I'm kind of surprised at the reaction that the news about my KGB neighbors' return got around here (and on the other social networking sites). I hadn't realized how popular they were! I kind of want to make them their own fan page. The latest update is pretty tame. For the last couple days, there's been a van in their driveway and some guy doing maintenance outside the house with a very loud machine. I got a good look into the backyard today to see what was going on and discovered...there is no grass back there.

No. Grass. It all appeared to be very hard packed mulch. I thought this was some new development, but my husband told me today it's always been that way. He actually thought it was some kind of deck material instead of mulch. Naturally, the only way to figure out this mystery was to take neighbor snooping to the ultimate level and look at their house via satellite on Bing Maps. Sure enough: their grassless backyard stood out in our neighborhood, but we're still not sure what it's made of or what its purpose is. We're also still not sure why the van is here, but if someone's there to take care of the house, I really hope they hang up Christmas lights. Red ones.

Okay, here's the other news in the world, and it's good. Remember the poll where people voted on where my next book signings would be? The tour that got postponed from November? Well, it's officially booked for January, and here's the itinerary.

Saturday, January 16 - 5pm - New Orleans, LA
Octavia Books
513 Octavia St.
New Orleans, LA 70115
(504) 899-7323

Sunday, January 17 - 5pm - Miami, FL
Coral Gables Congregational Church
3010 De Soto Blvd.
Miami, FL
*Event is being run by Books and Books but is being held at the church because of space. The store will be there selling books, and questions should be directed to them: (305) 442-4408

Monday, January 18 - 7pm - New York, NY
Barnes and Noble Tribeca
97 Warren St.
New York, NY 10007
(212) 587-5389

Tuesday, January 19 - 7pm - Long Island, NY
Borders Westbury
1260 Old Country Road
Westbury, NY 11590
(516) 683-8700

Rules about signings and book limits are listed over at my calendar page. As always, whenever I post appearances, I get people asking why I can't come to their cities. The answer's the same, I'm afraid: I can't be everywhere. My publisher is the one who arranges my tour schedule, and they try to get me around where they can. We're limited, though, and remember--when I'm out touring, I'm not writing. :) There'll be a big tour for Spirit Bound in May, so I'll be in more places then.

Last note: I'll be autographing mail orders at University Bookstore again tomorrow (Friday), which is probably the last chance people will have to get signed books delivered before Christmas. So, get your order in ASAP if you want holiday books. Instructions are here, and remember, you have to tell them you want books signed. It doesn't happen automatically.

Phew, lots of news today. Let's hope the KGB neighbors do put up some lights so that I have news for tomorrow! I think some reindeer would look great on their lawn. Er, lack of lawn.

As you can see, I've used one of my French covers for today's avatar. Why? Because I'm in Vancouver, BC! Well, technically, it's Surrey, BC. And yeah, there aren't a lot of French speakers in this part of Canada, but I thought I'd make the gesture. I came up today for the Surrey International Writers Conference, where I'll be teaching and hanging out this weekend. I also had a signing tonight at Chapters with some other con authors, which was a lot of fun. Here's proof:





To all those who came out: thanks so much! And thanks also for the goodies. It was really great meeting everyone tonight, and if you live in the area and didn't make it, you can still come visit on Saturday. As always, the info is here on my schedule.

Okay, off to finalize tomorrow's workshop. More reports--including some Canadian secrets I've already learned!--to follow.

Just wanted to make a quick update about appearances. First up, the results of the tour poll are in. The winning cities that I'll be visiting are Miami, New Orleans, and New York City. The dates and bookstores are still being planned, but as soon as I know them, I'll let you know. For those cities not winning, all I can say is what I always do: it's impossible for me to visit every place, and Penguin tries their best to send me to as many different locations as they can. So, hang in there for future tours! Thanks to everyone who voted.

As for other appearances, here's a bit of short notice for any Seattle fans looking for something to do tomorrow (October 20) at 4:30pm. I'll be speaking to the Auburn Library's teen book club about my books, writing, and other Richelle things. The event's open to the public, though, and I'll also do Q&A and signings while there.

Lastly, just another reminder for Vancouver/Surrey readers: I'll be up in Canada-country this week, signing on Thursday and Saturday. The info's here on my calendar page.

Okay, things are busy here, so I've gotta run. More (and longer) posts later!

No coherent theme today, just a few updates. I realized that my Canadian adventure is coming up soon, so I thought I'd send out another reminder. I'm going to be a panelist at the Surrey International Writers Conference next weekend, and since I'll be in the Vancouver/Surrey, BC area, there are a couple of signings tacked on to the trip. Dates and times are here. If you're one of my neighbors to the north, I hope you'll come see me.

The other news is that I did indeed win through phase 2 of Bitten By Books' Favorite Paranormal Author contest. Thanks again for your support! BBB is doing a total of 4 (I think) rounds with different authors up for vote each time, and then the fifth round will take the winners of the previous rounds and put them up for an ultimate showdown. Two authors win each week. This week, a couple of friends of mine are up on the list: the awesome Michelle Rowen and Dakota Cassidy. Now, I don't like to tell people who to vote for, and if you've got a different favorite author up there this week, then I say: Hey! Vote for them. But, if you're undecided or don't know anyone, then I'll put in a plea here to go vote for Michelle and Dakota. You can vote for two authors at once, so that's pretty handy. And just to sweeten things up, I'll host a contest with hot prizes in honor of them if both Michelle and Dakota win through this round. Sure, that means we'd all be facing off in round 5, but that's a problem for later. So, regardless of your choice, get out there and vote!

Oh, and one more quick thing about the Immortal anthology mentioned in the last post. Immortal was released over a year ago, with a different cover (a flower). It didn't have very much exposure, which is why it's now being released again with a hot new cover and being put in a lot more stores. So, if you bought the old one, know that the stories are identical with one exception: a story by the lovely Rachel Vincent has been added to the new addition. I hope this helps with some of the questions that have been coming up.

