Moravian Book Shop's Historic Haunts

On Memorial Day weekend, Moravian Book Shop offered a daytime variation to it's popular candlelight walking tour of the Historic Haunts of Downtown Bethlehem.

Available to the public on May 28th and 29th only, Moravian advertised their Ghosts of the Revolution walking tour, which would explore the legends, lore, and lingering spirits of the Revolutionary War. The tour would take you down the very roads that it's Founding Fathers had walked, leading you to the places where the soldiers had stayed, and may still linger....

I initially learned of the tour through the bookshop's twitterfeed. I've always meant to drive up there for their candlelight tour in October, and I knew I couldn't miss out on this exclusive event. Packing my mother and youngest son into the car, we headed out to Bethlehem to see what all the fuss was about.

As it turns out, we were Moravian's very first tour members.

Kristy Houston, our tour guide, gave us a brief history of Bethlehem - how it came to be named, who the Founding Fathers were, and what life was like back in the late 1700's.

Here are some of the highlights of the tour:

The 1758 Moravian Sun Inn - This building housed an impressive list of our country's Founding Fathers. It offers a self-guided tour where visitors can view the "Gast-Stube" room - a gathering place where guest would await their stage, enjoy a drink, and chat about the day's events; the "Suite" - a room set up to showcase the type of accommodations guest would have had; the Kitchen and the Innkeeper's Desk. Our tour guide informed us that every now and then, as people are snapping photos at the back of the building, they claim to see faces in the upstairs window, or floating orbs appear on the film.

McCarthy's Tea Room - Supposedly this quaint irish restaurant is haunted by the spirit of a woman who only becomes active during renovations. Knocking in the walls, doors opening and closing.. your typical "get out and leave me alone" signs from the other side. Though the haunting doesn't seem to invoke fear in it's owners, because according to our tour guide, multiple renovations have taken place. Thank goodness no one has been reported to have been hurt during the times of other-worldy activity.

Moravian Cemetery - An interesting cemetery for a few reasons. As you can tell from the photo I took, all of the markers are flat. There are no headstones, no mausoleums. The Moravians believed that no man was higher or greater than another, and so when they were put to rest, their graves were marked identically. It was one of the first cemeteries that buried it's dead together, regardless of race or religion. It's said that people sometimes see dark shadows move from tree to tree in this cemetery. And there have been a few sightings of a little girl dressed in old fashioned clothes, clutching at her neck, as though she wants to speak but cannot. Whenever she is approached, she vanishes.

Makeshift Hospital During the War - I do not recall what this building was named, though I believe it is part of Moravian College. Our tour guide informed us that this building was temporarily turned into a makeshift hospital to care for the wounded soldiers of the Revolutionary War. Many soldiers died here, right out in the open, and were buried in mass graves. Students and visitors to the town claim to have seen the ghost of a nurse wandering the halls of the music room, while others say they have seen a soldier in full uniform walking the fields out here, as though still completing his rounds.

The tour ends with us in the middle of the Moravian Book Shop, where Kristy, our guide, shows us the display of Bethlehem history and haunting books they have for sale. She shares a few chilling bits of the ghostly encounters their very own staff members have experienced. Though no ghosts were seen while we were on the tour, and I am very thankful for that, I fully plan on coming back up to Moravian in October to take part in their candlelight walking tour of historic haunts. Can I expect to see you there as well?

Visit the Moravian Book Shop's website to see what author and other events they are having this summer! On June 10th, go meet Jonathan Maberry - author of Rot and Ruin and Patient Zero, as well as David Lubar - author of Attack of the Vampire Weenies. Kick back in the air conditioning and grab a cold drink and sandwich from the Retro Deli (I recommend the Ruben with a Greek Salad). Tell them TNBBC sent you!!!!

Indie Spotlight: Matt Micheli

Writing a novel can be a long and difficult process. One that may require the writer to put it down and leave it lie for awhile - In love, distance makes the heart grow fonder. In writing, it helps to put what a writer is trying to do or say into perspective.

Meet Matt Micheli. He is the author of Memoirs of a Violent Sleeper, which is celebrating it's 1st birthday this month. The novel was released through Creative House International Press, a small indie press that allows select members of it's Readers Club to preview manuscript submissions with an opportunity to offer feedback directly to the author.

This is what Matt had to say about the writing process for Memoirs of a Violent Sleeper:

"I started and wrote the 1st 80 pages of my 1st novel, Memoirs of a Violent Sleeper, over 10 years ago. I don't quite know what inspired me to write or what even gave me the idea for the story besides being influenced by the many books I was reading at that time as well as other forms of media input and life itself.

All that I do know is that I sat down at a computer and started typing. the typing continued and continued and after a while the characters and story manifested themselves. The book became another realm and I became the lead character. My thoughts changed to reflect how he would think and so on and so on. What would he say? How would he react? Once to page 80 for reasons unknown, my mind became blocked and i simply did not know where to go from there.

About a year ago, going through stuff in my closet, I came across the rough draft of those 1st 80 pages, decided to revise it somewhat and re-type it onto my new computer. Once i got to the end, the characters and story again took off and within a month, I had completed the manuscript."

