Seven Sounds Success & a Sojourn at Stately Wilson Manor

I'm so pleased that the group booksigning at Seven Sounds Brewing Company in Elizabeth City, NC, which I've been hollering about for quite a while, far exceeded my expectations. I sold quite a few books, as did friends David Niall Wilson and Patricia Lee Macomber (a.k.a. Trish). For me, some of these "non-traditional" book venues have really paid off.

Friday, September 6: Brugger and I hit the road early, drove most of the day, stopping only for lunch and a handful of geocaches. We arrived in Elizabeth City a tad early for setting up at Seven Sounds Brewing Company, so Ms. B. and I went walking and snagged the five stages of a very nice Adventure Lab Cache along the downtown waterfront. Once we completed that, we made our way back to the brewery, set up the book table, sank some pints (well, I did; Ms. B. opted for vino), and spewed all kinds of gross welcoming remarks to Dave and Trish when they arrived a short time later.

Trish Wilson (Patricia Lee Macomber) plotting
devious demises for unsuspecting victims

Author Elizabeth Broadbent had intended to participate in the event, but circumstances apparently conspired against her. Alas!

Come dinnertime, we picked up burgers from the Shipwrecked food truck, which was on hand for the event. I must tell you, their Hickory Gouda burger is an exquisite thing, and it was apparently their most popular of the evening. One of the owners told Brugger that it could been their only offering on the menu and still made a killing.

Near the end of the evening, friends Mike & Bridgette Brenmark, whom I'd met in person for the first time last month at NecronomiCon–Providence, came by, since they live in reasonable proximity. We shared a couple of drinks, and then Brugger and I headed over to Stately Wilson Manner just a few miles down the road. Spent a couple of joyous hours hooting, hollering, and drinking some of Dave's outstanding bourbon.

I've no idea what time it was, but at some point, we went to bed.

Saturday, September 7: We hung about for most of the morning, socializing with several of the 13 household house cats and drinking vats of coffee. Eventually, we headed out for brunch at nearby IHOP, which wasn't bad, although the service was painfully slow — apparently, not for the folks around us, but I wonder if our server recognized Dave; if so, I understand everything. We had talked about having Thai food for dinner, so I decided to offer my services and make Thai basil chicken, which is one of my staples. Brugger and I went shopping, picked up the goods, and I fixed the dinner. It were good.

Afterward, we watched Longlegs, which I found wonderfully weird, atmospheric as hell, and ultimately unsettling. It's one of Nicholas Cage's most intense, memorable performances ever.

Again, the evening ran pretty late. I zonked out for a bit on the couch, a condition that Dave termed "Markolepsy." I'll go with it.

Bridgette & Mike Brenmark with the scary folk

Brother Tomás

Sunday, September 8: Brugger and I didn't have a lot of time to hang around this morning, but Dave and I did manage to hash out some ideas for several upcoming projects we hope to pursue. No moss growing on old stones, and all that. Brugger and I hit the road about 10:30 a.m., stopped outside of Elizabeth City for some nibbles and coffee for breakfast, and then headed westward. A few geocaches, a so-so lunch at Cracker Barrel, which was not our first choice, but it was open, and we arrived home around 4:30 p.m. I'd missed out on my daily walk this morning, so, before I could collapse in a weary heap, I walked a couple of miles around nearby Lake Lanier.

Now I am ready to collapse in a weary heap. So, that's all for now, sayonara, and peace.

Ms. B. wrangling cats

Coupla scary old writers

Another Crossroad

Dave and Trish, lurking in the dark, as usual!

I met author/editor/publisher David Niall Wilson for the first time in the late 1980s—most likely 1989—at Necon in Bristol, RI. At the time, Dave was in the U.S. Navy, and in addition to writing his own fiction, he had recently started editing and publishing The Tome magazine. My first exposure to his work was a vampire story that had appeared in After Hours magazine, and I was so taken with it, I actually wrote him a fan letter—not something I have been known to do with any frequency. When we did get together face-to-face, we had such a blast that it became a regular thing. Our respective families would gather either at Chez Wilson—in Norfolk, VA, in the early days; later in Hertford, NC—or here in Greensboro.

But that was a long time ago. While we've remained close with each other online, until last night, it had been far too many years since we actually got together. Since our first meeting, we've shared too many life experiences to count, some together, some roughly paralleling. Both of us have divorced and found the life partners we were meant to be with (a special shout-out here to author/editor Patricia Lee Macomber, a.k.a. Mrs. Wilson, who has been the one to put Dave right where he needs to be—take that however you wish!). We've both gone all kinds of places with our respective writing careers, some fantastic, some bloody awful. Perhaps most noteworthy, Dave is founder and CEO of Crossroad Press, which has gone from its relatively meager beginning as a specialty e-book publisher to an influential publishing house boasting thousands of titles and many bestselling authors, publishing not only e-books but paperbacks, hardbacks, and audio books (not to mention being publisher of my novels The Lebo Coven, The Nightmare Frontier, Blue Devil Island, and The Monarchs).

A spot of delicious not-terribly-dead fish
(and tamago) at Sushi Republic

This weekend, Dave and Trish's daughter is taking part in a First Lego League competition here in Greensboro, so it was preordained that our wayward souls should, at long last, meet face-to-face again. With this week's major snowfall, things were starting to look a bit dicey, but in the end, it happened: after setting daughter Katie loose at the competition, Dave and Trish found themselves being abducted by Ms. Brugger and me for a night of Japanese food, wine, and general debauchery*. Dinner was at the always excellent Sushi Republic on Tate Street. I believe Dave can thank me for setting him on the sushi road back in the day, and in fact, for this service, the man should be paying me royally for perpetuity; Trish and Brugger, on the other hand, have never been bitten by the raw fish bug, poor souls. We followed up dinner with some top-notch spirits at Rioja! A Wine Bar, one of our favorite local establishments. As with many true friends, even after quite a few years apart, the four of us can fall right into our comfortable, familiar roles (Dave and Trish bowing to our superior character and moral fiber) and enjoy ourselves as if virtually no time had passed.

Today, the Wilsons are supporting their daughter in her competition, and will soon enough be returning to Hertford. We shall have to ensure that, next time, so many years do not pass between our gatherings. Frankly, I don't know how they've stood it this long.

Visit David Niall Wilson's website. Visit Crossroad Press. Visit Patricia Lee Macomber at Fantastic Fiction.

*Sitting around bitching about the creaking and moaning of our respective aging bodies.