the way, some comics, some books and some flyers. I managed to see China Miéville and get a signed copy of his latest book, The City and the City. I also managed to get down to see Julianne Moore, who was signing her latest book, Freckleface Strawberry and the Dodgeball Bully. Not my usual kind of book, but I figured with a wee one on the way, having a signed children’s book might be a neat little present or memory to show them one day. I got Karin Slaughter’s audio book signed and picked up a load of novels from authors I didn’t know, but whose books looked interesting. I also talked to lots of people at various stands, who, it turned out, were all the heads of those imprints. Thankfully, I acquitted myself well (I think) and didn’t make any gross faux-pas that will come back to haunt me.With day one over, we went for dinner at a Brazilian restaurant that brings you meat until you tell them to stop. We made it through the ten meat feast and never once turned the little red/green drum to red. Feeling suitably sated, we had a nightcap in Hurleys before turning in for the night.The next day was just as busy for us, and we gave out virtually all of our books to a very appreciative crowd. Strangely, the Saturday didn’t seem as busy as the Friday, but it was still a full-on day. Across from us, were the Romance Writers of America and just around the corner were the ladies from Ellora’s Cave – who, I’m told, write women’s erotica. They seemed very taken with the darkness of the 40K universe (and my accent) and have promised to send me some of their books, so you may see a steamier side to the dark millennium soon! George is convinced that their next books are all going to feature a brooding Scotsman…so part of me is a bit scared of what might come through the post ☺.George did a signing for his book, The Affinity Bridge (an instant steampunk zombie classic) which went really well and was a mightily queued indeed. Kyle, George’s publicity gal, did a great job managing the queue, getting books ready and making sure everyone got their names signed correctly. I even managed to snag a copy, signed with our word of the weekend, which we had immense, purile fun getting Americans to say as a toast. The only sour note of that day was that I missed getting a book signed by James Ellroy, who I only saw was doing a signing ten minutes after it ended. Despite that, the day was great fun and we ended on another high note.After getting changed, we headed to the St. Andrews bar to the Osprey party, which was great fun and the folk there were really nice. Turned out the barman was Scottish too, and I was able to get a pint of heavy there, which amazed me, as it’s getting hard enough to get a pint of heavy in Scotland, let alone New York. Dinner that night was in a great barbeque place Vince knew, though it took us a while to get to it, as we had to go all the way round the block to get there, since half the streets were blocked off. Only when we got to the restaurant did we find out why. President Obama and his wife had decided to visit the theatre that night and we ate in the shadow of armoured cars and scary Secret Service man in black suits and shades.After dinner, George and I headed to a place called Blue Fin for a couple of drinks and we had a great time there, becoming a centre of gravity for several couples who formed a big circle of conversation and laughs with us. At closing time, the barmaid gave us directions to a secret bar within the hotel, telling us to tell the doorman that she’d sent us. Following the stairs and secret elevator to the top of the building, we nervously said the barmaid sent us to the guy on the door and he let us in no problem. Inside was a bar like you see on tv shows like Dirty, Sexy, Money or Ugly Betty, filled with the beautiful people and strange men in white Stetsons. It was all quite bizarre and the drinks were ruinously priced, but its was a great night, and we ended up talking to loads of people, as George and I had our writerly-rock-star-swagger going on and, buoyed up by the success of the day, we were a force of nature – even if I do say so myself.As you might suspect, Sunday was a little more subdued, with the day being pretty quiet. We’d given away most of our books, and spent most of the day wandering the other stalls and chatting to other exhibitors. I did a signing that morning, and we managed to go through all two hundred copies of Courage and Honour. Sunday was a shorter day than the others, so with all our books gone and a feeling of a job well done glowing in our hearts, we headed out to dinner after a few hours rest back at the hotel. This time, we headed to another New York landmark, Katz’s Diner. That name might not mean much to you until I tell you it was the setting for the famous scene in When Harry met Sally, where the old lady leans over and says, ‘I’ll have what she’s having,’ after Meg Ryan’s shown that men might not always know when a woman’s faking… The food was great and Vince then showed us around the Village, where we saw lots of cool buildings and went to Washington Square Park, where, hoping I was continuing the Famous People theme of our trip, I took a picture of this guy playing guitar to a crowd of folk. I don’t know who he was, but everyone seemed to really like him, and there were lots of people taking pictures, so if you recognise him, please let me know!Vince left on Monday morning, so George and I headed for breakfast and Toys R Us, where he spent loads on bits and pieces for his son, and I spent money on Bobba Fett and a Storm Trooper…for research purposes…After that, we took a trip uptown to the Flatiron Building, where George’s publisher, Tor, is based. After getting some cool pictures of the building, we went out for lunch with Liz Gorinsky, George’s editor, and spent a very pleasant afternoon with her. We also met a few of the editors at Tor, who were all really nice and it was good to chat to them about their current and forthcoming projects.With lunch over, it was time to head home, and the voyage back across the Atlantic was thankfully a quiet one. It’s been a couple of days now, and I’m back in the groove of UK time, so it’s time to get back to work. This was a long post, but I hope you enjoyed my little travelogue…Cheers and talk to you soon with more work-related stuff…Graham.
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