Now that he had a completed manuscript, he needed to find a publisher. After doing some research, Matt decided to submit a synopsis of his novel to a small, local press. "There are components to the smaller publisher, exposure, editing, etc that make me wish I had gone after a larger publisher. But on the other hand, the smaller publisher did allow me to have creative reign over the project, keeping my integrity and creating a much more "raw" version of the book. It truly is MY book."

Here is the book's blurb:

Steven suffers from an extremely rare and scary sleep disorder that causes sufferers to violently and physically act out their brain’s dreams. Ever since his first bizarre, embarrassing occurrence at the age of seven, he has felt isolated, alone and crying out for the love and acceptance from his family, yet pushing them further and further away. His extreme fear of commitment, and anxiety, fueled by this embarrassing disorder sends him into a dangerous world of strippers, prostitutes, drugs and alcohol. That is until Gina walks into his life. With a cast of quirky characters, a satirical and funny look on society, and beyond, Memoirs of a Violent Sleeper takes you through an extraordinary story of the darker side of love.

Matt Micheli is a transgressive fiction writer out of Austin TX who deals with lead characters that don't quite fit the norm. You could say he's a hopeless romantic - not in the sense of your cliche' love stories such as the Notebook but more in a quirky way involving characters with pasts, issues, depth and layers of realness, emasculation, isolation, pain and hurt. He believes that you can't enjoy something until you know the true value of which you are enjoying; love. And would there be humor without sadness? He is a self-professed "off the beaten path" kind of guy when it comes to books and movies and these influences come through in his writing. His analytical, sometimes satirical, and often times blunt views of religion, love, loss, life and beyond are expressed through his storytelling. For him, writing is an escape from the confines of a consistent and ordinary normality.

Audio Review: Martin Misunderstood

Listened 5/29/11 - 5/31/11

Unrated

Time: 2.5 hours

"Once upon a time there was a man named Martin...."

Standing in line at the Book Blogger Convention's "Build Your Own Swag Bag" stations, I was handed an audio copy of Karin Slaughter's novel Martin Misunderstood. I quickly passed on it - not particularly caring for audio books OR murder mysteries - until I heard that Wayne Knight was narrating it. You know Wayne Knight, guys... Newman... from Seinfeld?

I mean, I'm no fan of the show (yes, it's been said that only people with no sense of humor dislike Seinfeld, I'm a freak, I've come to terms with it...) but I'm thinking, How bad can it be if NEWMAN is narrating? It's gotta be kinda funny, right? It's gonna at least have my attention, right? So I went against my gut - which was saying "it doesn't matter who narrates it Lori, you don't like murder mysteries" - and threw it into my swag bag. I mean, it's not like I BOUGHT it or anything.... and it was incredibly short clocking in at 2 1/2 hours. That's not a whole lot of time to commit myself to. That's two trips back and forth to work. I can handle it. Even if it's bad. Where's the harm in taking it for a spin?

Oh boy. Ooohhhh. Boy. I can't decide if my issues with the audio book lie with the writing - which is your typical, cookie cutter who-dun-it - or with Wayne Knight's interpretation of the writing.

For starters, though he has a reasonably good natural reading voice, his character voices cracked my shit up! And not in the "oh, that Wayne Knight, what a comedian..." kind of way. More like in a "Oooh my Gawd! Is he really going to make Martin and his mother sound like that? For the entire book?..." kind of way.

I gotta give him some credit though, there were a lot of characters in this book, and he managed to create unique (if not ear-grating) voices for each one.

The most painful part of the audio book - for me, and I have to imagine, for Wayne as well - were the sex scenes. Oh.My.Fucking.God. I will never look at Wayne Knight the same ever, ever, again. The grunting and the spasms and the shooting of the loads... dear lord. They were awful. Like "worse than walking in on your parents getting it on" awful. My poor ears. My poor, poor ears. I mean, I found myself (god forgive me for saying this) wondering if that is really how Wayne Knight sounds when he is getting his freak on. I can't get those sounds out of my head.

Thankfully, those scenes did not last long, mainly due to the inexperience of our pathetic protagonist, Martin.

And since I'm mentioning Martin, I may as well give you some back story on him, yes?

Ok, so Martin is this middle aged corporate loser who still lives at home with his overbearing and annoying mother. He currently works with all the cool kids who endlessly picked on him in school, and things are no different now that they are adults. Teased day in and day out, friendless and lonely, Martin loses himself inside hundreds of murder mystery and thriller novels. Until the day he finds himself the prime suspect of one when a co-worker turns up dead.

Not the best story in the world, and most definitely an embarrassing and awkward narration. But I really have nothing to judge it by. I don't normally read murder mysteries and I have never listened to an audio book in it's entirety before - so I can't be sure if it's ME or the BOOK.

Have any of you listened to it? Have you read other Karin Slaughter novels? Is this typical of it's genre? Is the narration typical of audio books?

Though I am extremely skeptical, I won an audio copy of Among the Mad at the Picador Blogger Cocktail, and though it is a heck of a lot longer (a total of 8 hours, I believe), I think I am going to give it a shot. Just so I have something to judge Martin Misunderstood against. Just to give audio books another fighting chance.

