Seanan McGuire (seanan_mcguire) wrote,
Seanan McGuire
seanan_mcguire
  • Mood: chipper
  • Music: Counting Crows, "Anna Begins."

Here, there, everywhere, and the Jelly Belly factory.

Yesterday was my bookday birthday, when Rosemary and Rue [Amazon]|[Mysterious Galaxies] finally hit shelves in stores across the nation. Because we are all mad here, my mother, Amy, and I decided that the best way to celebrate was by taking a trek up the length of California to sign books in every damn bookstore between Concord and Sacramento.

I never said we were sane.

The routine was pretty straightforward. One, find the bookstore. Two, scout the bookstore to see if they had any visible copies of Rosemary and Rue, as this meant we wouldn't be asking anyone to go into the back of the store. Three, find someone who works there, express that I am a local author (for increasingly inaccurate values of "local" as we moved away from Concord), and inquire as to whether I might sign some stock for them. Four, sign stock. Note that nowhere in this progression of events is anything resembling "check ID." By the eighth bookstore, I was seriously tempted to say "Hi, my name is Stephanie Meyer, and I wrote this book..."

The assistant manager at the Barnes and Noble in Albany thanked me for only using my powers for good. She doesn't know me very well.

As we made our way from bookstore to bookstore, we passed through Fairfield, California, home of the Jelly Belly factory. Amy, unwisely, said "I like sugar." My mother took this as a holy mandate demanding that we take the free Jelly Belly factory tour. I don't like jellybeans. I love my mother. I love Amy. I went on the tour. Fear my martyrdom. (Actually, there really wasn't any martyrdom, because Jelly Belly also makes candy corn. Fear me in the candy corn factory.) The Jelly Belly factory was reasonably cool. Amy and I have decided to fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool with jelly beans and take people swimming.

The result of all yesterday's labors? Amy has a stomachache, and there is already a "collectible" autographed copy of Rosemary and Rue on eBay for fifteen dollars. Because humanity is awesome that way.

I survived!
Tags: amy, in the wild, my mom is nuts, rosemary and rue, toby daye, wild adventures
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  • 99 comments
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seanan_mcguire

September 2 2009, 19:04:12 UTC 7 years ago

And it was personalized. Dude, whoever buys that off of eBay is getting served.

ladyqkat

September 2 2009, 19:23:38 UTC 7 years ago

Not to steal your thunder (and I do think is is amazing that people do this) but sailorjim was astonished to find that his publish-on-demand book was for sale on Amazon for $276.04.

I have yet to decide who is more tacky - the person who would sell something like that for that much when you can buy it for about $15 or the person who would buy it.

They are going to have to pry my autographed (thank you!) ARC copy of Rosemary and Rue from my cold dead fingers.

seanan_mcguire

September 2 2009, 19:32:14 UTC 7 years ago

Oh, I know. People are weird.