Okay, back to work for this girl.

Before I write about anything today, I have to do a retraction of sorts. When Stacia Kane, Mark Henry, Tiffany Trent, and Synde showed up at the signing last night with my pens, I referred to them as my "merchandise carriers" or something equally inappropriate--which was very wrong of me. They're my friends, and it was very kind of them to come bring me my stuff. That being said, I'm also supposed to amend Stacia's tweet implying she was the only one who brought them. They apparently all took turns carrying the stuff, but the package did go to her house, so she still gets points. But thanks to all of you--and to Terri for the ride to the hotel.

Ok, now that that's out of the way, let's talk about my DragonCon experience so far. After a week and a half of being "on the road" by myself, it was a huge relief to get here last night and start seeing my friends. I love doing bookstore signings and have so much fun talking to people for 3 hours, but whenever I get back to my hotel room alone, I kind of crash. So, having everyone around really made me feel better after a pretty crazy 10 days, and I even have a roommate now: Synde the jewelry maker. As you can see, she and I have enough hair care products and bags of makeup to open a salon:





For those not familiar with it, DragonCon is the world's biggest Sci-Fi/Fantasy convention, and believe me, it is a sight to behold. It spans four hotels and is jammed packed with celebrities from all walks of SF/F fandom. Thousands of people attend. My first panel of the day was about vampires, and I got to have Jeanne Stein and Heather Brewer with me. I was also lucky enough to have a reader in the audience with a copy of Blood Promise because I never have one. Thanks, Trudy!





I'm not entirely sure what's going on here, but Jeanne and I appear to be pondering some philosophical vampiric dilemma. Neither of us appear to have the answer.





For those who have stereotypes about SF/F cons, let me assure you: they are all true. At least when it comes to DragonCon. Let's do a sampling of some of the sights, shall we?

We have viking girls:





Skeletons obeying cross-walk rules:





Scantily clad men:





Elf maids walking merrily with Stargate team members:





And, um, Jesus.





Pretty much the only thing DragonCon didn't have today was my celebrity crush Joe Flanigan, star of Stargate: Atlantis.





Now, there's a chance he might have been on a Stargate panel that I missed because I slept in. But, when I went to the hall where all the big stars (Malcolm McDowell, Felicia Day, James Marsters, etc.) hang out, he was not there. Someone else sat in his spot, and Joe's name sign had been replaced by a hand-written one. I later heard rumors of Joe missing his plane, so I don't know what's true or if he's coming to the con now, but I tell you: this will be a serious con let-down if he doesn't. I'd been pretty excited about the thought of getting my picture taken with him, though that might not have happened anyway since DCon is seriously hardcore about pictures in the celeb room. I nearly got tackled to the ground for taking one of Erin Grey (who looks fantastic for her age, by the way).

Anyway, it was still a fun and crazy day, and I had dinner at a Brazilian restaurant with some assorted friends. Among them was Tor editor Heather Osborn who shares my love of drinks and/or desserts that come inside coconuts (some of you might recall us getting coconut head drinks at the pirate dinner show in Orlando). It took us so long to get the perfect picture of us eating said dessert, though, that you can see the poor thing is half-melted in this shot.





I have a super late panel tonight called 'Blood and Fur' about vampires and werewolves, which will hopefully prepare me for tomorrow's smackdown with Maggie Stiefvater (still taking suggestions by the way). So, I have free time, which is why you get an early blog entry. For anyone at DragonCon or Decatur Book Fest, my panel schedule is up on my site, and I'll have a 'real' signing at Decatur following the smackdown. But, like today, if you can catch me after a panel, I'm happy to sign whenever.

More reports and costumes to come!

This'll be a quick one. Today I arrived in Atlanta, where I get to stay until Sunday. So, I get a brief break from new hotel rooms and flights. Tomorrow will start my DragonCon duties, and you can see my schedule up on the 'appearances' section of my website. I don't have a formal autograph session here at DragonCon, but if you see me and want something signed, just let me know.

Speaking of signings, I had one at the Barnes and Noble in Alpharetta tonight. Debates rage on how many people were there, but based on how long it took to get through the group and my friends' count, a couple hundred seemed to be a fair estimate. Some people had a little trouble seeing and had to simply rely on photographic evidence:





I had a great time talking to Georgia readers and also met some from South Carolina, North Carolina, and Alabama. South represent! T-shirts were also out in full force tonight:











I also had a first: my youngest reader ever in a VA t-shirt:





If you can't read that, it says: "Pocket Dhampir, For Emergency Use Only, Silver Stake Included", playing off my silver stake pencils. We had a hard time getting the baby to look at the camera. She kept looking at me instead and seemed to want my hair. I didn't have any problems with her looking at me because she was pretty adorable.

And as an extra bonus, guess who else was there?





Yup, my peeps are starting to trickle in for DragonCon, and some came to the signing. Tiffany Trent, the Infamous Terri, Mark Henry, Synde of Jewelry Fame, and Stacia Kane. They not only came, they brought in emergency supplies of Richelle Mead pens and pencils. Mark tore open the packaging tape on the box with his bare hands, with no thought of the potential gashes and cuts his skin might incur. That's how my friends roll. They rock.

All in all, it was a good time! Thanks to everyone who made this such a great event in Atlanta. I hope I'll see some of you at DragonCon! I'll also be at the Decatur Book Festival on Saturday (times also on my website), taking on Maggie Stiefvater in the long-awaited Vampires vs. Werewolves Smackdown. Really, that's what it's called. She's apparently been preparing her argument for a while, and I've done no prep. So, if you guys have some good points to help me make the case for vampire awesomeness, feel free to weigh in now.