Though I doubt I will ever be able to shake the "uuhhh... uhhhh... uuuuaaaahhh's" from my brain for as long as I live. *shivers*

Indie Spotlight: eFiction Magazine

Are you a fan of short fiction? Do you like to read online literary magazines? Then I want to introduce you to eFiction Magazine.

eFiction was first published in March of 2010 under the careful hands of Doug Lance, a 21 year old Western Michigan University undergrad student -studying under the likes of Thisbe Nissen and Jaimy Gordon (The National Book Award Winner 2010). The magazine's 15th issue is out this month.

Doug balances his responsibilities between eFiction magazine and a small internet start-up that markets online content. He believes there are many stigmas attached to being an English major in the states.

"People joke that we can never find jobs or will end up working in starbucks. I struggled for a long time with that criticism because I knew that writing was what I wanted to do with my life.

Being a computer person, I went onto the internet to figure out how I could posiibly make a living doing what I loved. The outlook was not good. Competition was stiff just to make less than minimum wage in traditional publishing circles. After months of turmoil, the idea hit me one January morning of my junior year. I started the magazine that same day in the university library. I had never done anything like it before but I never gave up. I kept working on it despite not seeing any returns for my effort. It was a labor of love. Recently, we have found our place on the Kindle and the magazine is self-sustaining and growing every day.

On our masthead we have two editors signed on, another tentative editor, a marketing guy and two readers. We accept submissions through Submishmash. When a submission comes in everyone reads the story and gives it a vote, then I'll have final say on the story. Most of the submitters are people I've met online or know a previous contributor."

Doug hopes that people will read eFiction because they "select the freshest voices from the world to give entertaining insights into human relationships and escape from the daily grind. It's everything you could ask for in a fiction magazine."

So what are you waiting for? Check it out... Subscription is free, and if you click on the link, you can read the entire magazine from cover to cover... it's available on the website at all times. Each issue contains short fiction, poetry, and indie book reviews.

If you read it, please head back over here and leave a comment letting us know what you think. I am sure Doug would be very appreciative of the feedback!

Tell Me A Story - Collin Kelley

Welcome to TNBBC's 5th edition of Tell Me A Story.

Tell Me a Story is a monthly series that features previously unpublished short stories from debut and Indie authors. The request was simple: Stories can be any format, any genre, and any length. And many amazing writers signed up for the challenge.

This month's story comes from poet, novelist, playwright, and journalist Collin Kelley. He is co-director of the Atlanta Queer Literary Festival, sits on the board of Poetry Atlanta and on the advisory council for Georgia Center for the Book. By day, Kelley is the managing editor for Atlanta Intown newspaper. Collin is currently performing last minute edits to the sequel of his debut novel, Conquering Venus, titled Remain in Light.

Collin has submitted a previously unpublished poem for us this month...

--------------------------------------------------------

Tuscumbia, Alabama

My dad at the wheel, my mother,

ulcer inflamed, puked her way across

northern Alabama that summer,

from Huntsville and the rusting rockets

to Tuscumbia, the farthest any of us had been west.

We drove through raw, blistered towns,

like a hundred Sally Mann photos come to life,

the hollow-eyed poor, the rust and dust.

Helen Keller would have wished herself blind.

My parents on each end of a see-saw, up and down,

and me in the middle, a counterbalance.

My mother said more than once, I want to leave,

when the house was on edge in the hush after battle.

In one of those silences, when only a book

was a safe bet, I found poor Helen.

Wondered how she managed happiness

in her turncoat body, how Annie Sullivan’s

urgent fingers slapped against Helen’s young hand

could make three senses seem like five.

At Ivy Green, the Keller’s low slung house,

I thought I came to find Helen, but was looking

for Annie, the surrogate mother

who rescued Helen from her lock box.

Who suffered the sadistic mind-games, thrown

forks and eggs, lost a tooth for her trouble,

who resolved to stay until water became water.

Half blind herself, her thick glasses like mine,

learning Braille just in case.

Her brother dead in an orphanage she barely

managed to escape. She didn’t want to leave

him either, his apparition showed her the door.

Alabama in 1881 must have been a fresh hell,

Annie’s Yankee hostility a constant reminder

of who had won the War of Northern Aggression.

The Kellers giving in to Helen’s every whim,

was a new battleground, yet Annie never yielded.

The high, hot southern sun scorching her corneas

even after the surgeries, books held so close

her eyelashes rustled the pages, hungry

to absorb every visible word, to ingrain them

in case she woke up in permanent darkness.

Going back to Boston was never an option.

My mother’s insides finally settled,

she stared out the window of Ivy Green,

looking into some middle distance,

beyond my father into the next life

of no children, no responsibilities,

a clean slate to begin again.

I picked up Helen’s Braille watch,

the one lost in NYC and returned by a stranger,

because who else would it belong to but her,

as if no one else in the world was blind.

I wondered where Annie’s watch was now,

the one I’m sure she picked up a million times

and said, I want to leave, get off this see-saw.

Could have. Did not.

------------------------------------------------------------

I want to thank Collin for participating in TNBBC's Tell Me a Story. If you like what you've read, please support Collin by checking out his website and books. Help spread the word by sharing this post through your blog, tumblr page, twitter and facebook accounts. Every link counts! And be sure to check back with us next month for the next installment....

Book Giveaway: Eden Lake

TNBBC has a great new novel up for grabs!

