Fantasy Tour Update, Day 7 & 8: Richmond, Ellicott City, Washington D.C., and Alexandria

First of all: A HUGE thank you to Christopher Hopper and his wife Jennifer for taking the very little down time we've had on this tour to upload, edit, and post all these AMAZING Fantasy Tour Video Updates. A picture is worth a thousand words, so moving pictures are worth billions. Seriously, these videos capture the excitement and fun of the tour in a way that words don't seem to communicate.

New Tour Videos are Up. Click on the links below to go and see them!

Day Four and Five
Day Six

Recap: Richmond, Virginia
We marched into the Barnes and Noble Broad Street to find a beautiful display of our books and absolutely PRIMO placement up front and center in the store. A great day there with special guest visitors once again. This time it was Indie Recording Artist and Award Winning Vocalist, Denise Dovel. Check out Denise's incredible music by clicking HERE. She also happens to be my sister-in-law. We also had a visit from author Katy Pistole. She writes YA books in which horses play a big role. If you are someone who loves horses, check out Katy's books by clicking HERE. We met a lot of wonderful people, including a young DW fan named Dean who's been writing some pretty fantastic stuff himself. The manager was so pleased with the product and sales that he had us sign ALL of the remaining copies of our books. That means they aren't worried about returns. Coolness.

Ellicott City #1: His Way Christian Books
Traffic coming out of Richmond was unreal. We hit Fredericksburg and {sound of tires screeching to a halt}. After several detour attempts and U-turns, we finally got moving again. From there, it was "Mr. Sulu, warp factor 9!" We hauled up 95 to get to His Way--40 minutes late, unfortunately.

I felt horrible because His Way is my home bookstore. They were the first to offer me a booksigning when The Door Within had just released. And Michelle Black, the Author Liason of the local His Way chain has worked SO hard to make this event a reality. Custom, hand-painted banners adorned the ceilings (See top picture), swords along the floor to lead customers to the amazing throne-like signing area in the back--all painstakingly created by Michelle and the wonderful staff of His Way. Oh, and there were readers there too. LOTS of readers. There must have been 40+ folks there when we walked in the door. We signed and chatted and hugged and mugged (for photos, that is) until the doors closed and the store hours ended. It was amazing.

Next Day we zoomed over to First Presbyterian Church of Washington D.C., Condi Rice's church it turns out. Met some wonderful folks there and sold some books, but the highlight was getting to speak to their youth group. 30+ teens in one room. And they were as guarded as they could be when we walked in the room. After we spoke, they were as open as they could be. God was working there, I can tell you that. WHOA!!

Of to Alexandria for a very important event. The Barnes and Nobles Potomac Yard. Beautiful store and wonderful chance to do some readings. But also, a reporter for the Washington Post covered the event and is planning a big article on the Tour. Look for it in the Washington Post Metro/Religion Section Wednesday or Thursday this week. Also, please pray that the article would be a positive feature on Christian Fantasy. Momentum is building, and a good write-up in the post would REALLY be a huge catalyst.

Then {yes, same day} we flew back to Ellicott City for a signing at another one of my "home" stores. They had a SWEET arrangement of our books, once again, front of the store. And people came out in droves. We me tons of neat fokls and sold a gazillion books. Some parents went from author to author, buying each and every book available!

Okay, that's all for now. We're off to Belair, MD, Delaware, and then wrapping up in New York.