Wednesday is the day book sales numbers and lists come out, and many of us bite our nails waiting for it. Since today calculated Blood Promise's first week out, I was especially anxious. The results were incredible. BP put Vampire Academy at #2 on the New York Times Bestseller list, outdoing Shadow Kiss's #4 release last year. Over on the USA Today list, Blood Promise clocked in at #5. These are amazing, amazing numbers, and I am so grateful to all of you out there who have been supporting the books--and also to the awesome people "behind the curtain" at my agency and publishing house who make a lot of magic happen.

So, that right there makes for a good day, but guess what else happened? I flew into Kentucky, which I'm really pretty excited about! There's just such a wonderful vibe here, and everyone is so friendly. I'm also rather enchanted by the accents and frequent use of "sugar" and "ma'am." The countryside is gorgeous, and my hotel serves grits. So, yeah, good day.

After I landed, my media escort Barb took me to stock signings and a 3-minute interview over at WKYT, Lexington's CBS station. I got to talk to the anchors and weather guy candidly while on commercial, and let me tell you, they were a delight. They cracked me up and kind of make me want to hang out in a newsroom more often.

Then, of course, there was the evening signing, held over at Joseph-Beth Booksellers. Their events venue is amazing. They have this beautiful atrium area around a fountain. My podium was set up over the fountain (which was turned off), like so:





And then the audience sat around it in a semi-circle:





Oh, by the way. Did I mention that the signing had a vampire prom theme?





It was a total fashion show, and I was so jealous because I had no prom-wear. Still, it was pretty awesome to watch all the great clothes come through. Here's a sampling, and note that this first one was homemade in two days a la Project Runway:









In keeping with the festivities, Joseph-Beth had all sorts of activities going on before the signing. There was allegedly karaoke, which I really wish I'd seen. They also had henna tattooing and drawings for fabulous prizes. The Dimitri prize was a set of martial arts lessons. The Blood Promise prize was the big one and has too much for me to list. Erin here won it, along with this ginormous banner:





But of course, you don't need always need prom dresses to have fun, as these girls adamantly argue in their "Dhampir Girls Have More Fun" t-shirts:





Readers came from down the street and from as far away as Tennessee and Ohio. I was gifted with some local jewelry, a mix CD, and even some artwork. Thank you so much!





I was also given the suggestion that Dimitri's middle name be "Valueick," which (I am told) has the optional spelling of "Valuick." The back-story is, and I quote, "I tried to say value-esque. Instead, I said value-ick. It sounded Russian, so we decided this shall be Dimitri's middle name." I'll take it under advisement, guys. :)

And of course, what kind of prom night would be complete without me getting my formal picture taken with bookstore staff in front of the balloons and VA gate?





Whew! Quite a day. Thanks to everyone who made it so amazing. We saw about 200 people, but this is the first night on the tour I've been back in my hotel before 10pm, which is more luxurious than you can imagine. I got to watch TV for the first time in over a week, though there wasn't much on except for Nancy Grace. Still, I appreciated the opportunity.

Tomorrow I fly off to Atlanta, which I'm looking forward to because I'll be staying there for three nights, which means I can really unpack! I'm doing a signing at the Alpharetta Barnes and Noble at 7pm on Thursday (September 3). I hope you guys in the area will stop by! Over the weekend, I'll be doing the madness that is DragonCon and Decatur Book Festival. My schedule is over on my calendar page, as are links to the cons and admission info. I'll be signing at Decatur, not DragonCon. Hope to see some of you down in the southeast!

Those following me on Twitter and Facebook will know that my morning started off with me being convinced I was at O'Hare airport (though I was at Detroit) and then discovering that my water bottle had leaked inside my laptop bag. Seeing as I'm blogging from said laptop, it seems there was no damage done. I don't think asking why any sane person would actually put a water bottle in their laptop bag is really important right now.

Proof came that I really wasn't at O'Hare when I landed there an hour later. My media escort Bill took me to my hotel, giving me time to catch up on sleep and accept the fact that I was in Chicago for real now. After that, it was off to stock signings (which, for those who asked, are just me going into a store and signing what's on the shelf so that the store can sell them as autographed books - it usually takes less than 10 minutes). We spent the afternoon doing that while I caffeinated up because all the bookstores were really nice and kept giving me free lattes from their cafes. I also did an interview with a Chicago Tribune journalist and her sister, during which I invented the verb "prequaling" (which I hope I won't get quoted on).

At last, we drove out to the suburb of Naperville for my biggest signing to date: three hours and 260 people.





We had a great group of people, and my hair stayed well-behaved. In my book (no pun intended), those two things right there equal success. Also, everyone in the audience laughed when I said I was glad to be in a place where people said 'pop' instead of 'soda.' Oh, Midwest: how I love you.





There were no buttons tonight. Instead, creative t-shirts made an appearance once more, which I always love. This one gets straight to the point.





As a totally random aside, let's do a close-up on what was behind her in the picture:





Cool, huh? I can't really emphasize how excited I was as a child to discover there was a paper company called Mead. I thought it was so cool that I only had to write my first name on my notebooks since the last one was already there!

Anyway, I digress. The event was really fantastic, and I'm so grateful and happy for all of the great Chicagoland people who turned out for it. Equally awesome was the staff at Anderson's Bookstore, who ran things beautifully and did an amazing job.





I will say, however, that they threw me off when I was told that all of their guest authors get to take home a free book as a thank-you gift. Now, I buy books all the time (often while walking out of University Bookstore). Yet, for whatever reason, that one free book of my choice out of the entire store was like the biggest, hardest decision in the world. I suspect that's because the exhaustion I'd blocked out for three hours suddenly hit. I really wanted Andromeda Klein by Frank Portman, but then someone said it got mixed reviews, and I waffled. Finally, wanting to get back to my hotel, I picked that one after all and fretted for about 15 minutes in the car that maybe I should have gotten Hunger Games and caught up with the rest of the world. That's what lack of sleep does to you. Now, after food and pajamas, I feel solid about my choice. AK seems like good times, and I'll still get to HG.

