A Smashing Success! Reflections on my First Book Release Party

There is a mad frenetic energy to a book signing. Add in a costumed book release party and things get a little crazy. Such was the vibe at the triple header book release party for A Study in Terror: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Revolutionary Stories of Fear and the Supernatural Volume 1 (http://www.amazon.com/Study-Terror-Re...), A Study in Terror Volume 2 (http://www.amazon.com/Study-Terror-Re...), and the Amazing Airship Adventure (http://www.amazon.com/The-Amazing-Air...). The best part of the party, besides getting to sign books decked out in a full Holmes costume, was that I got to sign with my brother the cover artist for the anthology and the illustrator for the children's chapter book. Brian hadn't gotten the thrill of having a line of people waiting to get his autograph on a book he created, so it was a pleasure to see the delight on his face.

Even before the party started, I had lunch with a publisher and agreed to include a short story in a new anthology collection to be released next year. I won't say much about the project just yet, but this one could be big. Be prepared to see my science fiction side next spring. Anyway, things were already auspicious. Then came the party...

Once again, we sold close to 40 books, but this time in a span of more than an hour. This gave both Brian and me time to chat with our customers and discover which Sherlock Holmes stories they liked, which books they were interested in, and what they would like to see from us in the future. An excellent time was had by all, and I look forward to a return flight to Colorado out of the airport Monday morning. It's been fun playing celebrity for a few days, but it is time to get back to my students and the real world.

Sherlockian Author Derrick Belanger's publications include an eclectic mix: book reviews, articles for education journals, short stories, poems, comic books, and the graphic novel, Twenty-Three Skidoo! A former instructor at Washington State University, and a current middle school Language Arts teacher, Derrick lives in Broomfield, Colorado with his wife Abigail Gosselin and their two daughters, Rhea and Phoebe. Currently, Derrick is working on several Sherlockian projects: The second book in the MacDougall Twins with Sherlock Holmes series entitled Attack of the Violet Vampire, The pastiche novel Sherlock Holmes and the Curse of Cthulhu, the teaching guide How to Teach Like Sherlock Holmes, and the annotated book The Hound of the Baskervilles: The Ultimate Edition, as well as several projects in the Science Fiction genre. He also co-authors the web site Mystery Aircraft.com with author Chuck Davis.
Visit Derrick's Amazon Page at http://www.amazon.com/Derrick-Belange...