THERE'S A GIRL IN NEW YORK CITY, CALLS HERSELF THE HUMAN TRAMPOLINE...
A strange title for the blog entry! It's actually a line from the Paul Simon song 'Graceland', and I couldn't help but think of it as I flew into Nashville.
Well, what can I say. The US Tour has begun in earnest. Yesterday I arrived in New York, and hooked up with my great friends Jack Lamplough and Emer Ferguson, also Aaron Schlecter, my editor at Overlook. The next few days will be a whirlwind. Today is Nashville, Monday is Atlanta, Tuesday is Miami, Wednesday is Chicago, Thursday and Friday are Indianapolis for Bouchercon, Saturday is Cincinnati, then back to New York, and then out to Philadelphia...
And I haven't even mentioned the fact that I just completed a 6000 mile round trip of Belgium and France which took me through Brussels, Lille, Nantes, Rouen, Strasbourg, Bordeaux, Montepellier and Paris. That was something I planned to blog about as I travelled, but you know the way things go - hotels with no internet hook-up, delayed trains, everything else imaginable. Anyway, it was a remarkable trip, and the success of both A Quiet Belief In Angels and A Quiet Vendetta in France have been astonishing.
So, back to the here and now. Country Music Capital of the World! I knew I was in the right place when I came through Nashville Airport and Jeff Carpenter was playing live in the lounge. That, and the fact that Gibson and Voxes and Marshall Amps and Fenders were in display cases around the Baggage Reclaim areas. Guitar-pickers heaven!
I am out of the hotel shortly to go visit the Southern Festival of Books, and I'll be here for two days.
Oh hell, I didn't mention the fact that yesterday in the Penguin Head Office in New York I sat with Jack and I signed four hundred hardback copies of A Quiet Belief in Angels. I have this picture on my phone of this island of books...I'll post it on the site or stick it on facebook when I get back home.
So au revoir for now. Internet connection-dependent, I intend to blog as I go and keep you all posted on what's happening over here. Today I have two missions. Go meet as many readers and booksellers as I can, and secondly...buy a pair of cowboy boots in Nashville. Oh, and then there's the Country Music Hall of Fame, Gruhn Guitars, Tootsies Bar...
As my brother keeps reminding me, 'If you were only that little bit smarter you'd get a proper job...' Bring on the Jack Daniels. Let's get that IQ pushed down a few more notches, eh?
Speak soon, and best wishes to you all.
Roger.
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