Tomorrow (or well, today, since it's after midnight already), I head to beautiful Lexington, Kentucky. I'm going to be on The Afternoon Show on Lexington's CBS station, but I don't know the time. After that, my evening signing will be at Joseph-Beth Booksellers at 7pm, where they'll be having a vampire prom theme! I confess, I didn't bring any vampire prom dresses, but I'll see what I can manage. I'll be looking forward to seeing what you guys come up with!

This is going to be a short post because I'm pretty exhausted and not feeling too hot, so sleep is probably more important than my wit and charm tonight. We'll see.

After my fun evening with the family in Kalamazoo, I had to fly out this morning to Detroit. At the Kalamazoo airport, I received an important passive-aggressive message from the airport's one cafe:





You guys. Do NOT bug them if that machine won't dispense your Snickers bar, okay?

Once I got to Detroit Rock City, my media escort Michele started us off right away on stock signings and then took me over to the Fox 2 studio for my first ever TV interview. Being in a TV studio is pretty cool, particularly the bathrooms which have floor-to-ceiling mirrors and are stocked with every hair care device/product available. The interview was pretty short--3 minutes. The reporter, Kam, was really nice and didn't ask me any hard-hitting investigative type questions. We mostly talked about vampires and stuff. The scandal at my alma mater was not mentioned, though it made most of their news that morning. My clip is supposed to be online at some point, so I'll post the link when I find it.

After more stock signings and a meeting with awesome area rep John, it was time for the big public signing of the night, held at the Borders in Birmingham. In addition to this night's far-travelers (Toronto and New York!), I also had a dozen people I knew from high school and/or college there, which was pretty sweet.

Here are some other things that were there too:





Molnija tattoos! And I don't think they were temporary. I actually didn't think to ask; I just promptly went for my camera. These gals wanted to know what the promise mark looked like too so that they could get that one, but seeing as it took 2 years for the molnija to surface, it might be a bit longer on the others.

Other good times followed at the signing. Like the Belikov Babes.





Don't believe me? Take a closer look at their buttons.





Oddly, buttons were a trend tonight because some Canadian ones surfaced too. This was the Toronto group.





And here's a close-up of their buttons, which some may recognize from Succubus Heat. They assured me the novel was not as offensive to Canadians as I feared it would be.





The Toronto folk were joined by several of their countrymen who had come to the signing from Windsor. Apparently, the US border security wasn't so sure about this Richelle Mead signing thing and demanded proof from some of them, like copies of my books and Mapquest directions to the bookstore. Considering how many times TSA has searched my bags, I must be on a watch list.

Anyway, speaking of bags, someone had me sign one paying homage to one of Rose's lines in Blood Promise:





Good times.

This was my longest solo event, running about 2 hours and 40 minutes, though the crowd estimate didn't quite get past 200. I'll never understand these things. This was also the first event to use a bracelet system, organizing the line into priority sections based on if they purchased Blood Promise there and how long they'd been there. It worked really well.

There's been some question about this in regard to the Lexington signing on Wednesday at Joseph Beth Booksellers. It too will have a line system. There's absolutely no purchase requirement to come and meet me there. You can even bring in your own books to get signed. But, if you buy BP there, you'll get a signing ticket that puts you farther ahead in line. Bookstores spend a lot of money to host signings (particularly this one, which has a vampire prom theme!), so they really appreciate it when people buy the books there instead of other places. It's especially important for independent bookstores like JB, which are always struggling against the harder competition from chains. So, this is kind of a reward for those who can support them. Again, though: there's no purchase requirement to come meet me and get your books signed. We definitely want everyone to come by who can! At this time, I know of no other tour stores doing anything like this, but it's not an uncommon thing for book signings.

And speaking of signings...tomorrow (Tuesday, September 1) will find me in Chicago, and you can find me at Anderson's Bookshop in Naperville at 7pm. I'll read, answer questions, and sign--so, come and say hello. Windy City represent!

One more bit of news. It had to happen: my Facebook page hit 5000 friends, which means I have to go and have a fan page now. I can't add anyone else. I'll eventually be making my old Facebook page strictly personal, so people who are my friends there or who have sent in requests should go join the fan page here, where I'll post all the same updates.

Okay, off to bed. See you in Chicago!

I think I'm becoming a travel snob. Little airport things are starting to annoy me, like $7 turkey sandwiches and people who don't understand the TSA bin system. Admittedly, I'm usually at airports pretty early, running on little sleep because I was up too late blogging about my adventures to the world. Today was no exception. I was so tired I nearly walked off without my boarding pass after check-in, proving Lili Saintcrow right in thinking I really do need someone to keep me out of trouble.

I was at the airport quite early and thought I'd finally use the Airport Lounge Card mentioned before, particularly since I needed to groom myself before getting to Denver. The schedule was so tight, I'd been told there would be no time for a hotel stop. But of course, the San Jose Airport did not have a qualifying lounge (or any lounge, really, that wasn't military), which meant I had to flat iron my hair in the airport bathroom. Somewhere, someone who witnessed that promptly Twittered it, I'm sure.

Anyway, I landed in Denver and was driven off to Boulder, home of the aptly named Boulder Bookstore. BB is a great, 3-level indie store in this fantastic outdoor mall area. They had a nice set-up and did all sorts of cool things for fans, like raffles and art contests:





Some fans did freelance art of their own and presented it to me, like this awesome one, which expresses a dream shared by many a VA reader:





It also appears my readers are getting younger and younger.





