Walking to Gatlinburg: A Recap

What a great way to start off our 2010 Reading Series! Howard Frank Mosher launched his nationwide book tour (which will include stops in somewhere between 60 and 100 cities across the country) at The Galaxy Bookshop last night. While we had some of the typical pre-event jitters (Will the books show up? They did--at 2:00 yesterday afternoon. Will anyone come? Most certainly--a standing-room-only crowd!) any fears we had were laid to rest as we welcomed Howard and his audience to the store.

Our friend Will--who, among other things is a Civil War reenactor--loaned Linda and I the fabulous period coats we're wearing in the photo above. We received a huge round of applause and laughter when we made our entrance. I think Howard got a huge kick out of this, too, since we decided to surprise him and not put on our costumes till the last minute.

Howard used to be known as a fairly quiet author, and one who never read from his books, but last night he spent an hour entertaining us with stories about his writing career and the work that went into writing Walking to Gatlinburg and read not one but two sections from the novel. One of our customers, hugging her new book to her chest, told me that she thought that no one would get much sleep that night, because they'd all be up, racing through their books!

After he'd signed several dozen books (including extra stock, which is available now), Howard, his lovely wife, the booksellers, and a few guests including contest winner Charlie, went to Claire's Restaurant to celebrate a very successful and enjoyable evening.

Thank you so much to everyone who joined us for this memorable event!

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Local and national praise for Walking to Gatlinburg.

Why I Always Launch My Book Tours at The Galaxy Bookshop

Special thanks to this week's guest blogger, Howard Frank Mosher!

On Tuesday, March 2, at 7:00, the Galaxy Bookshop will be hosting the WORLD PREMIER of my new Civil War novel. Walking to Gatlinburg tells the story of 17-year-old Morgan Kinneson, who walks from Kingdom County, Vermont, to Gatlinburg, in the Great Smoky Mountains, in search of his brother Pilgrim, a non-combatant Union surgeon missing in action.

For years, I’ve started my book tours at the Galaxy. Independent bookstores are the best booksellers, and the Galaxy represents everything that’s wonderful about them. Chain bookstores tend to all look alike, but indies are all different. The Galaxy, for instance, was once a bank. It still has a vault, not to mention the only drive-by window of any bookshop in the – well, galaxy.

When I walk into a great independent bookstore like the Galaxy, I immediately sense that I’m surrounded by all my best old (and new) friends: Robert Frost, Jane Austen, Ernest Hemingway, Charles Dickens, Richard Russo, the Northeast Kingdom’s Leland Kinsey and David Budbill.

At my Galaxy events, most of the people are my friends. They’re from the Kingdom. When I show my signature slide of myself shooting a bad review with my shotgun, they nod gravely as if to say, “What else would you do with an unfriendly review in the Times?”

Most important of all, I launch my books at the Galaxy for the same reason I buy all my books there. Like independent booksellers from coast to coast, Linda and Sandy and their staff know and love books the way this clueless storyteller knows and loves the outlaws, living and deceased, of the Northeast Kingdom. Why would I ever buy a book any place else?

Please come to the Galaxy and meet Morgan Kinneson and some of his fellow outlaws from Walking to Gatlinburg on March 2 at 7:00 when I’ll be talking about the new novel and my psychopathic, murderous great, great grandpa, who, I’m sorry to report, inspired the mad villain Ludi Too in my latest! Sad but true. See you at the World Premier.