Jane Roper's new novel Eden Lake

will be featured in July for our Author/Reader Discussion.

In order to stimulate discussion,

We are very excited to be able to offer 5 signed copies to US residents

and 5 Kindle eBooks internationally!!

Here is the book description as it appears on Goodreads:

"In 1968, newlyweds Clay Perry and Carol Weiss transformed a sheep farm in central Maine into Eden Lake—a nontraditional, progressive summer camp for children. Thirty years later, at the height of the Lewinsky scandal and the dot-com boom, Clay and Carol’s marriage is long over and the camp has become a pricey playground for entitled suburbanites. When an unexpected tragedy strikes, the Perryweiss children have to decide what role Eden Lake—and all that it stands for—will play in their lives."

The contest will run today through June 15th.

Here's how to enter:

1 - Simply comment here stating which copy of the book you would like to receive. If you have a funny or strange camp story, I encourage you to share it!

2 - Tell us if you are a resident of the US or if you are international (Canada is considered international for this giveaway), and leave me a way to contact you.

*If your comment is missing any of this information, it will be considered ineligible.

3- Agree to participate in a group read book discussion that will run during the month of July over at TNBBC on Goodreads. Jane Roper has agreed to participate in the discussion and will be available to answer any questions you may have for her.

*If you're comment is chosen as a winner, by accepting the copy you are agreeing to read the book and join the group discussion at TNBBC on Goodreads (the thread for the discussion will be emailed to you at the first of the month).

Winners are chosen randomly

and will be announced here and via email

on June 15th.

Good luck!

BEA Breakdown - Networking and Name Dropping

If there is one thing I took away from BEA last year, it's that you need to be extremely organized. Create a networking game plan and STICK TO IT. No matter what happens, stick to your plan. Otherwise you will miss out on all the things that are important to you.

This year I was much more prepared:

*Droid in hand for split second photos, tweets, and texts

*Phone numbers for all of the people I planned to see and spend time with

*Business cards easily accessable

*A print out of my excel schedule spreadsheet listing author signings, books I wanted to get, and publishers I wanted to visit

*A bottle of water (for when the Javits gets too hot for comfort)

*Pre-arranged lunch dates with my two favorite Publishing Girls

The Publishers

When the flood gates opened, I made a bee-line for the Indies - straight through the tunnel and over to the high 4000's. I avoided the crazy crowds of people making mad dashes for the big name galleys and took my time meeting the publishers I have worked with over the past year - finally putting a face to the twitter handles and emails.

Two Dollar Radio: Not only are they one of my most favorite Indie publishing houses, but they were also giving away galleys of Joshua Mohr's upcoming release Damascus. His book was among the top on my "must have" list for BEA. Brothers Brian and Eric were there, all shy and quiet and sweet. I gushed over them and made them promise to never ever stop publishing books. For the entirety of BEA11, I sent everyone I knew or spoke to over to their booth. I could be overheard answering the question "so who is your favorite publisher?" with "Two Dollar Radio. They put out some really great shit!".

Otherpress: I popped over to their booth, asked who tweeted under their handle, and was greeted by Terrie - the Online Publicity and Social Media Manager. It was great to meet her in person and she seemed genuinely thrilled when I asked her what novels she would like me to review for them. Rather than carry a tote full of books around, she agreed to pull a few from the shelves and have them shipped out to me - I have no idea what is coming, but I am really looking forward to it's arrival.

Graywolf Press: I was extremely excited to finally meet one of my favorite publishing people face to face.. Marisa!! After much hugging, we calmed down enough to discuss her flight out to NYC, her first few hours of BEA, and our lunch date with Erica from Harper Perennial later that afternoon. Then Marisa did what she does best and pulled out a couple of Percival Everett novels for me to take home to review. She knows my tastes and I trust her judgement. We would go on to sneak coffee breaks and catch up at her booth throughout all of BEA. Of all the publishing people I met and hung out with, I miss her the most!

Soho Press: This is a new publisher connection for me. I love the look of their lineup, and want to build a closer relationship with them. Quite a few of the author signings found me lined up in front of their booth, and at one point I thought the dude who worked there looked extremely familiar. Trying not to stare, I racked my brain until I remembered where I had seen him. I excused myself for sounding crazy and asked him if he has recently read at Word Brooklyn as part of Blake Butler's reading marathon a few months back. "Hello 444. Hello 444." He confirmed, my memory was validated, and then we exchanged cards. Mark Doten, it was a pleasure to meet you, even if I came off a bit stalker and strange-ish.

Picador: I was introduced to Nicholas Richardson, their Digital Marketing Manager, among other cool Picador peeps, Monday evening. We had some pretty cool conversations about weirdo bus people, his I-Can't-Believe-I-Actually-Survived-Getting-Lost-on-the-Bus story, and the pros and cons of the indie and self-published crowds. I bumped into him at the MacMillian booth a few times and set up a meeting between him and my buddy Tara of BookSexyReview. He introduced me to his fiance Rachel, who works for St. Martin's, and was an overall, all around nice guy.

