Holiday in Goliad – and Other Stuff!

01. December 2017 · Comments Off on Holiday in Goliad – and Other Stuff! · Categories: Book Event, Luna City, Old West · Tags: ,

All righty, then – the sequel to Lone Star Sons, Lone Star Glory is now available for pre-release order as an ebook. It will be available in print by the middle of the month.

For the remainder of the month, Lone Star Sons is available as an ebook at a pittance – .99 cents, as is the ebook of The Chronicles of Luna City.  The print version of A Fifth of Luna City will be available around the end of next week, for those who prefer to go old-school with books. I probably won’t be able to have either of these books at any author events  I will do in the next week or so,

But in the mean time – tomorrow Santa arrives on a longhorn!

The arrival of Santa, with a spare mount. It’s a long way from the North Pole, you see.

Ice Cold in Goliad

08. December 2013 · 1 comment · Categories: Book Event · Tags: , , ,

Santa Onna Longhorn #1
That’s pretty much what it turned out to be over Friday evening in South Texas. When my daughter returned from briskly walking the dogs before dawn Saturday morning, she told me that the grass crackled underfoot. We set out for Goliad just after sunrise, expecting to spend a chilly day selling books in the open-air. Well, the pavilions set up around the edge of Courthouse Square in Goliad were all essentially in the open-air too. We took along our heaviest coats, extra blankets, bundled Nemo in a doggy overcoat, and I made a vain search for my gloves.
Courthouse Square
To our good fortune and relief, Estelle Zermeno, who has set up Miss Ruby’s Author Corral ever since I’ve been coming to Goliad for the Christmas event, had located an last-minute indoor venue for us – the premises of a closed restaurant, right on the square; a restored historic building with a bathroom, parking around in back and heat. Alas, that was about the last good bit of news about the day. Two scheduled authors had called off appearing, due to the cold and potentially dangerous drive, so it was down to four authors and a handful of friends.
Random Streetcorner
We had shelter at least, but the other vendors were out in the miserable cold – and to add to the misery, there were very few people come out to shop or cheer for Santa. On the good side of that, I got a very good picture of Santa-onna-longhorn, and his military escort, but there seemed to be only about two dozen children and their parents, where ordinarily there would have been hundreds. No posse of cowboys escorting Santa, hardly anyone with a Christmas-dressed dog for the afternoon dog costume contest. I believe I only had four or five potential customers come and look at my books all day.
Garlanded Cow and Urns
We packed it up by 1:30, when a light drizzle began falling, and it was so cold that we were afraid it would turn to ice, somewhere along the road back to San Antonio. I am certain that if we had been outside as well, we wouldn’t have stood it for even that long. There were just no customers at all; this marks the very first time that I came away from an event like this without having made a single sale – and I don’t think I was the only one, not by a long shot.

Off to Goliad

05. December 2013 · Comments Off on Off to Goliad · Categories: Book Event, Uncategorized · Tags: ,

My Christmas marathon continues this weekend – the two hour drive to Goliad for Miss Ruby’s Book Corral, as part of Christmas on the Square. I am loosing track of how many times we have done this event, but it must be about the forth or fifth time. I can’t even remember how I got onto it in the first place, although attending a talk about a local archeological dig in Beeville a while ago might have had something to do with it.
The Littlest Santa of them All
Goliad is a charming little town, with the courthouse square at the heart of it. I am pretty certain that everyone knows each other in passing, and if they don’t, then they have friends in common. The city streets in the old part of town are studded with huge, ancient oak trees, which were so treasured that the streets sometimes go around them. Santa arrives promptly at noon on Saturday, riding on a tame (and probably heavily sedated longhorn) and accompanied by a posse of cowboys.
Christmas On the Square 2012

Goliad Dental Care Bldg

Goliad Oak

Santa onna Longhorn-smaller
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It is one of the handful of towns in Texas which were settled before 1800, and the current shale oil boom has been extremely kind to the local area. The first year that we drove down for it, it seemed like the countryside was more or less deserted, and all the little towns along the way were half boarded up and deserted. Not so last year – they were booming, with the storefronts occupied, and new petrochemical installations and mancamps everywhere. But looking at the weather forecast, it looks like it’s going to be briskly cold for the next few days, which is OK, because it’s a little embarrassing, having to wear shorts and run the AC in December.

