Second Week of UK Events

When we got to Heathrow on Tuesday there was a car waiting to take us to Guildford. We spent the afternoon drinking tea and coffee, and recharging our batteries in preparation for the night's event at Waterstones Guildford. A big crowd turned up:

I signed for over 71 people. It was a wonderful night, overseen by the super-organised Jess (who may have missed her calling as paparazzi).

It was a very late night by the time we got back to London, but we had the morning free on Wednesday to catch up on sleep and laundry. At midday we jumped on a train to Romford, where we signed for 40 or so people and the very enthusiastic Waterstones staff.

From there we were driven to Basildon, where we had afternoon tea and I broke out the giant wafer cookie given to me in Poland:

Yum! Afterwards we headed for the library for another reading, q&a and signing.

On the way 'home', rather than grabbing a sandwich yet again,we had prepared for dinner by buying bread, meat, cheese and salad so we could have a picnic on the train. a good and very tasty idea:

The next day, Thursday, was the last of the official UK tour. We had another free morning, then headed to Nottingham where we stayed at the very nice Lace Market Hotel. I met the publishers of some of my Aussie friends' books, Marc and Lee of Angry Robot books. When I heard that Kaaron Warren's new book had just arrived, I ordered them to bring me a copy. They happily obliged, and I might have squeed a little:

That night we headed to Waterstones and were welcomed by James, who has this impressively big 'events room':

Another wonderful night followed, and I got to sign books for another 70 or so fans. We had a late dinner at the hotel then collapsed into bed. On Friday we caught the train back to London:

That night I got to meet the BSFA and talk about my books and writing. It was lovely to sit and chat with fellow fantasy enthusiasts, and made for a relaxing way to end the UK part of my European Tour.

Thanks to everyone who came to the events, for listening to me read (despite the awful cough I had) and ask great questions. Thanks to the people who brought little gifts, too. (I now have more chocolate than I can safely consume or cart to my next port of call. A nice problem to have!)

Thanks, too, to all the bookshops (and the library in Basildon) for organising and hosting the events. You're all awesome!

Finally, thanks, as always, to the team at Orbit, and especially to Rose who organised everything for us, pointed me in the right direction when I was too tired to think straight, and lugged a suitcase around for a weekend when the hotel wouldn't mind it for us.

Next? France!