It was an awesome event, one that couldn't have been possible without the great staff, readers, and my media escort Lisa. It was also one of the liveliest Q&A sessions I've had at a signing. When it all wrapped up, lolcatz's sister and her boyfriend came to take me out to dinner.





We wandered around the outdoor mall area, which was pretty cool. It's filled with street performers at night, like jugglers and magicians...and the amazing Zip Code Man who can name anyone's city, no matter how obscure, when he hears their zip codes (hence his name). It was all good fun, and at last, I returned to my hotel.

Tomorrow's going to be one of the roughest days on tour. I get picked up at 6am for the airport, fly to Houston for my 1pm event at the Woodlands Barnes & Noble, and then am driven to Austin for a 7pm event at Book People. (Details on my site, as always). With the schedule, I have to step off the plane looking presentable, and since I can't bring myself to do my hair in an airport bathroom again, it looks like I'll be getting up pretty early. And with that (and another reminder about no spoilers), I'm off to bed. See you all deep in the heart of Texas!

This morning found Lili Saintcrow and I trading southern California for northern California. Despite some heavy traffic while going to LAX, we ended up getting to the airport in plenty of time, which initially seemed exciting. I have this 'priority pass' card I got with a credit card that gives me access to cool airport lounges, even if I'm not flying the airline who owns it. We figured we'd use said card to hang out in a lounge while waiting for our flight.

As it turned out, though, our flight to San Jose didn't leave from one of LAX's main terminals. We had to take a bus to this "terminal" that looked suspiciously like a cargo building that had been converted into a terminal. It had Celine Dion music playing on the speakers, as well as that "How do you talk to an angel?" song from my college years. Unsurprisingly, it had no elite lounge. Remote terminals always = small commuter planes, which was true for us. Fortunately, the trip was all very smooth and easy.

Once in San Jose, the first order of business was lunch. Our hotel's restaurant wasn't open. However, we were able to order food by going down to the pool and using the red phone. No, really.





For an extra 19% gratuity, we could have also launched missiles, but we stuck to club sandwiches. After that, our media escort Jim drove us to local stores for stock signings before our big event at Books, Inc. in Palo Alto.





And wow, it was big!! The staff (who was wonderful!) said they counted at least 150 people--people who were very, very enthusiastic. Not only that, it was the first event ever where I got to sign a Kindle.





There were lots of familiar faces there too, like Tricia and Nancy who are hardcore Bay Area peeps. The You Say Read We Say Party book club (whose high school I visited back in May) was also there. There was an astonishing guy demographic present as well (like, 8%), so thank you to Gabriel and the other men for giving our books male street cred. Many thanks also to Elsie who wrote me the nice card (and whose book I now worry I signed to Etsie because I misread the post-it note). Really, we're grateful to everyone there, whether you drove in from down the street or from Reno. (Yikes!)

If you look closely (particularly at the Kindle pic), you'll see I'm creeping closer to styling my hair nearer to what my hairdresser originally intended. The biggest aesthetic issue I'm noticing now is that when I leave a signing, my eye makeup has smudged all over from the heat and whatnot. There's nothing to be done for it, though. I can hardly stop in the middle of the signing to do a makeup break. I mean, how narcissistic would that be? It'd be as egotistical as having your picture taken with a sign of yourself and--





Oh. Well. I guess narcissism is in the eye of the beholder. (Is that a pun?)

Anyway, the Bay Area was good to us, and alas, Lili and I fly off in different directions tomorrow. She goes home to the Pacific Northwest, and I fly out to beautiful Denver, encountering my first time change of the tour. I'll miss her funny conversation and the co-dependency we've developed with her needing to help others who need help and me refusing help when I need help. It's been a beautiful thing. She is a good and wonderful person.

Also, I meant to mention this before, but I've synced my Twitter and Facebook pages so that every golden moment of my trip can be immortalized on the internet. So, if you're curious about when I'm in traffic or finding mysterious food in my room, follow me on one of those.

Anyway, I'll be signing Friday at the Boulder Bookstore @ 6pm, so Rocky Mountain readers: come show your pride if you're in Boulder, Denver, or anywhere else that allows you to come say hello. As luck would have it, my Denver writer pals (Mario Acevedo and Jeanne Stein) aren't in town while I am, so I'll be counting on the rest of you.

And as always, please: keep this blog a spoilers-free zone! :)

ADDED: Please, guys. No spoilers. Lots of people haven't finished the book. Send your opinion to me or discuss on my Yahoo mailing list (see the contact section of richellemead.com)

Well, kind of. It's not technically 8/25 where I live, and in places where it is 8/25 in the US, you can't really go out and buy BP. But you know what I mean. And hey, in what, 9 more hours? You should be able to go get it at your local bookstore (or Target or Walmart). Or maybe it'll show up in the mail. Or maybe the copy you, ahem, got two weeks ago and have already read will just be prominently displayed on your shelf.

Regardless, thanks very much to everyone for their support! I hope you like Blood Promise, and as I work through Spirit Bound's first draft, I'm already excited for that. For now, though, I've got a lot of packing and planning to do to get ready for the quickly approaching tour on Wednesday. It's amazing what you need for 3.5 weeks, and things are getting pretty hectic around here.

Things are still pretty fun, though. I have two Seattle area signings to kick off release day, so if you're in the area, swing on by to say hi, get books signed, and get Richelle Mead pens and/or pencils:

8/25, 4pm--University Bookstore (UW Branch)
4326 University Way NE, Seattle, WA
Reading and signing (with Lili Saintcrow)

8/25, 7pm--Borders (Redmond Town Center)
6549 N.E. 74th Street, Redmond, WA 98052
Reading and signing

I've also got to add that some other author pals share my release day, but I don't have the full list handy. I'll let you know tomorrow. For now, it's off to bed for me to get ready for a big day.