One more event – and then I can relax and enjoy Christmas!

All Righty, Then –

01. November 2013 · Comments Off on All Righty, Then – · Categories: Book Event · Tags: , , , ,

Since the Amazon Author Page function which supposedly allows one to post a schedule of events doesn’t seem to be functioning in any useful way, here I go, posting the my schedule the old-fashioned way, as a blogpost:
November 9th and 10th from 10-5 both days – at Boerne’s Market Days, which are held on the town square, just off Main Street in Boerne. Look for the four rows of white pavilions, set on the grass among the pecan trees lining the square. My daughter and I are sharing a booth; I’ll have books, my daughter her original origami art. Very likely there will be live music in the bandstand for most of the days, and if the people who have the mobile kitchen serving gorditas – check them out. Their gorditas are awesome, and almost big enough for two people to share.
Mistress of the PuffyTacoShells

November 22nd and 23rd from 10 to 5 on Friday, and 10 to 6 on Saturday – I’ll have a table in the Hall of Authors at Weihnachtsmarkt in the New Braunfels Civic Center, which is located at 380 South Seguin, in New Braunfels. The whole Christmas Market is to benefit the Sophienburg Museum and Archives. There will be several huge rooms full of vendors, selling all kinds of neat and crafty things – and there will be a good assortment of local authors with their books. What makes a better gift than a book, I always say. Which reminds me – my 10-year old niece wants one of my books for her Christmas present from me; To Truckee’s Trail is the most appropriate for that age, so she will have it with my best wishes and personal message for her. My brother says she loves historical fiction…
Christmas Onna Longhorn
Saturday, December 7th from 9 to 4 (or so) At Christmas On the Square in Goliad. They usually set up Miss Ruby’s Author Corral in a little area next to the Chamber of Commerce, on Courthouse Square in beautiful downtown Goliad. Santa arrives mounted on a long-horn, and there is music and revelry, food and crafts for sale and a dog costume contest.
I will have a good stock of books, including the latest – The Quivera Trail – and if we run out, I will have order forms. This year, we have obtained one of those little attachments for Blondie’s cellphone which allows us to process credit/debit cards, so the 21st century has caught up to us at last.

Dog as Mrs. Santa

Book Events – 2012

31. July 2012 · Comments Off on Book Events – 2012 · Categories: Book Event · Tags: , , , , ,

Book Events – Upcoming

There’s not all that much on my event calendar over the next few months – only one talk, and three big community events. What with the cost of gas, arranging for accommodations, and seeing to the care of home, pets and the garden, something more than a couple of hours drive from San Antonio is pretty much not doable this year. We love the drive up to Abilene for the Book and Music Fest there, but it involves an overnight stay. So – for the rest of the year, I’m keeping it local.

The next event that I’ll be at is the observation of the 150th anniversary of the Nueces fight: there will be a community picnic and a symposium on the 11th of August, at the True to the Union monument in Comfort and at the Lutheran Church fellowship hall across the street. A number of authors will have books on offer about the Civil War and the Nueces Fight, at the picnic and symposium venue.
In September, I’ll be doing a talk about the Civil War in the Hill Country for the Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War, on the 14th, at Ye Kendall Inn in Boerne. Did I say that we’re in the middle of the 150th anniversary of the Civil War?

Then, the next event will be the Christmas Market in New Braunfels, and this time I’m angling to be there for all three days of the event. This will be November 16-18th, at the Convention Center in New Braunfels. This was an amazing event for me last year, even though I could only be there for one day. The notice about it only went out. I haven’t heard yet about the final planned event – Christmas on the Square in Goliad, which is normally the first weekend in December, but I’ve added it onto my schedule regardless.

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