On tour

In what is I think my wildest side project yet, I am writing this sitting in the sunshine on the High Line in Manhattan, killing time before I go to Brooklyn for my book tour.

I’m keeping a little summary here so I can remember all of this, and not just rely on my camera roll as my only external memory. Well, plus my sketchbook, of course.

A warning

I’m writing this down for myself, so I can remember it. Probably this is not interesting for anybody else!

No seriously

This will be absolutely boring, turn back now, it’s only here to help Matt remember stuff.

Why?

I wasn’t planning on trying for any events for Dracula Daily. I knew the publisher couldn’t pay me to go anywhere, and you can’t really sell enough books to make a trip like this pencil out. But with the encouragement of some friends, I pursued actually doing it, and strung together a month’s worth of events. I organized and funded it myself, but a couple of these events were able to provide an honorarium or travel support, which was amazing.

I talked to an Actual Author about book events, and he said he thinks of them as contributing energy back into the system that supports books: libraries and bookstores make a career as an author possible. That was a good way to think about it, And

Where?

I put the word out on the Drac email list that I was interested in this, and got SO many replies. It was hard to keep track of them all, and very difficult to figure out which ones to say yes to. I pursued a few big stores, but eventually realized that this was ego-driven and it would be better to just go where the energy was - so I really just went to where people showed enthusiasm to have me come visit! But man, lots of places I’d love to go visit but just couldn’t spare the time or resources.

The logistics of this ended up being manageable but I have NO IDEA how touring bands or musicians do this. Difficult stuff!

Lawrence

An absolute blast, I got to be the kickoff speaker for the library’s Bookstoberfest, their ‘everybody in town reads the same book’ thing for the year. They gave out copies of Dracula, and I got to do my song and dance at the Arts Center in a big theater in front of neighbors and friends. Super fun. The Raven sold books, I got my first taste of what it’s like to do a book signing. (Spoiler: entirely pleasant! People waiting in line to meet you or say thank you or whatever? Incredible.)

Boulder

My first actual bookstore signing! Drove up with Trudy, stayed with friends, did an abbreviated version of my talk without a mic or slides. The B&N had to set out all the chairs they had and it was still a standing room crowd. Which, to be fair, is like 25 people, but that feels like a big crowd in the back of a Barnes & Noble.

South Bend

I flew to Chicago, grabbed a rental car, picked up Brad, and drove to South Bend, Indiana. I met Kevin Joiner, who had organized an outdoor showing of Nosferatu, with a live music accompaniment. It was rainy, and so they moved it indoors, and it was big last minute hustle to get everything moved, but indoors at The Music Village was a much better spot. Not cold, not rainy, and with better sound. I got to give a short version of my talk, and then we watched Nosferatu while a 3-piece rock band improvised music. For all 90 minutes! They had themes for each main character, and it was very impressive. My thing was not the main event, but still had a couple of people come just to talk Dracula Daily.

Went out for a drink w Brad, crashed at the hotel, saw Touchdown Jesus on the Notre Dame campus, and drove back home. All of these hotels referenced below are Holiday Inn Expresses, which feels silly but I really wanted to like, NOT worry about a new hotel every time, and try to rack up some points. Plus their breakfast setup is good enough!

Chicago

I was working on planning something with a bookstore in Chicago, but we had some communication problems and it ended up not happening. But I still swung by to sign some books and leave them some merch, fine.

Charlottesville

On Sunday I met Felix at MDW (he flew by himself for the first time!), and we flew on to Richmond. Got a rental car, drove to Charlottesville, and grabbed groceries at a Trader Joe’s. One of the checkers knew Dracula Daily and was very excited.

Monday AM Felix and I met the librarians at UVA, grabbed lunch and had a small campus tour. We then rented electric scooters and zipped all over campus, until it was time for Dracula class. I gave my spiel to a combined Dracula + Frankenstein class, which had a few Daily followers but mostly was full of college students who… look bored, like college students usually do when I lecture. Then a quick dinner, and the main event, a smaller (but still… 50 people? 60?) group in the Special Collections library at UVA. They did a great job making it a special event - they had posters all over campus, made temporary tattoos - even an incredibly detailed carved pumpkin! It was really something. That crowd was all in, so it was like the Lawrence talk where I knew they were into it the whole time.

The university bookstore sold all but 7 of their books, which I offered to sign, and the very cranky lady turned me down saying, ‘I’m just going to return them to the publisher.’ 🙃

The next day I had reserved for more Charlottesville stuff, but ended up not having any events, so Felix and I remote-worked from the hotel, then went out to Monticello and a little hike. Back to town to feast at an oyster bar, since we both love oysters and the girls definitely do not.

DC

Wednesday we drove to DC; the event itself was in Falls Church but we got to DC with enough time to get to the Mall, rent bikes, and cruise around to see some sights. Capitol, Supreme Court, Washington Monument, White House - then a stop at a starbucks me to do a meeting, then back on the bikes. War memorials, Abe Lincoln, etc. Then back to VA for the event, which was really well attended - a full room of maybe 50 people, and the participating bookstore sold out of all their books. Definitely a fun crowd, with costumes and stuff. Even got to meet one of the book contributors, who I only know by username!

Rehoboth

Thursday we both remote worked for a while, had coffee with Eric, a friend from high school I haven’t seen in a decade, and then drove to Rehoboth Beach DE. That was surprisingly rural route to get there. Cute beach city, definitely oriented to the shoreline, which had big waves but a sharper slope to the beach. We had enough time, and it was like 70 and sunny, so even though it was cold we bought a boogie board and swam for a couple of hours.

