The Master of Verona

Making New Friends

The signing at the Book Cellar was a lot of fun. Met a couple of really interesting authors, most notably Geoffrey Edwards, author of FIRE BELL IN THE NIGHT. I started reading it last night and it grabbed me, despite being far from my usual time and place - pre-Civil War America. Jeff is a great guy, and we hung around until they kicked up out swapping publishing stories. Turns out he's the winner of Gather.com's First Chapter contest - quite cool. So go buy his book.

I also got to sit down with my friend Chris Walsh for an interview. He's a new contributer for Metroblogging Chicago, and I gave him an over-long interview fraught with interruptions while I signed copies. I've mentioned him before on the blog, as we met during Defiant Theatre's production of A Clockwork Orange, for which I designed the violence. He's having a great acting year, which makes me envious - I've taken the year off to write more. A good choice, but I still feel the call of the stage every day...

Just last night a new interview with me went live. I say new, but when I read it I didn't at first remember giving it. Because it was something I had put together three months ago (!). However, I'm delighted it's up because there are a few nuggets of information that haven't show up in other places - mostly my road to getting published. Hence the title of the blog - Novel Journey. Thanks, Gina!

I've been e-chatting with Michelle Moran, author of Nefertiti. She is just a lovely woman, and is enjoying a deserved success with her novel. So go buy that too.

I'm going to try to be better about posting - this once-a-week thing is ridiculous. The problem is, all I have to talk about at the moment is Book 3, or the Othello book, or the Shakespeare novel, all of which have been progressing this past week. And I don't want to discuss them, as I tend to be a spoilery human being (Rosebud was the sled! Vader is Luke's father! The shrink is a ghost! Verbal is Kaiser! They were on Earth the whole time!). The only other thing I could do is post a few chapters from the new novel, which now has a title... Oh, hey! A post about the title! Okay. I'll do that tomorrow.

Cheers, DB

Book Cellar Tonight!

Oops. Forgot to post the reminder until just now - reading and signing at the Book Cellar in, oh, about 90 minutes! Yikes. I'm out the door.

Cheers!

DB

Wooster, Release Dates, and 69

Having spent this week writing chapters 2 & 3 of Fortune's Fool, I've not paid much attention to the blog. Apologies. But it means there's loads of stuff to talk about.

Firstly, I'm off Friday to Wooster Ohio for a lecture, a signing, and a combat workshop. I'll be at the College of Wooster's theatre on Friday at 4pm to give a Q&A lecture on being a professional actor. Then at 10:30 Saturday morning it's a signing in the Lowry building, then at 3 I'm back in the theatre to do a little stage combat overview. I haven't been back to Woo in fifteen years, so it'll be fun. Jan and Dash are coming, just for fun. It'll be a hoot.

But not as much of a hoot as it was to hear about release dates from my editor at St. Martin's. The second book in the Mercutio series (title STILL in flux) will be coming out Fall 2008, at the same time the trade paperback of THE MASTER OF VERONA is hitting the shelves. I was particularly delighted to hear this news, as I was unaware that there was even going to be a trade paperback edition. I've been hoarding my ARC copies, since I thought that was as close as I was going to get. But no! Trade paperbacks, not mass market! Since that's my  format of choice, I am thrilled.

And, finally, there have been a few more reviews/interviews that have shown up. The first is over at the Blogger News Network. Then come three inter-related pieces, all thanks to Marshal Zeringue at Campaign For The American Reader. The links are here, here, and here. The middle one is my favorite - Marshal has been taking an unscientific poll of authors, challenging them to open their book to page 69 and see if it's a decent representation of the novel as a whole. As you will see, I think mine is.

And that's it for the moment. I'm trying to figure out if I should create a poll for the title of the second book. The one we all like best reads well on paper but is a bitch to say aloud. Not a good thing. If I figure out how to insert a poll, I'll do it when I get back from Woo. Meanwhile, it's back to book three - large swaths of which seem to be set in Avignon. It's the first time I've really left Italy in the story, and I'm having a ball.

Cheers, DB

Signing Reminder

Just a note to remind everyone that tonight I'll be reading and signing at KATE THE GREAT'S on Broadway in Chicago. We start at 7:00. See you there!

Thanks to B&N in the Loop

Thanks to everyone at Barnes & Noble down in the Loop for being so very wonderful at today's signing. I had a lot of fun - and walked away with a free Peach Tea, as well as leaving behind several signed books. Hope to see you all again soon!

Cheers!

