Thanks, y’all, for coming out city after city. Couldn’t have been more fun. Also couldn’t have been more exhausting, but, luckily, I’ve listened to “Turn the Page” so many times that the road holds few surprises—I can always just get on the next plane.
But? One excellent surprise was slipping out from my hotel that first night in DC—to a Chipotle, of course—and seeing a B&N within hobbling distance, where Off the Reservation was on the shelf for the first time (for me):
But . . . right around this same time, a friend who curates the horror at another B&N showed me what the endcaps were looking like:
Anyway . . . will section this up a bit, here, starting with the day after seeing those two hanging on that shelf in DC:
Washington, DC
The Festival of the Book. Think there were nearly 400 people there that night, and Saga had slipped a few boxes of Off the Reservation out, so . . . I got to sign it for the first time. Was very cool. Thanks to Dani Trujillo for moderating the conversation so well.
https://bsky.app/profile/kkmortier.bsky.social/post/3mxgzntx7xc2q
(only visible to BlueSky folk. and, should say/should have already said: I’m not really on IG or any of the other places. so, while a bajilliony selfies and photos are taken at each event, I only ever see the few I get tagged on in BlueSky—and probably not even all of those. anyway, if you want to have something embedded here, leave a link in the comment? maybe I can . . .)
New York Comic Con
This is the place Saga and me launched The Only Good Indians, back in . . . 2019, maybe? Wow. Always cool to be back:
And, got to hang with Frank Miller backstage (well, back of a bookstore, then again here, at the con, in a Greg Greene/Becky Spratford shirt):
Randomly ran into SA Cosby and Alex Segura as well, both of whom are always the best to hang out with (I’m still in a Threads of Dread shirt):
And of course my editor Joe Monti was there:
Twisted Spine
Got to screen War Party on LaserDisc to a select few! Was so, so fun:
And . . . the great people who make Twisted Spine the best!
Simon & Schuster / Saga
So cool when they do the lobby display up with one of my books:
shot a lot of fun video up there, some with Saga, some with influencers:
The Strand
This tour, I only had time to swing by, sign a mountain of books. Always an honor (not pictured, for the usual reason [me not thinking of it]: the mountain of books):
Also made a fast video for them, about my selections for a thing they’re doing:
Barnes & Noble Union Square
Which is to say: the mothership! It’s what: four stories? Biggest one I been to. Huge crowd, and I think S&S recorded it—big cameras all over the place. But, hanging out with Grady Hendrix, it’s always the best:
And, looks like a couple of these are for BlueSky folk only:
https://bsky.app/profile/stevedm.bsky.social/post/3mxpvqjjkvc2v
https://bsky.app/profile/justjolea.bsky.social/post/3mxry3ouw5s2l
I somehow, not sure from where, have a couple photos of us on stage, too (if they’re yours, then . . . not sure how I got them, can pull them down, no problem):
Also, at this event someone gave me the COOLEST hand-carved linoleum stamps!
And, ambushed by friends in the signing line! Shaun Taylor-Corbett, whom some of y’all may know from A) all the stuff he’s done, but B) too: lot of my audiobooks, and . . . Michael Noble, who directs all my Simon Audion audiobooks!
Also shown to me at this event, one of the cooler special’d up BHH’s I’ve seen:
Boston / Brookline
Being not from there, I’m . . . not real sure I know the difference. Is it like LoDo in Denver? Anyway, got to eat at a divey place with Paul—we rolled the dice—and they had really good hamburgers. Undrinkable iced tea, but . . . that’s New England, yes? I should have just ordered a Pepsi. Or, you know: water, if they were a Coke place.
The event was nothing but fun. Old theatre. Great company. Signing across the street, afterward.
Anyway, day after, in some different hotel, I decided I maybe wanted to USE those cool stamps. So, it took some blood, getting them together (and it had taken Paul Tremblay walking with me all over Brookline after dinner, to find some wood blocks and superglue) but I finally got there:
By this time, too, I was having to spend the day like this, so as to sign that evening:
And, somewhere in here I first see Off the Rez at the airport:
Fargo, ND
Scoped out the B&N this was at the evening before. Dug the decorations:
I’ve had tables like this before, but it never gets old. My first time having a window-cling, though:
And, WOW, this:
And, man, we took SO many of these tonight. I mean, not just me and DoctorGRAW here. but, everyone in line. This is the only one I caught/saved, though:
This was my only solo event, too. and? I did it without a mic, even! great/big crowd, 10/10 would do it again.