Harper Perennial: No bookish event would be complete without hanging out with Erica of HP. Not only does she and her publisher throw kick-ass blogger parties, as evidenced on Monday with their blogger lunch (where I met Greg Olear face to face after almost a year of communication over books) and Wednesday night at Bill's Gay 90's (where I hung with Greg, Andrew Shaffer, and Levi Asher), but she also hooks me up with some awesome places to eat. During BEA week, she led a few starving bloggers to Chipolte's for lunch. It was my very first time and it was yummy! We also enjoyed a small lunch with Marisa the first afternoon of BEA, and suffered through the Book Blogger Convention's Author Speed Dating together - *cringes at the memories* - but that's a whole other blog post!!

Unbridled: At The Book Blogger Convention I sat in on a panel that featured small Indie Press's who discussed partnerships with bloggers. Libby represented Unbridled and caught my attention right away. You all know how I feel about indies, the "underdogs" of the literary community, and how unfair I think it is that they need to reach out to bloggers for support, rather than having bloggers reach out to them. She made me want to work harder to spread the word about Independent publishing. We had a great conversation about the books they were releasing that they were afraid would go unnoticed but that they felt very strongly towards. I look forward to working more closely with her in the future.

Other notable publishers at BEA: Overlook Press, Quirk Books, BookForum, Counterpoint, St. Martin's Press

Publishers I wish were at BEA: Atticus Books, Leapfrog Press

The Authors

Throughout all of BEA, I found myself rubbing elbows with some great authors. I have a deep appreciation for what they do, and how they do it. Getting a novel published is not an easy feat, and getting your novel read by the world is even harder.

Greg Olear: First introduced myself to him on Goodreads when I discovered his novel Totally Killer. Immediately began communicating via email and twitter and sharing our love of authors and great literature - I got him to read Ben Tanzer, and he got me to read Jessica Anya Blau. Met him face to face at the Harper Perennial Blogger lunch, was first in line to snag a signed copy of his upcoming release Fathermucker, and hung out with him a few more times throughout BEA week - chatting about all sorts of things. I got all fan girl when I had an opportunity to introduce him to Kit, Rachel, and Tara. "I'm a sucker for the author of Fathermucker!"

Andrew Shaffer: BEA ain't BEA without a run in with Andrew Shaffer! We met last year at the Book Blogger Reception. This year I had every intention of hitting his table for a signed copy of his newest release, but it overlapped with one of my lunch dates. Luckily I saw him wandering the floor of BEA later that afternoon, and stopped him to chat. Introductions to Kit and Tara (2/3rd's of my BEA posse) were had, and so were signed copies of his book with cute little doo-dads to boot! We also ended up hanging out at a party or two. Andrew is the king of sarcasm, and even though I am certain that half the time he is pulling my leg, he is always great company to be in.

Margaret Atwood: A literary icon. I was with my BEA posse and just happened to walk past the IdolVine stage as Margaret was introducing the breakthrough software. We stopped and gawked as she handpicked both Tara and Kit to approach the stage and interact with the author. Once IdolVine was over, we snagged a shot with her and her agent Phoebe, and I bravely asked her if she would like to participate in TNBBC's goodreads group discussion of her novel The Handmaid's Tale. I'm still keeping those fingers crossed!!

Diana Spechler: We met at Harper Perennial's Blogger lunch. She and I have a mutual author friend, Teddy Wayne (well, ok, he's more my acquaintance, and HER friend...). We also have a little of history between us - her recently released novel Skinny was supposed to be the center of a cool little blog series I had thought up last year, back when I was an overwhelmed and under-organized new blogger. She didn't let my faux pax come between us though. We chatted about the book and brainstormed other ways that we can work together. Her book will be featured as part of TNBBC's author/reader group discussions this summer, so be sure to snag a giveaway copy and join us when the time comes! I am really excited about introducing her to all of you!

Chuck Palahniuk : The elusive and twisted Chuckie P. (inside joke: if you know me, you understand) appeared at BEA. Hard core Palahniuk fans were lining up an hour before his signing creating pre-lines that Random House, god bless them, were trying their hardest to disperse. I was terrified of getting trampled when the real line went into effect so I initially backed off and backed out. Tara talked me into getting back in line, since I love so many of his novels, and I am glad she did. Even though it was a long wait, it was all worth it when we approached the table and met Chuck in person. He was an absolute sweetheart, all smiles and willing to converse as he personalized our novels with tidbits of our conversation. For someone who writes such fucked up shit, he is really quite normal :)

Other notable authors at BEA: Talia Carner, Alta Ifland, Bill Torgerson, Kristine Gasbarre, Gayle Weiswasser, Raymond Rose, Sandra Brannan.

Authors I wish were at/could have met at BEA: Joshua Mohr, Rob Kroese

The Bloggers

What is BEA if not a networking space for bloggers to meet other bloggers while they trip over each other to get their hands on galleys, their faces in front of the publishers, and they're crushes on the authors, right?

Rachel from A Home Between Pages: Rachel was my anchor at The 2010 Book Blogger Convention. I knew no one there and she happened to sit near me and we struck up a conversation. It's been blogger buddy-dom ever since. I was really looking forward to teaming up with her again and taking BEA and all it's parties by storm. She is an excellent NYC navigator, she has mastered the Art of Snark, and can talk books like nobody's bid'ness. We spent a lot of time together walking the floor, attending events, and being goofy and gabby girls.