DB

Real Life Intrudes - an Apology

Dear patrons of Bloomsbury Books, Ashland, OR,

I'm sorry, I won't be there Friday night. In a case of a rude intrusion of real life stupidity on the world of book promotion, my wife's wallet was stolen at a gas station in Flint, Michigan this last Saturday. The thief charged the cards to the limits (at gas stations, mostly) before we discovered the loss. And, of course, that was the money I was using to rent a car and stay in hotels in San Fran and Ashland (actually, Medford).

Now, don't fret. We'll get the money back - just not in time to make the trip (actually 7 to 10 business days).

It's a stupid, asinine, ridiculous thing - moreso as I had to cancel a flight that was already booked. But as an actor and an author with a young son, I don't have much in the way of reserves for idiocy like this.

So if someone ever offers to gas up your car on their credit card in exchange for cash, ask to see their ID. We gotta figure that's what the person was doing - either that, or he had a super-tanker that he was filling up along the strip off of US-23.

To make it up to the lovely people at Bloomsbury, I have offered to sign and personalize copies for anyone who comes into the store and orders one, then send it to the store for pick up. And anyone who wants to have a phone book discussion or an IM chat, I'm up for it. As a way of saying I'm sorry. It's just life, intruding.

Thank you, and believe me to be,

Very truly yours,

David Blixt

Signings and signing

One week from today - that is, Tuesday the 18th - I'll be reading and signing here in Chicago at the DePaul University Barnes & Noble. Then, three days later, I'll be in Ashland, Oregon, reading and signing at Bloomsbury Books. For more information on both, please jump to Booktour.com.

Today, though, I'm heading over to WFMT to sign 20 copies that they're using as their free gifts during their fund-raising drive. Then it's over to WBEZ to hand-deliver a copy to Jonathan Abarbanel, the local NPR theatre reviewer. From there I wander upstairs to Chicago Shakespeare Theatre to sign copies for their in-house bookstore.

This, after yesterday heading downtown and signing copies in both the major Borders - Michigan Avenue and Randolph Street. I have a fondness for both, and moreso now that I know they have so many copies on sale. Oh, and I stopped in and auditioned for Shaw Chicago while I was downtown - my first audition in over a year (I've been lucky enough to get phone calls offering me parts out of the blue). Bob Scoggins, the artistic director, is a nice fellow - meaning he didn't openly scorn me. I hate monologue auditions. Give me sides any day.

Oh, and this morning, Dashiell started saying something that sounds an awful lot like "shit" - though I'm hoping it's "sit," as we have lately been asking him to sit, not stand, on the couch. I'm really hoping that's what he's saying, and not "Shit shit shit shit shit shit shit..."

But it's impossible not to laugh when he's not looking.

Signings

I tend to forget that if I update an item somewhere else, it isn't automatically updated here as well. I've been quite dilligent about keeping my Booktour page up to snuff, but I haven't listed the new signings here. Time to remedy that:

Tuesday, Sept. 18th - 12:30pm - DePaul University Bookstore, Chicago

Friday, September 21st - 7:30 pm - Bloomsbury Books, Ashland OR

Saturday, Sept. 29th - 7pm - Kate the Great's Book Emporium, Chicago

Saturday, Oct. 13 - 10:30am - Florence Wilson Bookstore, Wooster OH

Wednesday, Nov. 14th - 7pm -  The Book Cellar, Chicago (local author night)

More as they are lined up. Hope to see you at one of these!

DB

Borders - Still Glowing

I must take a moment to thank everyone who turned out to hear me at Borders in Ann Arbor last night. The best gauge I had was talking to the staff afterwards. The guy running the signing said, and I quote, "This was the best signing we've ever had." The crowd was engaged, I didn't trip or set the podium on fire, lots of fun (and leading) questions, and there were moments when I apparently hit a nice stride of humorous eriudition.

Over 70 people buying over 60 copies, leaving Borders with a mere dozen in stock - it was more than lovely. Thank you all. And I hope to see you again soon.

DB

Nomad, and Borders

Had a blast at Nomad last night - mostly because of the place itself. Nomad Bookhouse is one of the coolest places I've been in a long time. Jackson, Michigan - you don't know how lucky you are.

Tonight is the signing at Borders in downtown Ann Arbor. I've had a lot of RSVPs, and I'll be curious to see if we can fill the joint. Of course, that means there are a lot more people to impress, and expectation are high. Fortunately I can look forward to drinks at Leopold's afterwards. If you're around, come on down!

Cheers,

DB