The event was in a small library in an off-season beach town. But had.. maybe 15 people? And they were definitely ALL fans, so fun to talk to. They were into the presentation for sure.

The next morning we went for a run on the beach, and were tempted back into the water for 30 more minutes. Then onward!

Philadelphia

From Rehoboth we drove to Philadelphia, and after doing a little drive through, found a parking spot by they venue where we could stash the rental car all day, and pray that nobody broke in and took our suitcases. We had some hours to kill, and so after catching up on work stuff, we just bummed around the city. Walked to Rittenhouse Square, grabbed e-bikes, went to City Hall to gawk at it’s wildness, went to Reading Terminal Market to hang out and get more oysters, saw the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. Biked down to Pat’s and Geno’s, the two rival cheeseteak places and got one of each (we liked Geno’s best, although later we were told there’s a better spot the Real Ones know). Biked back to the venue.

This was Draacuthon, a live reading of the first four chapters of Dracula. It’s put on by the Rosenbach library, which holds some of Stoker’s original notes for the book, and it was awesome. In a big church, with organ music, dracula-theemed vendors, merch just for the event, concessions with drinks, and a crowd of hundreds or so. LOTS of people in costumes, and the readers were really good - accents, drama, excellent stuff. I was the only one who got to actually speak, giving a short 15-minute no-slides version of my talk.

I had to actually read ~5 pages of Dracula, which went well too - I’d heard the crowd chuckle at a paprika mention earlier, so I knew they were ‘my’ Dracula fans. I could just pause dramatically at the points I knew tumblr people loved, and let them fill in the gaps. Had a lot of people come to my signing table, the participating bookstore sold out halfway through. Lots of people lining up to chat, and several people that went really out of their way to be there for Daily stuff. :)

Concord

The next morning, put Felix on an early flight back to KC. Went back to the hotel to sleep for an hour, then got up to drive to Concord NH. My route took me through New Jersey, across Manhattan (in some fun / exciting / harrowing moments), upstate, and then through CT, MA, and NH. The drive was rainy at first, so I could barely see big landmarks through NYC, but cleared up as I went and was very pretty as I went north and the trees started to turn more.

Spent the evening just catching up on work stuff, which I also did Sunday AM. The event at the bookstore in Gibson’s was great. Bookstores definitely have underestimated how many people are coming, so they had to keep getting more chairs, which is obviously great for my ego. Most everybody knew the deal, and so appreciated the slides and jokes, and lined up to sign / chat. The bookstore had a LOT of copies, and 7 left over which I signed all of. Then back to the hotel to just hole up and work for the evening.

Boston

I realized that Boston is only an hour from New Bedford, whaling history capital of America, and so I shuffled some things around, got up early, and drove from Concord, past Boston, to New Bedford. The museum is fun, a bit small and imho seems to be trying to go out of its way to NOT mention Melville or Moby-Dick. Which is fine I guess, if you’re trying to make the museum about whaling as a whole? Then saw a few other historical sights around NB - all closed on a Monday AM, but still fun to see the outside of the buildings.

Dropped the rental car off at Boston Logan, and took a water taxi from the airport across the harbor to a dropoff point just a block from my hotel. Only $20, and the taxi runs on demand. So it was ready for me when I got there, and was just the captain and myself on the boat. Felt like luxury, and a real upgrade over taking the subway.

This hotel was my expensive one, a Yotel that cost like $400 per night. Checked in early, worked through the afternoon, grabbed some real food at TJ’s, and then did the bookstore event a couple of blocks away. It’s a new neighborhood called Seaport that has all sprung up recently, but the bookstore people are well established and are big fans, so it was well-attended. Plus they have a great setup, with an actual stage, great AV, etc. Had a good crowd, full of people that loved the memes and stuff.

NYC

Wok up in Boston, worked out, got the Amtrak Acela train, which felt luxurious compared to the Southwest Chief (quiet car! 4 hr train ride in business class for $50!). Got to NYC. Bummed around the High Line / Hudson Yards area for a few hours until time to work my way over to Brooklyn.

Kevin met me for a bit first in Dumbo, and then the event was at Powerhouse Arena, right by the big DUMBO arch. Very cool space, and had maybe 50 people, all very enthusiastic to be there. One couple flew up from Atlanta! Wild. A few great costumes, and the usual nice line of people / signings. Then back to Jersey City with Kevin, hung out for the evening (including Kevin’s grappa flight!).

Wednesday: fly home, via the very nice (???) new terminal at EWR.

Home

For a few days! Did an interview in-studio for KPR with Polli from the library, which was fun.

San Diego

Then after a few days, flying out Sunday to San Diego! The event was at Mysterious Galaxy, a SF/fantasy focused store that brings out great authors. I stayed with Steven in his guest room/garage, and got a little mini tour of my old stomping grounds. Carne Asada burrito from Robertos, In n Out, fish tacos from south beach, even the good egg sandwich from the coffeeshop down the block from my old office. And while I worked most of the time, I also got to see friends, and drop into Balboa Park, swim in the pacific a little bit, and stroll around La Jolla. A weird highlight may have been lifting weights with Steven!

Portland

Portland was no-nonsense, I didn’t make time for much but work and my event. The event was at Powell’s and it was a conversation-style thing with Internet Hero Andy Baio. Good turnout, fun conversation, fun questions, and very fun to hang out and chat with Andy a bunch. Went to a cool monster-themed bar. I did go through Washington Park a bit, which I’ve never been to, and walked around some redwoods.

St Louis

The last stop: library event in St Louis, my hometown. This was also fun, a conversation run by one of the librarians. Pretty low-key all things considered!

General observations

OK, some general observations.

The Sea Hates a Coward