Tara from Book Sexy Review: Of all the things that happened and of all the people I met, being reunited with Tara is by far my favorite experience of BEA. You can read how it all happened here. She and I were practically inseparable that week, and I share some of the most awesome BEA memories with her. We met Margaret Atwood and Chuckie P. together, we suffered through the god-awful Author Speed Dating event together, and we killed an hour with fantastic and I'm-not-going-to-lie-somewhat-over-my-head conversation with Greg Olear when we were all experiencing a bit of downtime! Even though BEA is over, Tara and Lori Take On The World time is not! We live extremely close to one another and plan on getting together on a regular basis to celebrate our love for the written word!

Kit from Books Are My Boyfriends: One of my favorite "discovery" moments was when Kit walked by me on the BEA floor. After calling out her name and gushing over how much I love her newbie blog and vlogs, we spent the better part of the day hanging out. She became part of my BEA Posse (see the girls above) and we networked the hell out of ourselves. She was there when Andrew Shaffer signed over his books to us, when we chatted up Greg Olear, and when we met Margaret Atwood. She is EXACTLY like her blog, full of spunk and energy, and an absolute riot to be around.

Heather from Age 30 Books: Heather and I met last year at the Book Blogger Reception. She was a Lost fan like me, and I'd followed her blog. This year, we spent some time together at Lolita's during the Bookrageous Bash, and I discovered we have one other thing in common - our inability to navigate the city OR a map! Ha! She made me feel so much less of a loser as we shared stories about how we could both get lost in a paper bag and need to position a map to reflect the angle at which we are physically standing in order to limit our chances of walking in the wrong direction. Ahhhhh....

Other notable bloggers of BEA: Colleen of Books in the City, Ra(y)chel of Books I Done Read, Kim of Sophisticated Dorkiness, Jenn of Jenn's Bookshelves, Candace of Beth Fish Reads, Cassandra of Indie Reader Houston, and the elusive Reading Ape.

Bloggers I wish I had met: Melissa of The Sunday Book Review

Notable industry professionals that I had the immense pleasure of meeting

Otis Chandler of Goodreads: This was a huge deal for me. Otis founded Goodreads, which is the social networking site that stirred the sleepy reading gene in me. It's the site where I got my start in all things bookish, and meeting him was like meeting the president (at least, that's how I imagine it...shut up!). He was on the BBC panel for Technology and then sat at a roundtable with a bunch of bloggers brainstorming and sharing upcoming projects and tools for the site. I was just flattered that he was asking for my opinion on things, and recognized TNBBC as the largest group on his site. My little heart went pitter-patter!!

Levi Asher of Literary Kicks: Probably the oldest running literary blog out there, Levi is quite the book blogging idol. Very well versed in literature, very picky about what he reads and promotes, very low key but oh so powerful when he speaks. We met through Tara at the HP reception and conversed on favorite authors, our love of the indies, and building a blog people respect. It was really cool to meet him and pick his brain a bit. I believe there will be more conversations like that one in the future!

I believe that about does it for me kids! Phew! Who'da thunk BEA would be such hard and rewarding work?? I am thankful to everyone who spent time meeting me, chatting with me, and being harassed by me. I had a blast at BEA and BBC and cannot wait to do it all over again next year. Will I see you there?

BEA Breakdown -Pre-Event Publisher Parties

Monday: And so it begins....

Event 1: After walking the city snapping photos to kill some time, Harper Perennial officially kick-started my BEA at 11:30am on Monday morning with their blogger lunch. Entering the reception area of the Harper building a few minutes early, I ended up standing around with Jenn of Jenn's Bookshelf, Candace of Beth Fish Reads, and Colleen of Books in the City, where introductions were quickly had. Nicole from Linus's Blanket (who I met at BKBF '10) and Rachel (my BBC'10 buddy) from A Home Between Pages were there as well!!

Erica, HP's Marketing Manager and writer of the blog The Olive Reader, ran the first half of the event - How a Book is Made. The book they introduced was The Bee Keepers Lament. Michael Signorelli, the book's editor, began by explaining his role which includes not only editing, but also pitching/launching the book to rest of the team. Robin Bilardello, from the art department, demonstrated just how many covers are created for a novel before the right one is chosen. Erica covered the role marketing plays, Jessica Wells covered the sales end, and Gregory Henry finished up with publicity.

Then we were introduced to the authors: Diana Spechler (Skinny), Lauren Belfer (A Fierce Radiance), Greg Olear (Fathermucker), and Talia Carner (Jerusalem Maiden). Of all the authors who were there, I was most excited to meet Greg in person. We had been communicating through twitter and goodreads ever since I reviewed his debut novel Totally Killer, nearly one year ago.

Of course he was initially seated far far away from me, so during the lunch we didn't have an opportunity to talk much. Instead, Rachel and I were locked into a conversation with Talia discussing how book bloggers review novels, the fairness of giving one-star reviews to a book you cannot finish, the unprofessional act of responding to bad reviews, and how she came to write the Jerusalem Maiden.

Once the food was cleared away, and books were passed around, Rachel and I managed to steal Greg's attention for a little while. It's surreal having a face to face conversation with someone you've gotten to know solely over the internet. And he was so sweet, he made me a mixed tape CD of some of his favorite new bands!! The conversation weaved back and forth between DC and NYC traffic, the books we are reading and digesting, and what our schedules looked like for the week. We promised to get together again throughout the course of BEA as time allowed.

