BFS Open Night - Holborn, London - 5th December 2003

this was the launch of Strange Tales - for a full report on that, click here

I don’t tend to go to BFS Open Nights (since they usually start at 8pm on a Friday evening in the middle of London), but I made an exception for this one as Rainfall Books was launching a series of titles (in addition to Strange Tales were “Black Altars”, by Mark Samuels; “Spare Parts”, by Stuart Young and “Ghosts Far From Subtle”, by Joe Rattigan)

Joe Rattigan, John B Ford, Mark Samuels, me - Stuart Young kneeling

Since it was my first ever launch, Alison & I decided to stay over and booked into a hotel in Bloomsbury. After checking in - it was a lovely old building - and putting on my “Strange Tales” T-shirt, we went for a walk and found the new Forbidden Planet shop (it was huge, apparently 5 miles of shelving!). After spending ages in there, we got something to eat and then headed for the Princess Louise.

This pub also hosted the MOT-Con, though we were upstairs this time. We got settled in (in a booth across from Sue Philips and her family) and waited for the night to kick off. In my opinion, the launch wasn’t particularly well organised (by the BFS folk) and, in addition to a dodgy microphone, I had to read (I chose “The Thief Of Road Signs” as it’s fairly short and sweet) over people’s conversations. But no matter, at least I did it.

After the readings, I mingled and caught up with old friends. Joe Rattigan, Sarah Crabtree and David Price sat in our booth and Mike Philbin - who has taken a real shine to Alison - was a frequent visitor. Mark Samuels and Adriana were there, I spoke with Paul Kane and Marie O’Regan at the bar and Stephen Jones was milling around (though I didn’t get to speak to him again, more’s the pity). Steve Lines and his partner were with John and his partner Lynne and I spent a lot of time at their table, signing books and slotting my bookmarks and ‘art-cards’ into copies. In the end, I signed 26 copies of the book (some specifically for people who had bought copies there) and sold 2 of my own copies that I’d taken to the event.

After the event, since I was on a real high, we went for a walk around Bloomsbury and celebrated my ‘success’ with a take-away garlic bread from Pizza Hut.

me, Sarah Crabtree, Stuart Young

On Saturday, since we were in the capital, we decided to do the sightseeing thing (and also pick up some pictures and atmosphere relating to "White Meat", my collaborative novel with T.M. Gray) and eventually got home at about 4pm. We were both knackered, but it was a good weekend and it felt great to be at the launch for my first collection.