Seacoast Comic Con

Had a great day selling and signing books at a table of The New England Horror Writers at the Seacoast Comic Con in Kittery, Maine.

A great day of meeting new people, like Lee from the Rice Library in Kittery, who was at her table as well as covering the one for the Portsmouth Library. 

And we met Suzanne and Ionna from the Portsmouth Herald, who were taking pictures as they took it all in.

Many thanks to the hard-working staff for all they did.

At most comic conventions, people do cosplay, which is dressing up like some character from popular culture. Here's a pair you might recognize.

 Sometimes it's a whole family! Like the Powers Family CozPlay

Here's our contingent of writers. 

L to R: Rich Feitelberg, D.G. Sutter, Steve Hobbs, and me.

I moderated our panel on Publishing 101, giving the audience an overview of the options available to writers wanting publication. Every one of those attending had a desire for publication, so hope we gave them a good starting point.

 Our first buyer of the day was Kali, who supported every one of us with a book purchase

 Then she reappeared in another incarnation, as one of the Baystate Ghostbusters

Benjamin Santos was there, representing the Cosplay Convention Center

Illustrators were part of the merchants who came, like Jay Kennedy

In a show of support for our efforts, we had Duane Coffill, who heads the Horror Writers of Maine, who came with his whole family

 

 And a surprise visit from a Timelord, cleverly disguising himself as The Nerd Magician

 

If Winter is coming, can the Winter Soldier be far behind?

SIPA, Books, and Chelmsford Center for the Arts

Each year the town of Chelmsford hosts a big July 4th parade and town fair, a real slice of Americana. They start the festivities the night before, with a band concert and lots of booths for local organizations.

This year, the Chelmsford Center for the Arts had a huge art exhibit, and also hosted our table for the Society of Independent Publishers and Authors (SIPA). We had a number of books from local authors, and a portion of the money from books sold went to support the CCA. Thanks to Laura Marshall for setting up this opportunity!

Here's a few that came to run the table while people stopped by to browse on their way past. 

Left to right is Barbara Klain, Bruce Fottler, and Kameryn James.

 

I shared space at the front table. We had a good time, chatted with some folks, made some new fans, and enjoyed a lovely night. This is a great way to connect with readers.

 

In other news, tune in to WEMF radio this Thursday night at 9 to hear my interview with Max Bowen. It'll be rebroadcast on Saturday.

Books at Boothbay Festival 2016

Saturday was a terrific time up in Maine, when I took part in the yearly Books at Boothbay Festival- apart from being a really good book event, it was also a fundraiser!
Many thanks to Sharon Pulkkinen and author Jen Blood for making the arrangements for us all.
Also thanks to the good folks from Sherman's Books for handling all book sales.
And to the staff for setting up and taking down the event, and the generous folks who provided hard-working authors with a tasty lunch!

Took place at the Boothbay Railway Village, a fun spot to visit.

We set up with a lot of authors of all different book types, and didn't know what kind of crowd to expect on a rainy day. And we were competing with the world-famous Moxie Festival, only a few miles down the road. (Any Moxie fans out there?)

Not to worry, as we had a steady stream of browsers and buyers for the four hours we were open.

Luckily we were indoors- and away from the "murder scene," which was a fun scenario cooked up to get people involved. Since we had a number of the Maine Crime Writers and the Sisters in Crime taking part, we were suspects in a mock crime. Folks could go next door, find clues, query the suspects, and try to solve the mystery. The winner got a huge basket of books as a prize. The enthusiasm for the mystery was infectious, as folks from young to old asked us about our alibis, trying to get us to give a clue, or maybe even confess.

 

Here's Kate Flora with the subject of her book A Good Man With a Dog, Roger Guay.

Jessie Crockett, in red, with Barbara Ross, and the recent books poster of the Maine Crime Writers.

 

Authors Bruce Robert Coffin and Edith Maxwell. 

 And Bruce again (with his head not cut off) with Jen Blood. I'm going to be on a panel with these two at Crime Bake, with Kate Flora as moderator. We'll see if we can flummox Bruce, whose debut novel, Among The Shadows, will be out this September. And he'll be a guest interviewee on this blog around then, so check back to find out more about him and his newly-released book. Teaser- he was in law enforcement for over 27 years, serving in Portland, Maine. Think he's got some stories to tell?

 Here's Maureen Milliken, another member of both the Maine Crime Writers and Sisters in Crime.

And Lea Walt, another author in both groups.

 Here's the lineup along the wall.

I had the spot in the corner, next to Jeannette de Beauvoir, and thought of charging a toll to use the restroom, located behind us. When I mentioned that people had to buy a book to get in, they looked surprised for a moment, before realizing it was all in fun.