Woooooooo! Final day was a doozy! We got up at sunrise and headed north, singing “Get Out of Denver” by Bob Seger. I’ve always found that song amusing because of the “Baptist preachin’ southern funky school teacher.” Drove all the way up to Laramie, Wyoming, because mi madre wanted to do some research at the American Heritage Center located at the University of Wyoming. We left her there and drove over to the Hastings store, where they had a few copies of my books in stock and I signed ’em. I chatted with the nice folks there and blogged about the prior night’s shenanigans in Denver; now I’m in the Denver Airport bloggin’ about the shenanigans in Ft. Collins.

We found a place to park and walked back to where the signing was to be held, and ran across THIS sign:

So we had to go in and chat! Turns out this is a different branch o’ the family that split off looong ago, all the Hearnes in America being descended from three brothers. My branch migrated south and then west, her branch migrated west directly from Maryland and kinda spread out from there. So we’re cousins 25 times removed or something. It did my heart glad to know that the business is a green one. :)

So! Old Firehouse Books. AWESOME STORE. Used to be a firehouse in the 19th century and they still have the little pole to slide down to prove it. Here’s what it looks like—it’s on Walnut Street across from Hearne’s:

And look what they did for me!!! I hereby dub this the coolest sandwich board thingie ever!

OK, so, a little bit about this place. First, the Sci-Fi/Fantasy shelf is A HUUUGE TRACT OF LAND and it’s in the front of the store WHERE IT BELONGS! The staff knows the genre well and they are now my Special Nerd Friends. Shall I show you a shiny picture?

I should probably warn people to wear sunglasses if they’re going to see me in person, because I’ve learned on this trip that my head is a highly reflective surface. Standing to my left in the red shirt is Jacqie, the manager, and she has a shiny triskele pendant from Ireland (as in she bought it in Ireland)! To Jacqie’s left is Tara, the graphics guru for the store, and she has a CRYSTAL D10 DIE around her neck! Are these my people or what! Not only are Jacqie and Tara turbocool, but I have to give shout-outs to Revati and Beth who were also every bit as delightful. I got to meet lots of spiffy people and chat with them a bit, like Chelsea and Jim (who got my wife to sign my books as well), and Josh was wearing a shirt I just had to give him props for:

After the signing, we repaired to Coopersmith’s Brewery. You might have thought I’d be doing New Belgium or Odell’s, but both of those distribute their beers in Arizona and I’ve already tried them. I wanted something new, and besides, it was just a short walk from the store. I sampled five beers:

I’ve forgotten the fancy names for the first two beers; on the left we have a really drinkable unfiltered wheat beer that I ordered a flagon of. The kolsch was very good but I think I’m partial to the Sunbru Kolsch at Four Peaks Brewery back in Tempe. Now, the Poudre. Let me tell you about the Poudre (pronounced POO der). It’s really, really fun to say. The Poudre River runs through Ft. Collins. There are signs throughout the town that say, “Save the Poudre,” and it’s really hard to argue with a sentiment that sounds so much fun. Buuuuut I didn’t like this particular brew very much. One sip and I was done. The Bitter wasn’t bitter at all, it was actually amazingly tasty, and I almost ordered a flagon of that, but a coin toss gave the win to the wheat beer. The Horsetooth was also very good, sweet and shudder-free. After the disappointment of having all my beer STOLEN by Mario in Denver (see previous post), this was quite refreshing.

Even more refreshing than the beer, however, was the company. Tara, Jacqie, Revati and Stina joined us from the bookstore, and together we flashed our Nerd Cred at each other. Tara, for example, was a poetry major, and she recited “I Sing the Body Electric” and gained much admiration thereby and a few worried glances. She is also developing her own roleplaying game system—hence the D10 necklace. You never know when you’re going to need one when you’re a game developer. She is awesome.

Stina turned out to be a type nerd! She can tell you the difference between a widow and an orphan in typography (can you do that without looking it up?), and together we determined that people who abuse Comic Sans and Papyrus might be tearing a hole in the fabric of space-time. Here are a couple o’ my new friends at Coopersmiths:

‘Twas a glorious tour through Colorado. I think I’ll do this again next year, coming back to see the swell people at the bookstores but trying out different breweries. It’s not like Colorado is going to run out of them. When I go back to Denver, I will hire a ninja to guard my beer from Mario.

Roundup o’ news really quick before I board my plane: I’m giving away five signed author copies of HAMMERED to those who enter The Drop Your Sword Contest; you have until Wednesday! Orbit UK has now acquired The Iron Druid Chronicles, and I have a big announcement coming on Monday!

I want to thank all the lovely people in Colorado (and the few I saw in Wyoming) for being such lovely human beings. It was my pleasure to meet you!

DENVER, baby! Yeah!

The signing and such wasn’t scheduled until later that night, so we had the day to mess around. Took the Kid to the Denver Zoo because they have awesome critters there and they’re the greenest zoo in the United States. They’re also more involved in species preservation than any other zoo I know of. They had a baby komodo dragon! Baby this, baby that…might have a baby snow leopard someday if they’re lucky, because they have a pair! Animal pics follow, click to enlarge:

After the zoo it was time to head over to the Broadway Book Mall. It’s the coolest wee store I’ve ever seen—Nina was so kind and welcoming and she knows what’s important. She has a shelf for ZOMBIE LITERATURE, my friends. This store rocks! She also had a signed copy of The Wise Man’s Fear, so I had to buy it. She has signed stuff from Carrie Vaughn, Connie Willis, and more; honestly, if you’re in Denver, you gotta go check this place out.

I met some great local authors n’ artists—shout out to Bonnie and Laura! And a couple of my dear yearbookin’ friends stopped by and made my day, because I haven’t seen them for a couple of years. When it comes to my nerdhood, I specialize in several fields. Yearbook nerds are called Yerds and we obsess over things like ligatures and Photoshop filters. It makes us happy. See how happy we are?

This was also my opportunity to meet a couple members of The League of Reluctant Adults for the first time, Mario Acevedo and Jeanne Stein! We promptly misbehaved. Or rather, Mario did. Here is the soon-to-be-famous Grope Attempt:

Jeanne was about to whip out her kung fu after that. Mario’s lucky she left her shank at home.

Mario promised to behave after that, but Jeanne still wanted to express herself in a dignified manner.

We went to The Great Divide Brewing Co. tap room after the signing, and here are the samplers of their beers:

They look good, and the one I’m excited about is the Chocolate Oak Aged Yeti, which you see on the far right. I tried it and it’s a heavy drink, hints of both chocolate and coffee to it, 9.5% alcohol content. It’s something to sip and enjoy, not chug. Unfortunately, I can’t say anything about the other beers because MARIO DRANK THEM ALL and I couldn’t order more, since these were ordered on Last Call! Yes, he stole my beer. Brazenly. In a Hawaiian shirt. Proof:

Oh well, at least I can report that the Yeti is good! I had a great time last night and now I’m writing this in Laramie, Wyoming, at the Hastings store here. It’s a cool town! I signed their stock and chatted with the nice people who work here. After another hour or so I’m headed back down to Ft. Collins for a signing at Old Firehouse Books.

I really dig Denver…wish I could explore some more. Methinks I might do this again next summer, it’s been so much fun! More later on Ft. Collins!