I also spent a few minutes chatting with Diana. We discovered that her novel Skinny was supposed to be the center of a new series I had cooked up last year when I was an overwhelmed and completely disorganized blogger. Sadly, the series never saw the light of day, but we promised to find a new way to work together... keep your eyes out for this one!

Before I knew it, the lunch party was over and I hadn't even grabbed copies of the novels for the other authors to sign!

Event 2: Rachel and I took off for the second event of the day, Random House's Reader Circle Tea Party. I met the face behind the @atrandom tweets, which turned out to be Rachel's friend from college. The set up in the tea room was pretty cool, even though the room itself felt like the inside of an oven. Man, I was melting in there! They had cookies and fruity wine and hot tea. They also had backlist titles, recent releases, and tote bags stacked throughout the room for the taking.

My favorite memory of the Random House event took place before the author, Lisa See, took the podium to discuss her new novel. I was reunited with a long lost friend from 15 years ago. Follow the link to see how it all went down!

Event 3: After catching up and introducing her to Rachel (apparently they shared an "awkward" moment at the backlist table), my long lost buddy Tara and I parted ways for the evening, and Rachel and I continued on to the Picador Cocktail party.

We were a bit early so we swung into a tea shop near the Flat Iron Building, and I had the yummiest sun dried tomato and cheddar cheese pastry I have ever tasted. (It was like heaven somehow got wrapped inside those three delicious bites.)

Up to the 19th floor we went, where we saw some familiar blogger faces (Colleen, Nicole, Jenn, and Candace) and were introduced to the Picador Staff - Heather Kirkpatrick and Nicholas Richardson, and a gentleman whose name I forget but I believe was the head of sales for the imprint. Many memorable conversations were born at that party, but the one I remember best was when I found myself standing up for the self published authors who chose to be self published. Boasting that I was the voice for the underdog, Nick, Rachel, the sales-guy-whose-name-escapes-me, and I had a pretty vibrant discussion that took us well into the evening. It was loads of fun, and I felt I had won myself a new friend at Picador because of it.

Then the coolest thing happened! Picador opened their backroom to us! I admit to being completely overwhelmed back there, and struggled with the decision of which books to take. I was afraid to take too many and appear greedy, but I was also afraid that by not taking enough, the Picador crew might wonder why their novels weren't good enough for me. So I settled for three - two books by Sam Lipsyte (who I've seen read, but have never read) and a novel called Lowboy.

Finally, they had a raffle drawing where I won my first ever audio book "Among the Mad" and we were given adorable I Love Picador tote bags.

With Rachel's help, I was directed to the subway that would take me back to Port Authority and my car, and headed back towards the Pocono's with a contented sigh, and my ears filled with the new music of Greg Olear's CD.

If this post didn't bore your brains out, check back tomorrow to hear all about the Authors and Bloggers I was lucky enough to meet during my week at BEA.

BEA Breakdown - TNBBC Takes on NYC

Last year, because I didn't really know any better, BEA was all about the books. As a brand new book blogger, I was focused on only two things - getting my hands on future releases so I could finally start reviewing books BEFORE they released, and meeting other bloggers like me.

When I look back, I can honestly say "Mission Accomplished". I made some life-long blogger connections and managed to get copies of books that I would go on to review before their release date.

This year, however, I was a whole year older and wiser and my priorities had shifted in a different direction. Shortly after BEA 2010, I discovered my true passion for indie authors and publishers. Maturing as a book blogger, I began rebuilding my blog and developing monthly series and features by which I could spotlight these underdogs of the literary community. I worked hard at establishing and maintaining connections in the Indie publishing world. I wanted to help readers and fellow bloggers get behind the books and meet the people who made those books possible.

My focus for BEA 2o11? Meeting as many of those connections face-to-face as possible. Publishers and Authors beware... TNBBC was on a new mission!

I RSVP'd to as many publishing events as I could. Harper Perennial's Book Blogger Lunch, and their after-event at Bill's Gay Nineties; The Random House Reader Circle's Tea Party; Picador's Cocktail party; The Bookrageous Bash held at Lolita's; The Indie Bookseller's party; Electric Lit's after-event; The Goodreads Book Club party; The Book Blogger Reception; the list goes on and on...

Of course, I double booked myself knowing full well that I wouldn't be able to attend every event, but I wanted a full dance card from which to choose from!!

My week of BEA goodness began quite early on Monday. I was driving in every day from the Pocono's and had to leave crack-of-dawn early in order to beat the horrendous bumper-to-bumper nightmare commuter traffic. This meant that I arrived at Port Authority, after clearing the Lincoln Tunnel with white-knuckled relief, with a whopping 3 and 1/2 hours to spare. I say white-knuckled because of my irrational fear that the tunnel will suddenly spring a leak while I am driving through it. Not to mention the fact that while I was how-many-hundreds of feet below the water, my CD decided to play Frogma's "I Need a Miracle" and my mind began replaying video footage from Sylvester Stallone's crappy movie "Daylight".

