Too Many Events in the Bookstores!

One of the great things about living in a big city with several independent bookstores is the frequent book events. I've gotten to see so many of my favorite authors speak, and it always leaves me with a deeper understanding and appreciation of their work.

Tonight, there are three amazing events going on around Houston.

Blue Willow Bookshop is hosting the Epic Reads Meet Up with Elana K. Arnold, Kendare Blake, Anna Godbersen, Mackenzi Lee, and Claire Legrand. The Epic Reads events are always great fun, with giveaways and swag. HarperCollins and Team Epic Reads know how to throw a party! I'd especially love to see Kendare Blake.

Murder by the Book is hosting two women who have written in multiple genres. Melissa Lenhardt's new novel Heresy is about an all-women gang in the Wild West; how cool is that? Sherry Thomas, one of my long-time favorites, is there with the newest novel in her Lady Sherlock series, The Hollow of Fear.

Brazos Bookstore is hosting Ben Fountain, the author of Beautiful Country Burn Again. This is not a novel but a work of reportage. (His previous work, Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk, was a novel and turned into an Ang Lee movie.)

So which of these events will I choose to go to? Ben Fountain at Brazos Bookstore. It's not just that he has an incredible faculty with words, but also that he was one of my past writing teachers. A number of the tricks I use in my fiction, I learned from him.

Thankfully, Murder by the Book is just up the street from Brazos Bookstore, and that event starts 30 minutes earlier. Maybe I can swing by and see part of Lenhardt and Thomas's appearance.