Fantasy Fiction Tour Last Sunrise

It's the morning of the last day of the Fantasy Fiction Tour. It's raining steadily at my host family's home in New Jersey. At about 9:30, Wayne Batson and I will journey back into New York and join our fellow authors Sharon Hinck and Christopher Hopper for the final stop in this exciting tour. Sharon and Christopher stayed at a mission church in Brooklyn, and they will drive to our Manhattan stop.

Now that I have a chance, I will post some photos from earlier days. At the Christopher Matthews store in Bel Air, MD, I had the great pleasure of seeing a neighbor from the days I lived in Baltimore, Gloria Ernst. You can see her in the photo at the upper right. We had a great turnout at this store and sold a lot of books. One young man bought or brought all of my books to be signed, as you can see in the next photo.

Next, we traveled to Newark, DE, and signed books at a Family Christian Store. This was a last minute addition to our tour, so there was very little promotion. Still, a few enthusiastic fans showed up, including Justin, who often posts comments on our blogs.
I'm including a photo of Christopher hugging our good friend, Justin. We also had a visit from Michael, a great supporter of Christian fantasy. He came fully dressed in a terrific bard's costume and played his Celtic harp. It had a lovely sound, and he played with great skill. He is a professional storyteller who uses his stories to plants seeds for the gospel. If you're interested in contacting him, go to www.tellitlikeitis.com. You can see him in the next photo playing his harp.

From that store we traveled to the Days of Knights store in Newark, a fantasy and gaming store. We had a decent crowd of people and had a lot of fun talking at length to aspiring writers. I had a great talk with one of the workers there about Harry Potter and why the stories are harmful to young readers. Frankly, since this was a secular store, I was surprised at his ardent dislike for Harry, but I agreed with him on every point. I also met a young man named Benjamin who is a fan of my books. He had a lot of great questions, so it was fun interacting with him. The next photo shows me at the front of the store.

The next day, we went to Brooklyn and signed at the Timeless Treasures store. I don't have any good photos from that stop. After the signing, we went to a lively service at the Brooklyn Tabernacle, a huge church sanctuary that was attached to the store. Unfortunately, the loud bass guitar made Amanda's heart hurt, and it did the same to mine. We excused ourselves early and waited for the others, who were kind and gracious, as usual, and left soon after. Although the physical pain from the service is gone, my heart still aches spiritually. Those who know me well understand why. If you don't, please don't ask.

I am thankful for my hosts, Roheryn and family. I will also post a photo of her, showing that she is her usual crazy self. It's so great to be able to see her again and meet her family. Right now, she and my daughter, Legossi (Amanda), are out visiting Roh's horse, Carlo.

I probably won't post again until I get home. I hope to wrap up my blog posting for the tour at that time. Thank you to all who supported us with prayer, hospitality, and coming out to our stour stops.