Many of you have heard me plug University Bookstore as a way to purchase signed/personalized copies of my books. It started off as a small system. Every few weeks, Duane (who oversees this system I've set up with them) would let me know he had an order in. I'd stop by, sign a couple books, and U Bookstore would mail them out. It soon reached a point where he was getting orders every other week that required me to swing by and sign--probably because I started advertising more.

Recently, he asked if I could come in to sign Blood Promise pre-orders today so that they could ship out next week. He said there were "a lot." So, I came by the store this afternoon and was led into the depths of their secret employee storage area into a room marked off especially for me:



I really like that it's on a Judy Blume post-it note because it kind of drives home the seriousness of this. And it was serious when I walked into the room and saw this:



Yes, those copies of Blood Promise are two deep on the carts. Turns out I had over 200 books ahead of me to sign, including both BP and other titles. I have a public signing with U Bookstore on Tuesday, and I suspect there won't be that many books there.



I was amazed at how slick the store's system was. They had everything organized and ready to go so that I could easily see who each book needed to be made out to. It required three employees and almost two hours to get through them, but we chatted along the way, so it was pretty fun.



My poor wrist, with its history of injury and repetitive stress, was letting me have it by the time I was done! Clearly, I need to train up if I'm going to handle the next few weeks - because I love signing for readers. Plus, I am totally amazed and humbled that this many people are pre-ordering my books, so I want to come through for you in return. Thank you so much for those! I can't wait to meet more readers once the official release kicks off!

So, things are getting a little crazy around here as the official release date for Blood Promise looms closer. After much moping, I now have Australian copies and one US copy of the book in my hands. lolcatz and I frequently have a saying when we're outside and notice my garden: "That's a good looking flower bed." (And it is the most awesome one in the neighborhood, if I do say so myself). That expression has now been transferred inside whenever we see Blood Promise lying around: "That's a good looking book." And it is. Aside from being my first hardcover, it's also just...massive. I look at it, and it seems like it must be a book that someone else wrote, not me.

My life right now seems to be divided up between working on Spirit Bound, doing promo for Blood Promise, and getting ready for the tour. In that order. The building stress and craziness is affecting SB's progress, but it's plugging along, one chapter at a time, and I'm now in the last portion. That always goes (relatively) fast. Promo is all set in the swag department, and I've also been doing a lot of phone and email interviews, which is pretty cool. I've had some "big" publications interview me, as well as my good ol' hometown newspaper, the Kalamazoo Gazette. And as for the tour? Well, that's the part I'm lacking in. I've done no assessment on what I'm wearing or how to pack for 25 days. So far, the only thing I know for sure is that I'm doing laundry at Stacia Kane's house when I'm in Atlanta.

And like all authors with impending releases, I'm watching Amazon and Barnes & Noble sales ranks obsessively.

In closing, I have one of my shoddily made polls for people who live in Seattle (or the Northwest since I know some of you Portland folks are driving up). My pals at University Bookstore are trying to figure out how many people are coming to my release day signing on August 25. It's at 4pm, which is always a mysterious time.

So, here's a little poll to see if people are going to that one or the one in Redmond, which is that same day at 7pm. I did consider having a poll option for people who aren't going to anything, just so you could feel involved and get to click a button. I decided not to because the results would just look sad and askew since the majority of you don't actually live in Seattle.

Here we go:

Poll #1444469 Blood Promise Release Day Signings!
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: None, participants: 23

If you're attending a Seattle area signing on 8/25, which one are you going to?

And oh, hey! Speaking of polls: many thanks to all of you who voted for Blood Promise at Bitten By Books. It won handily, and I really appreciate your support.

Oh, I thought of something else. You may notice comments are turned off here. It's a long story, but they'll be off for a few more days and then you guys can weigh in again. There's always Facebook and Twitter if you've got something to share! :)

First up, let's address a serious question that I was asked recently. With the time change, I'm afraid Australians will not be reading the first chapter of Blood Promise until July 26. There's nothing to be done for it. I live in the U.S.; so does my website. Of course, let's look at this logically. As I write this, it's July 20 in the U.S. Five days until the chapter. In Australia, it's July 21. Five days. It all works out the same! It goes up midnight Pacific time, so you guys will have to calculate the time change because that's too much math for me.

If you're still sad about that, this should cheer my down under friends up. Penguin Australia, who brings you Vampire Academy, has some pretty amazing things going on for you guys. While the exact itinerary of my September tour is still being planned, here's one thing I can announce. On September 18, 6-9pm, there will be a "Vampire Academy Tour After Party." It'll be at St. Andrew's in Sydney and feature everything you expect from a party, like a DJ and food. Guests will also get bags of books and other goodies and have the chance for photos, signings, etc. Oh, and I'll read a (small) excerpt of Spirit Bound, in all its rough draft glory. This is a ticketed event ($20 AUS) and tickets go on sale July 24 (your time) at this website, which also gives more details about the event.

Next up is a contest, which is good news for those who don't live in the cities I'm visiting. Penguin Aus is having a contest with Dolly magazine (which I hear is pretty awesome down there), in which you, a friend, and your parent/guardian (if you're under 18) will be flown to Sydney to interview me and attend the After Party. What do you have to do for this? You have to film an audition video for YouTube that shows why you should be my reporter for the day. Entries will be accepted starting August 1, so get filming! The official rules and how to submit the video are here.

Pretty sweet? If my American readers now feel neglected, remember that Penguin US (the publisher who brings you Vampire Academy in the states) is offering you a contest here for money and signed books. Thank my publishers, everyone. For they are good to you. And to me.

In my last post, I promised pics from Caitlin Kittredge's and Lisa Mantchev's respective signings this week. Unfortunately, I have none. I took them, but here's a fact: pictures of authors reading are generally not flattering. Our mouths make weird shapes, and I decided not to post what I have. Suffice to say: both ladies did an awesome job.

