Updates!

Blog No 227

Who’s excited for some updates? I know I am! Up first I want to talk about an event that I have nothing to do with. I know—why would anyone (including me) care? I’ll tell you why. Because it’s going to be awesome. Salesman of the Year, a Windsor band made up of some friends of mine, is playing their first show tomorrow! It’ll be at Phog (the place where I had my first book launch and the venue for the upcoming Windsor Chiaroscuro Reading Series). They play a sort of Bluegrass, Jazz, Folk sound that’s often upbeat and a heck of a lot of fun. The event starts at 8pm and it will likely be packed, so go early. They’ll be playing with Brendan Scot Friel and Rob Moir too. You’re in for a treat that night.

I’ll be there Friday night too, but just sitting back with a pint, enjoying the show. I’ll be happy to chat, but you’ll have to wait until Sunday for my next event. As I talked about last week, Sunday is Syndicon and I’ll be there as a guest. The table will be mostly taken up with No Light Tomorrow Illustrated, so come ready for that. There will be tons of other stuff going on at the con though, so bring the family and have a good afternoon of walking, looking, and shopping. It’s Downtown at the St. Clair Centre for the Arts from 11am to 5pm. Personally, I’m most looking forward to Artist Alley. There’s always tons of cool local stuff on display.

The following weekend is the Sarnia Pop Culture Show. Last year Christian and I sold a whopping seventy books at that event. It was the first time I went out of Windsor for something book related and it was really cool to come back feeling victorious. We did get a little lost on the return trip thanks to a GPS that suggested a shortcut that led to an unfinished (or damaged) bridge. Luckily we made it home alright (and avoided the murder farm we assumed was behind the dead end). I’ll be a guest in Sarnia, so I’m hoping to bring the thunder and have another amazing sales run. There were tons of cool old games on display there too. I’d love to make enough cash to pick up a couple games I missed playing when they were first released. The SPCS is on Sunday April 9th from 10am to 6pm at the Point Edward Arena.

Last week I lamented the shrinking of my events list. This week (thanks again to Christian for doing the majority of the legwork) I get to add a new event. Last year I had really high hopes for Shock Stock in London. Everything Christian and I researched said it would be a big event with tons of people. Going was the biggest single investment I made last year (outside of buying the books in the first place). Between the table for three days, hotel for two nights, gas, and food, I needed to replicate Sarnia’s big sales to break even.

Thanks to a road hockey tournament (that I didn’t even get to take part in) it was a bust. I met some cool people and had some fun, but sitting at a table for three days with very few people walking through the door was disheartening. I told myself I wouldn’t take the risk again unless there was something swaying things in my favour. The stars managed to align and Christian and I will be guests at Shock Stock this year. The organizers moved the event too, so hopefully we won’t run into the same road hockey indecent. With the cost cut down, I once again have high hopes for the big three day horror convention. I’ve added it to the Event Page, but it’ll be May 5th to the 7th at the Ramada Inn.