Will the Vampire People Please Leave the Lobby?
It's a rare event where I start crying when I'm checking out at Barnes and Noble. In fact, with the exception of blanching a little at the total when buying books for law school, I can't remember ever being this emotional about buying a book.
Certainly I've purchased books with breathless anticipation, marking on my calendar when the next Elizabeth Peters book is to come out (not yet announced date, but apparently it's a Vicky Bliss novel) or preordered the next Harry Potter (July 21st).
And I've been known to start novels while sitting in the middle of the aisle at Bookstop because I can't wait to get started.
But this was different.
I walked into the Barnes and Noble on Holcombe and Buffalo Speedway just as it started to pour down rain again.
For the first time in awhile, I wasn't actually paying attention to the books all around me. I was on a Mission. My goal was to find the book with the little vampire mouse on the cover.
I scanned all the tables. "New," "New in Paperback," "Beach Reading," "Current Events," "Religious Books." Ok, the last two were a stretch, but you never know... (Of course, me being me, it was impossible not to find something that lept into my arms while I was looking around. I blame T.S. of All Intensive Purposes.)
After a few minutes, I walked to the information booth.
"Hi. I want to find Will the Vampire People Please Leave the Lobby? It came out today only to Barnes and Noble. The author is Allyson Beatrice."
The woman behind the counter looked it up on her computer, and I've never been so happy to see the words "In stock" on a computer anywhere.
"It's in the humor section," she said, and she walked me to the front of the store, right next to the bestsellers.
Right away, we found the little vampire mouse staring at us. They'd presented the book so you could see the cover from the shelf, and it was almost at eye level. Perfect!
I picked up a copy, and I was happy to see that it looked like I wasn't the first to do so. "My friend wrote this book," I told the lady. "It's her first book. I'm so excited for her."
"Really? That's great!"
I danced to the check out line, trying to read the first chapter while doing so. It wasn't probably my best performance.
And as I pulled out my debit card and my Barnes and Noble card, I started sniffling. I'd already laughed at the first couple of pages of the book, and I knew that I'd be laughing at a lot more before the day was over. I was so unbelievably happy that this wonderful, wonderful thing had happened to my wonderful, wonderful friend Allyson.
I thought about the last time I'd seen her, in 2004, right after the Wolfram and Hart party, in the suite. We were some of the first people to get there after the official party ended. She was tired, I was tired. But the hard part of the party was over, and everyone could relax. We were talking animatedly about getting together the next year in New Orleans, and all these Bronzers that I love came up to the suite, and we had our own private after party complete with Scotch and backrubs and plans.
I was supposed to see her last year at a wedding, but she had deadlines for the book, and she couldn't make it. She'd posted here a few days ago, when talk of another Bronzer party arose, and she told me she missed me. I miss her too, though I see her all the time online.
Through my tears, I managed to punch in my PIN number and grab my receipt and get through the rain back to my car. It was difficult to hold myself back from reading while I was driving, and I apologize to the cars behind me at Holcombe and Greenbriar for holding up the light while I got through page 7.
This book means a lot to me. It means a lot more to me than most books, and books, in general, are critically important to my life. One of my most secret, heartfelt desires is to one day write a book, and I have immense respect and awe for those people who manage to get past page one, page 20, page 42, etc, and do it.
This book is a labor of love, about a part of my life that I cherish and hold dear but don't really think about all that much anymore, because it's so ingrained into me. That net and fandom and cyberfamily that Allyson writes about is also mine, though her stories are slightly different than mine.
But they're also the same. The party turned out to be a great success, ending in a mass of pretty bodies drunkenly asleep on a hotel floor, as all good parties should end.
page 8. I was in that mass, getting or giving a foot rub. And some of my favorite people in the world were also in that mass.
I trust Allyson to tell our stories, and I'm so very, very happy that they're on sale today.
Certainly I've purchased books with breathless anticipation, marking on my calendar when the next Elizabeth Peters book is to come out (not yet announced date, but apparently it's a Vicky Bliss novel) or preordered the next Harry Potter (July 21st).
And I've been known to start novels while sitting in the middle of the aisle at Bookstop because I can't wait to get started.
But this was different.
I walked into the Barnes and Noble on Holcombe and Buffalo Speedway just as it started to pour down rain again.
For the first time in awhile, I wasn't actually paying attention to the books all around me. I was on a Mission. My goal was to find the book with the little vampire mouse on the cover.
I scanned all the tables. "New," "New in Paperback," "Beach Reading," "Current Events," "Religious Books." Ok, the last two were a stretch, but you never know... (Of course, me being me, it was impossible not to find something that lept into my arms while I was looking around. I blame T.S. of All Intensive Purposes.)
After a few minutes, I walked to the information booth.
"Hi. I want to find Will the Vampire People Please Leave the Lobby? It came out today only to Barnes and Noble. The author is Allyson Beatrice."
The woman behind the counter looked it up on her computer, and I've never been so happy to see the words "In stock" on a computer anywhere.
"It's in the humor section," she said, and she walked me to the front of the store, right next to the bestsellers.
Right away, we found the little vampire mouse staring at us. They'd presented the book so you could see the cover from the shelf, and it was almost at eye level. Perfect!
I picked up a copy, and I was happy to see that it looked like I wasn't the first to do so. "My friend wrote this book," I told the lady. "It's her first book. I'm so excited for her."
"Really? That's great!"
I danced to the check out line, trying to read the first chapter while doing so. It wasn't probably my best performance.
And as I pulled out my debit card and my Barnes and Noble card, I started sniffling. I'd already laughed at the first couple of pages of the book, and I knew that I'd be laughing at a lot more before the day was over. I was so unbelievably happy that this wonderful, wonderful thing had happened to my wonderful, wonderful friend Allyson.
I thought about the last time I'd seen her, in 2004, right after the Wolfram and Hart party, in the suite. We were some of the first people to get there after the official party ended. She was tired, I was tired. But the hard part of the party was over, and everyone could relax. We were talking animatedly about getting together the next year in New Orleans, and all these Bronzers that I love came up to the suite, and we had our own private after party complete with Scotch and backrubs and plans.
I was supposed to see her last year at a wedding, but she had deadlines for the book, and she couldn't make it. She'd posted here a few days ago, when talk of another Bronzer party arose, and she told me she missed me. I miss her too, though I see her all the time online.
Through my tears, I managed to punch in my PIN number and grab my receipt and get through the rain back to my car. It was difficult to hold myself back from reading while I was driving, and I apologize to the cars behind me at Holcombe and Greenbriar for holding up the light while I got through page 7.
This book means a lot to me. It means a lot more to me than most books, and books, in general, are critically important to my life. One of my most secret, heartfelt desires is to one day write a book, and I have immense respect and awe for those people who manage to get past page one, page 20, page 42, etc, and do it.
This book is a labor of love, about a part of my life that I cherish and hold dear but don't really think about all that much anymore, because it's so ingrained into me. That net and fandom and cyberfamily that Allyson writes about is also mine, though her stories are slightly different than mine.
But they're also the same. The party turned out to be a great success, ending in a mass of pretty bodies drunkenly asleep on a hotel floor, as all good parties should end.
page 8. I was in that mass, getting or giving a foot rub. And some of my favorite people in the world were also in that mass.
I trust Allyson to tell our stories, and I'm so very, very happy that they're on sale today.