Here's what I did get from this week. Before going to Caitlin's, a group of us stopped by St. Mark's Cathedral, a very beautiful old church in Capitol Hill. There have been a lot of jokes about us entering a church, but here's proof (stolen from Mark Henry's blog) that no one burst into flames:





Mark also got this crazy shot of us looking into a font in the church. Since all of our reflections showed up in the water, I think it proves none of us are vampires. Jewelry maker Synde is a little faint though...





I also did some coffee shop writing with Kat Richardson and Mark that day, something that is not my usual thing--largely because it's distracting. But look, there I am working hard on the Spirit Bound outline. Kat seems dubious.





As a totally weird aside, while leaving one of the signings, we witnessed a sight that's been officially dubbed The Bush People. I'm not sure what the deal was, but these guys were enmeshed in the leaves, possibly trying to blend in with their surroundings. It didn't really work and was kind of surreal.





Anyway. After those signings, I had one of my own in Salem, OR on Saturday, along with the full Seattle gang (Mark, Kat, Caitlin Kittredge, and Cherie Priest) and Oregonian author Devon Monk. Us five Seattlites drove down on Friday night with Mark's wife Caroline and their adorable dog Yoda, who was a perfect passenger:





We actually spent that night in Portland, which is a little less than an hour from Salem. We did a bit of shopping and then found ourselves at Vault, a swank martini bar. It was crowded with hook-up seeking hipsters, but we scored a table outside, which was quiet and perfect in evening weather after a sweltering day.





I can't entirely explain how amazing this place's menu was. It was thicker than Shadow Kiss. Okay, maybe not. But it was big and had some crazy choices, like this habanero martini that Mark ordered. Cherie and Kat aren't so sure about it:





Me, I stuck to safer things, like martinis infused with dark chocolate liqueur. As always, whenever I post pics of drinking with my friends, I feel it's my civic duty to inform my younger readers not to drink until you're 21. It's much better to be of age and go to places like this than smuggle crap Franzia into your parents' basement. Just sayin'. Be responsible. And legal.





Since Yoda was in bed at the hotel, it was up to Mark and Caroline to be the adorable ones in the family.





We also made friends with the bouncer whose station was right by our table. He occasionally chatted with us but was always quick to jump back to his carding duty when new groups came in. He also immediately pulled off some creepy intoxicated guy who came over and struck up conversation with me about my necklace. Whether he was actually interested in my necklace or simply its location on my chest, I can't really say for sure. Not sure I really want to think about it either.





After that night of revelry, we headed on down to Salem the next day to earn our keep at Escape Fiction Bookstore. There, we were given a lovely outdoor set-up and were immediately plied with cheesecake by the generous owners. In fact, we weren't allowed to sign until having our cheesecake.





Mark doesn't look too happy in this picture. I suspect it's because our agency-mate Michelle Rowen wasn't there, thus meaning we couldn't send this to our agent for his refrigerator.





The day concluded when we were led into the depths of the labyrinthine bookstore and shown something I did not expect: a secret door. It was seriously a wall of books that swung open and was operated with a remote control.





I was hoping it led into a torture chamber. Or maybe a room with more cheesecake. Alas, it was simply for storage, but it was still pretty sweet.

After all those adventures, it was time for lunch, a quick outlet mall stop, and then off on the long road back to Seattle. Many thanks to the owners of Escape Fiction and my fab friends for making this such a fun weekend. Thanks also to the readers who came out to see us, both the local Salem folk and those who made the trek from Portland. It was great to meet everyone--and to get my first real-life glimpse of the new VA covers. Hope to see you all at another signing someday!

I realize I've been remiss in sharing something with everyone--something that might be of particular interest to those coming to the Salem, OR signing this Saturday. Some time ago, I was soliciting ideas for pens and pencils to stock up for the big fall tour. Well, I'm pleased to say the supplies are in, so here's what's up in the world of Richelle Mead writing technology:

First, the ego pens:





I feel a little funny having a pen that just touts me and my list status, but the clever caption I originally wanted wouldn't fit. So, I had to abbreviate because it was worth it to get these pens. They're probably the best quality I've ever had and were on sale too! Don't worry, gentlemen. They're not *quite* as pink in real life as they appear.

Next, my swag stash would not be complete without the famous color-changing pencils:





These say BLOOD PROMISE TOUR - 2009 on them and have my website etc. These change color with warm hands, as shown:





My hands are always cold, so I can't make them change very well. Those at my signings who have seen me attempt this and fail will appreciate that this is much better than usual, though.

Next up are the contest winners: sparkly pencils that say POCKET STAKE - FOR EMERGENCY USE ONLY (plus the website). Even without a flash, it's impossible to photograph that caption, so you'll have to take my word for it:





With the exception of the tour pencils (which will be given away on tour), I'll have these things along with me in Salem this weekend, which is fitting since I ran out of goodies in Portland back in May.

Oh, yeah. I also have these:





Oh my.

Your eyes do not deceive you. Those are molnija mark key chains. Yes, at long last, the mark I've been promising you, designed by my very talented friend Chad. Unlike the pens and pencils, which I give away freely, these are only going to be used for special occasions, I'm afraid. For Salem, I'll have a drawing and give away five of them. The Salem signing is a drop-in-whenever between 12-2 event, during which you can hang out casually to ask questions and get books signed. I'll do the drawing at 1pm.

ADDENDUM to key chain questions: they will indeed be given away as part of online contests and other signing locations. So not just Salem! At this time, they aren't for sale online because that's actually more complicated than it may seem. Maybe in the future.

And that's the loot! There are boxes and boxes of those writing utensils making a fire hazard in my office, so hopefully I won't run out in my 25 days of touring.

