Well we did it! We had our first ever book signing for our first Pulp 2.0 Press book, BROTHER BLOOD. Before I get started recapping the event i just want to say thanks to Del and Sue and the rest of the fine folks over at Dark Delicacies in Burbank. They were extremely supportive and patient with a newb like myself and set up the event so everyone was relaxed and smiling.
With the event scheduled to start at 2 pm Saturday, I decided I wanted to get there around 1:30 and programmed my morning accordingly. Through the week I laid out posters using the book’s cover art as well as creating some nifty little “baseball cards” we could hand out to everyone there – even if they didn’t buy a copy of BB. My goals were to sell all of the books Dark Delicacies ordered and help spread the word to horror fans about what we were doing. That meant getting people to come to the website, meet Don and myself and just chat. I expected a low-key sort of affair.
I arrived at 1:50 pm, running late and with posters and easels and assorted promotional paraphenalia trailing behind me. Traffic into Burbank was slow molasses and I burst into the shop amidst grins from Don, Del, horror author Jack Ketchum who was in town for the paperback show on Sunday, and a few other familiar faces.
My good buddy, filmmaker Earl Newton volunteered to come over and shoot the event with his video camera and we’ll have that footage for you later next week. Stay tuned! Anyway I am sure he caught me setting up the easels in a hurry and wiping the mad pulp sweat from my brow as customers lined up with their copies to be signed.
I then unrolled the posters from the boxes and grabbed the 30 x 40 BROTHER BLOOD poster. Earl held the clamp as I positioned the sheet and then walked away from the front revealing the Nik Macaluso cover art… you could have heard a pin drop as everyone in the far line peered over the book shelves to catch a glimpse. Someone at the table said, “Ooh, will you look at that.”
Then I positioned the other easel behind Don and unrolled the FRANKENSTEIN poster. Suddenly all eyes in the room were focused on our little corner of Dark Delicacies. Don was grinning from ear to ear, and Earl was lining up shots with Don in the foreground and the posters in the back.
I grabbed some of the BB baseball cards and started walking down the line and saying hello to everyone. Even if they weren’t there to buy one of our books I figured it couldn’t hurt to get over my fear of crowds and say “hello” and “thanks for stopping by.” Don was the old pro and started signing right away, occasionally waving to one of his many fans in line who came out to support him.
As people got their books signed they hung out for awhile and asked questions, and a party atmosphere developed. Everyone picked up on the “blaxploitation movie” vibe of the book right away and were kind of amazed we were doing this (I still am!). For all its size, Los Angeles is a ‘small town’ and it seems everyone knew Don. I was privileged to meet former wrestler Rock Riddle (aka ‘Mr. Wonderful’) TRANCERS 3 and LURKING FEAR screenwriter-director C. Courtney Joyner, Horror writer David J. Schow ( TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE: THE BEGINNING, THE CROW) and even reconnect with buddies Jeff Miller (JOLLY ROGER, HEAD CHEERLEADER – DEAD CHEERLEADER)and blogger Shawna Benson.
Don answered a lot of questions about the background of the book and our upcoming NEW ADVENTURES OF FRANKENSTEIN series; Earl shot footage and I tried my best to not look superfluous. I exchanged business cards with several folks, shook a lot of hands, made jokes and looked around at the menagerie of horror merchandise that fills the Dark Delicacies space. Amazing.
About two hours later we wrapped and we realized we sold out of books.
Wow, I could get used to this.
