Shock Stock 2018 & Biblioasis

Blog No 284

Shock Stock is over and I’m still reeling from the experience. It was my third time there and I was still pleasantly surprised with how friendly and considerate everyone is. That’s not to say that I’m surprised horror fans are good people (I already knew that) but sometimes at conventions, people get tunnel vision and don’t think much of others. At the booth across from mine, a man was selling some really cool laser cut acrylic pieces. Every time someone wanted to take a picture (over the three whole days) they asked if it was okay. That’s awesome. That’s the type of people who go to Shock Stock. That and people who love to watch other people get eviscerated in movies.

I was there with my ever-present partner in crime, Christian Laforet, selling books and getting sick. Normally getting a cold is a potential danger at any event with hundreds of people, but we got something worse. We think it was food poisoning, but we couldn’t pinpoint it. Thankfully, buy Monday, I was okay. It took Christian a little longer. Sunday was, therefore, slightly less enjoyable than it could have been. Because of not feeling so great, we missed out on a lot of the late night adventures (debauchery, revelry?). It gets pretty wild at Shock Stock, though I am not very wild myself. I was looking forward to some letting loose, but Christian wasn’t up for it, so we made the rounds and went to bed at a semi-decent hour. I could have just stuck it out on my own. I’m confident I would have found some new friends, but to be honest, I was tired too. And con days are long days. Maybe next year we’ll both be more up for it.

The big news though (and I probably should have led with this) is that we sold almost (nearly almost) a hundred books between The Space Between Houses, No Light Tomorrow, All These Crooked Streets, and The Thinking Machine. Christian even sold out of his last copies of Space. To top it off, we wrote some flash fiction pieces for their booklet, and they put five of them in there. On the balance, it was a good weekend for us. As far as The Thinking Machine, I am more than half sold of my initial run (Thanks to both Anchor locations for selling them). I have to start thinking about ordering more after a week. That feels good. With the remaining events in the gauntlet, I probably will need more. I sure hope so.

Up next is the big Biblioasis reading tomorrow! It’s all happening so fast. Titled All These Crooked Streets and Other Winding Roads, Christian and I (but most Christian because this is his baby) have invited other authors, Edmond Gagnon (the third amigo of All These Crooked Streets), Jessica Gouin (local romance author), and Jamie Tennant (Hamilton based author) to do a reading with us at Biblioasis on Friday at 7pm. The evening will be hosted by local disc jockey and book lover Dan MacDonald. It’s going to be a pretty good night if you are a fan of books, authors, or readings. I’m excited. It’s been so long since I did a reading, I had to practice and everything. I hope to see you there!