Fall Finch/Booklife Endurance Tour Update (want to help?)

UPDATE: Looks like I'll be in Baltimore Nov. 30th and able to do a gig there that evening before going on to Washington DC. Email me at vanderworld at hotmail.com if you've got any useful intel.We're into the last week of booking gigs for the fall Endurance Tour, in support of my novel Finch and my writing book Booklife, and at the moment it's looking like 30 to 35 events in 45 days, across 12 states on the West and East Coasts, with 4 days off for Thanksgiving in New Hampshire with friends. You can see the progress if you check out the events sidebar or the direct link to events.It's going to be a really crazy tour in terms of not just the number of events but also the diversity of venues and formats. For example, I'll be at the Hugo House in Seattle and Wofford College in South Carolina, MIT in Boston and Between Books outside of Philly, the Library of Congress in DC and Manuel's, a popular bar in Atlanta, big indies like BookSoup and Powells and a few chain stores. I'll be doing readings, kaffeeklatches, lectures, workshops, signings, panel discussions, and speaking to college classes. Some events I'll be doing alone and some with other writers. I'll be traveling by plane, train, and automobile, staying in hotels, with my publishers, and with friends.Here's one event I'm really excited about, although we haven't quite found the venue for it. It has to take place on November 21st for a number of reasons.

CITIES REAL AND UNREAL: Readings and discussion with World Fantasy Award winners Jeff VanderMeer and Jeffrey Ford, and Building Blog creator Geoff Manaugh, moderated by Media Bistro's Ron Hogan. What do writers take from the real world when creating their fantastical creations? What does the real world take from fantasy? A playful exploration against the backdrop of one of the world's great cities! VanderMeer's new noir phantasmagoria, Finch, takes place in a once-prosperous failed city-state and features a detective who must navigate its many ambiguities to solve a double murder. Manaugh's BLDG BLOG BOOK from Chronicle Books is a biography of the city through essays and interviews. Ford has written about both historical and fantastical cities in his many critically acclaimed novels. Come out to celebrate the squalor, the possibilities, and the mischievousness of cities.

We're talking to a couple of places. I hope we can pull it off. Suggestions welcome. The idea is to have it take place in the late afternoon so anyone who wants to can then join us all in a nearby bar. Due to a number of timing factors, this would be my only NYC gig.In addition, I'll be doing a few things that aren't really part of the tour but I'll still be reporting on publicly, like visiting a meerkat shelter in California and attending the National Book Awards ceremony in New York City (covering it for Amazon). Not only that, I'll be guest blogging on Borders' SF/Fantasy blog in November, contributing a guest post to Crimespree, and reporting my thoughts from the road for Amazon.I'll post the final Endurance Tour schedule when it's ready, probably in another week. In the meantime, if you check out what's scheduled already and you're a reader of my work in one of those areas, please email me at vanderworld at hotmail.com if you'd like to help "turn out the vote" so to speak. I have swag to offer...