Las Vegas
Well, this one starts with a voicemail:
(maybe forgot to mention, I ALSO left my laptop in a NYC limo service car. chauffeur brought it back to me many nervous hours later. and, I left a jacket or something behind as well, in some other car, some other state, but, again: chauffeur saved me. chauffeurs, man: they’re the heroes we need. “we” being those like me, who walk away from every turnip truck blinking from how shiny and bright this new world is, not even registering that we maybe had something with us when we stepped INTO this car . . .)
(and, this hat: I made it to the lobby with it, then sat in the window to wait for . . . I forget what, exactly. my second-ever-DoorDash? no idea; I’d had to be up at 3:30am, I mean, after getting in near midnight. but, why I’m in these parentheses, here: I left this hat in the window, forevermore. hopefully it’s warming someone else’s head. I miss you, hat. you kept me warm for two winters)
Anyway, the fun:
Nicholas Russel was great to talk with in the green room, on-stage, on the ride back to the hotel. Good dude. Excited to read him:
Glendale, CA
Any time I get to hang with Brian Evenson, that’s always the best of all possible times:
Another monstrous-huge crowd. Couldn’t have been more fun. Brian and me had to share a mic, but it all worked out.
Albuquerque, NM
Was a fun end of (this part of) the road-part of this. Got to A) eat a triple-meat with no cheese or anything else from Whataburger (hero-chauffeur took me there: thanks, dude), and B) got to hang with Matt Pridham—former student, still a friend. Amazing writer, too. And, of all my many friends into horror, Matt, he knows more than any of them.
Anyway, what made this especially cool—and absolutely WILD—was that somehow the bookstore thought I was only SIGNING, not also talking to Matt in front of people. So, no chairs/space set up, just, when I get there, a forever-line of people waiting with books. Which is exactly what you always want to see, of course. Was thrilled to sign for all of them. And, afterwards, the few still hanging around, they sat on the ground like storytime, and Matt and me just got to talk with them all for about an hour. Was very special, very cool. We were Wyld Stallions, I think?
And, after that, Matt and me went over the bookstore he works at, Page 1, where I signed up all their stuff, and talked to bookstore staff about books, which is pretty much the dream:
And, somewhere in ABQ, I think—could have been Glendale?—I saw this, maybe even in an airport, which is wild:
Boulder Bookstore
Was in town JUST long enough to swing by for a couple hours, risk a parking ticket to sign all these up:
But then I had to take right back off, for . . .
World Fantasy!
Hey, it’s Kate again:
And, got to talk in front of a crowd with my friend Kasey Lansdale, too:
Also, got to ride in the coolest of all Peloton classes at World Fantasy:
However, yes, it was a plane that got me back to . . .
Boulder, CO
The last stop on the tour! But, first, that morning, some time in the dental chair. Just a nothing-cavity. But? They did a 3D scan of my head!
And? This, in Boulder, and America, and across the world, was SUCH a day of celebration!
Anyway, another sold-out event that night (my favorite kind) (well, to THROW, not to try to get INTO). Thanks, Boulder Bookstore. And Arsen and Maeve, for letting me be on this in-front-of-the-crowd recording of the KGNU Radio Book Club (will link the ep in here when it posts). And thanks to everyone for showing up, and asking such cool questions:
And, WOW, Shannon’s most excellent, excellent shirt. Wonderful capper to the OtR tour:
Anyway, that first week, man, a true MOUNTAIN of Off the Reservations moved. Thanks, all. Hope you liked it, and, those of you who have it but haven’t gotten to it yet: I’m thrilled you have it, hope you dig it when you get time.
But, as for tour, there’s nothing better than hitting the road to full houses, and seeing friends at every stop, and, you know: talking books. Oh, and also? Writing books, which was what I was doing (again) at every chance. So I can go back on the road soon. It’s a main place I live—leaving again this Sunday (San Diego One Book), then touching down to blast off for Texas Book Festival, and, the one day I’m home next week, I’m down in Centennial, doing an event with Arapaho Library. Which you think might be enough, except then I blast off one more time—one last time for 2026—and . . . and then I exit, pursued by a bear, don’t show up again until 2027, either for some Ears fun, or I don’t know, I’m not even looking at the schedule yet. But maybe I’m coming to your town, your state, or, hopefully, your bookshelf.
