Laurie R. King Virtual Book Club discussion

Dear Good(read) friends, as you may have heard, I'm not doing much of a book tour this year, but I will be doing a signing at Poisoned Pen in Scottsdale. And we were thinking, if there are enough Friends of Laurie who might consider coming in for a launch party, we could make it a Garment of Shadows Extravaganza, with food and a slide show and a special rate at one of the hotels for out-of-towners. Since early September will still be the low season, even the fabulous Biltmore sometimes does great group rates.
So, some questions for you:
1. Would you consider traveling to Phoenix for a GofS launch party?
2. Would you like Barbara of the Poisoned Pen to enquire about a special hotel rate?
3. Would you prefer publication day, September 4th, or the following weekend?
Thanks for your feedback, I'll let you know what the PP and Random House decide.
Laurie

Oh, wish you could go, Sheri--it should be a lot of fun. I'd love to go and take my kids (or at least DD, as DS is not much of travel-person). And a short jaunt would be fun and doable. I guess a weekend would be better for me, personally, as it would be easier to either bring the kids or to get care for them if they don't come along. But don't base it on me, as I may not be able to swing both AZ and B'con.

I bought extra vacation days this year (totally a novel concept, right? Buying vacation days?) because I really wanted to *go* somewhere (like Costa Rica! or Peru!). I think I can spare a couple of days to a GARM party, though. I'm not really sure how likely it is that I'll actually make it out on a big vacation anyway, so I might as well spend the vacation on something I know will be fun. =)

Agree that weekend would be better than mid-week in terms of travel. Though we'd probably get an even better group hotel rate for midweek than weekend.

Will you be doing a signing at one of the Cleveland area Indies?

If it tends to be a business-oriented hotel, the weekend rate sometimes runs cheaper than mid-week. But it depends on the hotel I think. I'd rather like to see Arizony.

How about England? ;-) Or is that to far to come just for me?!

*too - shocking grammar...

Sept. 3rd is Labor Day in the States so that makes that weekend a long one and much easier to vacation over than the next weekend. That next weekend school has started for us and things will be getting crazy. I'd definitely consider coming since my brother and his family moved to Tucson recently and we haven't been out to see them there yet.

I'll be out of town the following weekend so the 4th works for me for a launch! I can read it on the plane to chicago on thursday then! But whenever you release it I will read it!

Vicki wrote: "I'd rather like to see Arizony."

It only just occurred to me that the Grand Canyon is day-trip-able from Phoenix! How fun would that be! It's like a four hour drive either way, but hey, that'll give plenty of reading time ;-)

Hmmm--that's interesting. Could be fun...

I would absolutely consider going to Phoenix for this. Good point about not scheduling it after school starts for the kiddies . . .

Oooh, cool--we could wind up with a nice big bunch at the launch!

So is it happening? I need to firm up the end of summer plans, make plane reservations, etc. if we're going to go. I also heard on Louise Penny's newsletter that she well be there that weekend signing her new book as well although Poisoned Pen doesn't have either Laurie or Louise on their calendar.

Since I'm confined to the sofa with back spasms, I've been traveling the interwebs and went back to Poisoned Pen's website. Louise Penny is signing on Sept. 3rd from 5-7 and Laurie's launch party is on the 4th from 7 - 9. See you there???!!!

Awesome! I was rather waiting for that confirmation too. I'm totally there!

FYI: Southwest is having a big sale on fall flights today and tomorrow, which lines up perfectly with the GARM launch!

ETA: Amazingly, a pretty swanky hotel is also having a sale this week (ends Thursday)! I've stayed at other Joie de Vive hotels and they're pretty cool. Yeah, so I think I need to jump on this!

The Valley Ho (yes, that is not a typo) is also just great, and around the corner from the bookstore.
I'll have Barbara double check on the hotels and get back to you.
SO glad some of you are coming for the party!
Laurie

FYI: Just saw Laurie's comment about a group rate for the Biltmore Hotel in the newsletter that just went out! It's a pretty good price, I think! Now I'm torn between the Saguaro hotel next to the bookstore and the Biltmore (~8 miles away, but pretty snazzy!). With the group rate (code: 2726435), they're pretty much the same price.

Anyone else have their hotel arrangements made yet? I'm thinking I might go with the hotel that others are also staying at. For the party factor ;-)

I've got two kids along, and I will have rented a car so if you decide on the Biltmore and I do as well (I haven't checked it out yet) I can give you a ride.

Throwing out some extra news for the launch (Tuesday!!). Meredith asked if we might do a VBC breakfast meetup the morning after the launch (so Wednesday) before people start heading back out of town, and Laurie said she's free if we make it early. So if anyone coming out to the launch wants to say hi to Laurie or just sit and chat with fellow VBC peoples over breakfast, we're doing an impromptu meetup at "The Cafe" at the Biltmore hotel at 8:30am Wednesday 9/5. Please join us if you can!

!! We're changing our "Friends of Laurie" meetup location for Wednesday morning. PM me for details (or come find me at the signing on Tuesday night!) if you're going to join us!

Judging from how full the bookstore was last night for Louise Penny's signing, I would highly recommend getting there quite early. I had never been there before and found the store smaller than I had expected, but full of wonderful books and very, very helpful employees.

Hey has anyone heard the date when the audio version of this book will be released. Its always later for Laurie's books but this time there isn't a date posted anywhere. (I hate waiting the extra time)

Katie wrote: "Hey has anyone heard the date when the audio version of this book will be released. Its always later for Laurie's books but this time there isn't a date posted anywhere. (I hate waiting the extra t..."

Apparently there's been some delay and Laurie has been trying to find out from Recorded Books when the production will be done -- she isn't getting any answers either according to one of her posts.

Laurie posted yesterday on Facebook that the audio should be out in a day or two. Apparently there had been some production issues.

I am loving Garment of Shadows! Much better than Pirate King...more of the relationship between Holmes and Russell that i so enjoy and the return of Ali and Mahmoud 8is wonderful. Thank you!

For anyone interested, Laurie's live discussion at the GARM Launch at Poisoned Pen is still up for viewing (along with events for a bunch of other authors, including Louise Penny...I know we have a few fans of hers here too) here.

Erin,
I followed your link to livestream and am lost! Can't find anything about GARM, LRK or LPenny there. No doubt I'm doing something wrong. Do I need to sign in to www.poisonedpen.com to find these?

Marcia: Try this one: http://new.livestream.com/poisonedpen...

When I go to the link, it's just a video that you can play.

I got it! Thanks, Erin