Enough about that though. Do you really want to hear about my irrational neuroses? I killed those 3 hours by wandering around NYC snapping some artistic cell phone shots (haha). I have no sense of direction, so me and my Hop Stop app became best buds as I entered in location after location of places to visit.

First stop: The New York Public Library. I knew my kids would get a kick out of knowing I had walked past the very library where Ghostbusters made it's debut! There was some construction taking place and the front of the library was blocked off but I thought I got some good shots regardless. Did you know that right before BEA, the library held an overnight scavenger hunt? I totally wanted to hit that, but I couldn't justify two trips into the city that close together. Have you seen GAS PRICES??!!

From there, I headed over to Bryant Park, which is literally around the corner from the library. It was chilly and gray and windy out, so I wrapped myself up in my coat, plopped down at a table where I could see into the park and also people watch, cracked open James Boice's upcoming release The Good and the Ghastly, and lost myself in the book for a half hour. It's a dystopian gangster noir novel that takes place in the 3300's. Bryant park is where I first met my UK blogger buddy and fellow Goodreads friend Becca from The Book Whisperer's Blog - she was up visiting NYC at christmas time two years ago and I brought the kids and hubby up to see her. We went ice skating for the very first time.

I don't know how I did this, but once I got up and walked around a bit more, I realized I was headed for Radio City Music Hall. So I snapped a shot of it, more for the fact that I accidently found it than for what it is or stands for. My elementary school used to take us on class trips here for the NutCracker and other weird dance-y, musical type of shows. It's one of those places that I think you begin to grow out of as you get older. Now that I come to think of it, neither of my kids have ever been here. The schools in Pennsylvania don't seem to travel outside of PA. And the class trips are small and silly compared to some of the ones I had when I attended school in a small town in upstate NY. Anyway....

After walking around a bit more, I started to head over towards building where Harper Perennial was throwing their blogger lunch. I am a worry wart, and easily get lost, and like to plan ahead to be sure I know where I am going. As I headed over the street, I noticed this cute little alley with a water fall and chairs. So of course I take a load off and have a seat and start to read again until it's time to head into Harper's for the first event of BEA 2011......

Tune in tomorrow for the Publisher Parties portion of my BEA Breakdown!

BEA Breakdown - The Reunion Story

...Or, How TNBBC and BookSexyReview Reconnected

So there I was, chatting with my BEA blogger bestie Rachel (of A Home Between Pages) at the Random House Tea Party Monday afternoon when a familiar face walks by me. I shout "Tara?" and she turns to look at me. Holy Shit, I think. It's her! I haven't seen her in what....? 15 years? Maybe a little less? And here she is, walking past me in Random House?!!

What follows is my recollection of the conversation that took place immediately after calling her name:

Me: Oh my god, Tara (maiden name withheld)?!!

Tara: (looking at me with no recognition)

Me: You dated a guy named Keith. My husband's best friend Keith.

Tara: I've dated a lot of guys in my life, but Keith wasn't one of them.

Me: Yes you did! He was best friends with John, my husband, and Shannon. Up in the Poconos.

Tara: Wha...? Huh..? Oh My God!!!!

Cue loud, girlish squeeing as we discover that we both run book blogs and live 45 minutes from one another. And then the endless questions of what we have both been up to since we last saw each other back in the late 90's.

Of course we then sit down together and compare schedules. She is traveling in by bus, I am driving back and forth each day. We have similar evening plans, which means we will be able to hang out and reconnect throughout the week at BEA.

And that is exactly what we did! In my upcoming BEA Breakdown posts, you will hear a few of the TNBBC and BookSexyReview stories as we encounter literary idols, schmooze with the publishers, and enjoy a party or too along the way. Who'd have thought that blogging could bring two long lost friends back together?

Be sure to check out her blog. It's finding it's niche with Translations and International Literature. She's got wicked good taste and she's a ball to be around! If you stop by and check her out, let her know TNBBC sent you!!!

The BEA Blues

Well, Folks. It's officially over. BEA ended yesterday at approximately 7pm for me. After 5 days of networking with publishers, authors, book sellers, and book bloggers, I believe I am suffering from the BEA blues.

How do you know if you are suffering from the BEA Blues?

*If you find yourself stopped at the front door of a bookstore by security because you filled a tote bag with books that you had not paid for.... you might be suffering from the BEA Blues.

*If you approach random people on the street or behind retail counters, introduce yourself by your blog name, and ask if you can trade business cards... you might be suffering from the BEA Blues.

*If you stand in line at the deli counter and ask the associate who cut your turkey to sign the bag ... you might be suffering from the BEA Blues.

* If you see a line of people waiting somewhere and ask "which author are you in line for?"... you might be suffering from the BEA Blues.

*If you woke up this morning and walked over to the Javits Center to peek inside it's empty glass windows... you might be suffering from the BEA Blues.

*If you are still using the #BEA11 or #Bookbloggercon hashtags for Twitter... you might be suffering from the BEA Blues.

Go ahead and add to this list by commenting below with your own "You might be suffering from the BEA Blues" creations! How about tweeting them under the hashtag #BEAblues?

While I distract you with that, over the next few days, I will be writing out my BEA11 recap, which will be broken out into three posts: The Authors/Publishers, The Bloggers, and The Books!!!