Drunken Parrot, Watergate and Cheerleaders

I wanted to write this last Sunday, but we here exhausted after the Bookfair. It had    been brutally hot at different points in the day, and that was draining. Then, we had to set up and break down the tables and carry all the heavy stuff across the park to the car. Combine that with less than four hours of sleep, and you get two brain dead people Sunday night. The most I could have written was fire bad, tree pretty. And you, gentle reads would have missed a heck of a tale.

Book Fair and Watergate
Difficulties in getting boxes of books, magnets, 40 lbs of lube and a 7 by 8 foot sign across town aside, the West Hollywood Book Fair was a success for Sybaritic Press. We were in the same area as last year, but the booths were reconfigured so the sun wasn’t as much of a problem after 12 noon. We had our stock well in advance this year, so we didn’t have the angst over having a sparse spread. Jon’s new signage look great. I was glad. He’d lost a lot of sleep putting on the final touches the night before. Our neighbors across the way were the The Los Angeles Science Fiction Society. They had some really big authors as guests, which was cool to listen in on. But I was amused about how much the volunteers talked about slash between the authors. I tried not to show any reaction lest I get drawn in and distracted from my booth. The organizers of the Book fair were to put us in that area.

The strangeness began early. We were visited by a goth pair who had a big, fluffy, annoyed kitty in something that looked like a baby coach. There were the West Hollywood Cheerleaders. The one in the photo is the one that shaved his beard. And then there was the well dressed gentleman in the briefcase who passed by a couple of time. Each time, he eyed our booth nervously. I realized that it was John W. Dean, who was speaking at one of the stages. In the name of my journalism professors, I really wanted him to come closer and perhaps, sample some of our wares. Alas, he did not. However, that was not the end of the strangeness at the booth.

Drunken Parrot

We had a drunken parrot in our booth. And that wasn’t the weirdest part. No, wait...I think that was the weirdest part of the day. But there was a lot of strangeness prior to the drunken parrot. Now, I have to clarify, the bird didn’t arrive drunk. He was a little freaked out from the car ride, but he was sober upon arrival. The parrot belongs to Len Richmond’s 80-something year old mother. She owns the sex toy factory that provided the free mini bottles of lube for the table. The African Gray Parrot is called Chicky. He didn’t talk at the booth, but we hear he yacks up a storm at home. Anyway, Len’s mother and brother were in attendance for the debut of Naked in Paradise. I had brought a nice bottle of champagne to celebrate the launch and our pleasant and successful collaboration. I gave a cup to Len’s mother who promptly fed some to Chicky. We thus had a drunken parrot in our booth. And it turns out that Chicky can be a frisky drunk and is apparently gay. He was later making out with one of the popcorn boys I found wandering around the booths promoting Gays on Film. Once I saw them, I had to bring them over to share with everyone.

But back to Naked in Paradise, Len and his friends were a whole lot of fun in the booth. They bring a joy and mayhem that’s a real treat to witness. His book was also well-received. The cover garnered a few sales before he arrived, and it was sold out by the time he and his mom trundled away. The title will be carried at the A Different Light bookstores and a store in London. It’s well ranked on Amazon, and it’s only been out a week or so. We’re very pleased and hope do do more events with Len, his Mom and hopefully, Chicky.

Overall, Sybaritic Press did very well at the fair. In addition to Len Richmond’s title, Brenda Petrakos’ Stories From the Inside Edge did very well. One man bought a copy of all of our homoerotic content and another bought all of my titles. We had a great, if exhausting day and look forward to participating next year.

Vampires, Zombies and Hawaii Five-OWarning, spoilers for current season and 40 year old shows.

Because I was largely brain dead last Sunday, my only option while waiting for my body to keel over, was watching TV. Jon had gone to bed before 8pm, so I didn’t watch our usual line up. I found that CBS had the first episode of Moonlight for free on Itunes, so I thought, why not? I was curious, and I wanted to make sure that their vampires weren’t the same as the vampires in Demon Under Glass. I found I disagreed with my friends. This show wasn’t a pale imitation of Buffy or Angel. It was a pale imitation of Forever Knight. That’s surprising as Forever Knight wasn’t exactly great TV. I followed the show, but chalk that up to shows that I watch and don’t know why. It wasn’t horrible, but it was sloppy and more than a little silly. I doubt I’ll make the effort to tune in again. Meanwhile, there was no Speedle on CSI: Miami, zombie or otherwise. However, I found an amusing parallel to this week’s episode and the opener for Law and Order: Criminal Intent. Both, it turned out, had a plot about a young man seeking revenge on those who put their fathers in jail. Where Criminal Intent dealt with well-meaning peace officers who made errors against men they truly believed were guilty and had an outcome that was messy and complicated and brought closure to no one, Horatio Cain decided on a more Hawaii Five-O approach to resolution. Cain managed to have his would-be assassin steal his gun from his city issued Hummer and use it on him only to reveal that it is filled with blanks. This was very satisfying in Season 7’s A Gun for McGarrett (no, I dind't know this off-hand, I had to look it up. Search engines do amazing things these days), but that was a long time ago before TV writing evolved. Yeesh. Yet I will continue watching because I can’t help it.

Updates

I'm in the final quarter of A Soldier's Fate and expect that to publish in January. Meanwhile, we'll be shooting the short for The Gift of Surrender next month followed by either the short or feature for The Gunslinger. I know I'll regret saying this, but I can't wait to get back on a set.

Stay tuned!