Patrick Swenson

The tour is shaping up, and it’s anything but thin! The Ultra Thin Man launches on August 12, and I’ll be making a number of appearances at bookstores from then on throughout the month and into September. This schedule is on my Appearances page, but I thought I’d break them down a little bit here with this post.

When Words Collide, Calgary AB, August 8-10. I love this little convention, which is in its fourth year and growing. It’s a multi-genre convention, so it’s not just SF/Fantasy, but Mystery, Romance, YA, Childrens, and so on. It’s run by great people, and I’ve made a lot of friends here. Unfortunately, this is the weekend before the book release and getting books up to Calgary in time just isn’t possible. But I can really push the book there, and who knows? I might have a few of my own contributor copies there to show off.

The University Bookstore, Seattle WA, August 12, 7 p.m. My favorite Pacific Northwest bookstore, and it has one of the largest SF sections in the country. Also, one of the most knowledgeable SF booksellers in the personage of Duane Wilkins. This is the big launch event.

sffwrtcht Interview on Twitter, 9 p.m. Should be fun! If you’re on Twitter, look it up live, but the transcript of the interview will post later. It’s hosted by writer/editor Bryan Thomas Schmidt.

Third Place Books, Seattle WA, August 14, 7 p.m. Another great Seattle bookstore. Third Place has two locations. This is the larger store in Lake Forest Park, on Bothell Way.

Powell’s Books at Cedar Hills Crossing, Beaverton OR, August 20, 7 p.m. In a suburb just west of Portland, this is the branch of the famous Powell’s chain that caters to the SF/Fantasy crowd with lots of great author signings. The metropolitan Portland area is fabulous, and I hope a lot of the folks I know in that area come visit for this one!

Publishers Weekly Radio, August 22. This was just added! Hosts Rose Fox and Mark Rotella will chat with me the day before, Aug 21, for fifteen or twenty minutes about the book, and about writing and publishing. The interview itself will go live on their site on the 22nd. Quite pumped up about this. They do 4-5 interviews a month, and only rarely with SF/Fantasy authors. You might recall The Ultra Thin Man received a starred review from Publishers Weekly.

Mysterious Galaxy, San Diego CA, August 28, 7 p.m. This is one of the top independent SF/Fantasy bookstores in the country. Independent bookstores like Mysterious Galaxy really help a debut author like myself, for they can promote and reach out to their customers in a way the big chains can not. I always hear about writers signing here. Although I’ve been to San Diego a few times, and even met a few of their store gods in person at conventions, I’ve never been to the bookstore, so I’m excited to do this one!

Borderlands Books & SF in SF Reading Series, San Francisco CA, August 30, 3 p.m. Honestly. Ditto what I just said about Mysterious Galaxy. Great independent. Great people I’ve met at conventions. Been to the city (but not in a looong while), but never to the bookstore. AND….I’m reading with author Brian Herbert, co-author of the Dune book prequels. This event is a combined event with the SF in SF reading series, long on my radar of wanting to do some day. The excitement continues!

SFWA Reading Series, Kirkland WA, Sept 9, 7 p.m. This is held at the Wilde Rover in Kirkland. Good grub and drink. Multiple author readings. Books available for sale courtesy The University Bookstore. I’ll be reading with the fabulous writers Eileen Gunn and Darragh Metzger.

SFWA Reading Series, Portland OR, Sept 10, 7 p.m. The next night I do it all over again down in Portland at McMenamin’s Kennedy School, books sold there by Jacobsen’s Books. I’ll be reading with the same writers I did in Kirkland, plus the wonderful Wendy Wagner as an added bonus.

The Good Book Cafe, Sumner WA  Sept 13, 4 p.m. – 7 p.m. This is my local bookstore. (Close to it. It’s about ten minutes from where I live in Bonney Lake.) It has used and new books both, and sits on the quaint main street of Sumner. And guess what? It’s Sumner’s annual “Wine Walk.” I’m told an extra thousand people storm small town Sumner for this event. So I’ll be sitting in the store signing books, along with author Mark Teppo, as folks come in to get their wine and browse.

Well that’s it! Stay tuned for the possibility of some sort of release party in August, if I’m not totally burned out. Because I love a good release party. Time, date, venue to be decided.

I’ll be at VCon in Vancouver in October, and World Fantasy in Washington DC in November, and that will round out my year pretty nicely.

I hope to see you at one of these venues!