Last night was Caitlin Kittredge's signing at University Bookstore, and I'll put pictures of that along with Lisa Mantchev's signing (which I'll be at tonight) in one signing-tastic post tomorrow. And now, off to do that writing thing I do.

Just want to remind Oregonians that I'll be signing in Salem this coming weekend, with a whole posse of people: Mark Henry, Kat Richardson, Caitlin Kittredge, Cherie Priest, and Devon Monk. It's from 12-2pm on Saturday the 18th at Escape Fiction Bookstore, 3240 Triangle Dr SE. I'm told there will be snacks(!), and it's the kind of event you can hang out at. So, please come on by if you're in the area. Good times will be had by all. Bring any books you've got; I'll sign 'em all.

And, if you're in Seattle this week, looking for some good events to hit, I've got a couple suggestions. Caitlin Kittredge (whose latest releases were pimped over here) will be reading and signing with Kevin Radthorne on Wednesday at 7pm, at University Bookstore's main branch in the U District (4326 University Way NE). Come on down for more good times.

Also at University Bookstore, Lisa Mantchev will be signing for her debut book release, Eyes Like Stars, on Thursday at 7pm. Admit it: even if you knew nothing about the book, you'd want to read it for this gorgeous cover:





It's a YA book about a girl raised in a theatre where the worlds and characters come to life. Lisa's page can explain it better than me. A first book is always a scary thing--the signings doubly so! I was terrified no one would come to mine. So, come hear Lisa read and take a chance on finding something awesome.

Oh, and for those new to my blog (welcome!), here's where you can find the latest list of my signings and locations. Okay, that's it. Off to work for me. Happy Monday, all. (And Tuesday, for Australians).

Turns out I have a bit of news for those of you who live in Oregon. I will be doing a signing at Escape Fiction, a bookstore in Salem (3240 Triangle Dr SE), on July 18 from 12-2. That's a Saturday, and I'll be with the other Seattle-area authors if you'd like to meet them: Mark Henry, Caitlin Kittredge, Cherie Priest, and Kat Richardson. So, if that's in your vicinity, I hope you'll come on down to chat and get books signed.

I have this feeling that I might get some comments from people wanting to know why not Portland. Well, this is kind of a thing the whole group threw together, and Escape Fiction was the store that invited us. Also, I was just in Portland in May--so I gave you guys some love! It's funny, whenever I post new signing dates and locations, I often get people wanting to know why I can't come to X place. What's particularly interesting is that I'll get people who are new blog readers asking me to visit places I was actually at within the last couple months.

So, for those who aren't familiar with where I've been and think I'm missing certain cities, I thought I'd give you a list of the places I visited in the last year: New York, Philadelphia, New Jersey, Portland, Phoenix, Orlando, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Dallas, and of course, Seattle. So, I've made some rounds, and while my publisher sends me back to some repeat cities, we also try to get to new places, which is why my tour schedule looks the way it does.

No other news to report, I'm afraid. Seeing as today is the first day of July, though, you guys are getting closer to the first chapter of Blood Promise being posted. And actually...huh. I've got to double-check Thorn Queen's dates, but I think its first chapter is due for posting right now. It was at the end of Succubus Heat, but I'll try to get on that in the next day or two for you Eugenie fans who might have missed it!

First off, I feel the need to clear up some info about my trip to Blockbuster. Some people were shocked I went into a real video store, and many suggested Netflix or whatnot for True Blood. I'm actually a subscriber to Blockbuster's online service, and I get 99% of my movies through the mail. But, TB is pretty backed up with them, and after my luck last week with finding so much TB in at the store, I wanted to do the mail-order-trade-in they let you do. So, yeah, I'm a big believer in the online services. And iTunes in a pinch.

Second, the Dmitri working at Blockbuster is not a clone of the Dimitri in my books. So, no, I'm not giving up his location if you want to see him. :) Sorry to those of you who have been emailing about it and asking! And many thanks to those of you who weighed in about Russian martial arts and sent pics of Comrade Winnie the Pooh. Good times.

Succubus Blues sold publishing rights in Poland! Go Eastern Europe!

Bitten By Books, who delights in testing my nerves and competitive nature, has nominated Dimitri for their "I'm Too Sexy Poll". I will say no more.

The ex-KGB neighbors are continuing to load stuff into their cars...

And lastly, I now know the cities I'll be visiting for my Blood Promise tour in late August/Early September. Now, before I give you these, I want to state again for those whose cities I won't be in that 1. It's impossible for me to visit every place, and 2. These are set up by my awesome publisher, who has really good connections to some fun bookstores in these cities. It's out of my control, and I'm so sorry if I can't visit you.

***I'll be providing store names and addresses later, but at a glance, here are the dates and cities.*** I've listed the larger metro area first and then the actual signing spot after it, if it's in a suburb or smaller city. Alpharetta folks--take note. Your signing changed from 9/2 to 9/3.

August 25---Seattle, WA
August 26---Los Angeles, CA (Upland)
August 27---San Francisco, CA
August 28---Denver/Boulder, CO
August 29---Houston and Austin, TX
August 31---Detroit, MI (Birmingham)
September 1---Chicago, IL (Naperville)
September 2---Lexington, KY
September 3---Alpharetta, GA
September 4-7---Atlanta, GA (DragonCon)
September 8---Baltimore, MD (Ellicott City)
September 9---Washington, DC (Fairfax, VA)
September 10---Boston, MA (Burlington)
September 12-19---Australia (Melbourne, Brisbane, Sydney) Schedule TBA

Thank you so, so much to my wonderful team at Razorbill for sending me to these places. I am so grateful and honored for their support with my career and appreciate all these wonderful events they've arranged! I hope if any of you live near these places, you'll come visit. And if I don't see you, hang in there for another time, and remember you can always get me to sign books for you via University Bookstore--who's taking pre-orders for Blood Promise now.