Book signing news

In the "let's try this again" category, I have a book signing and discussion for my book, Inside the Texas Chicken Ranch, coming up on Oct. 7 from 1-3 p.m. at Pecantown Books and Brews in Seguin. Those of you who've been following along may recall a previous attempt at a signing here back in September had to be scrubbed because of an unexpected conflict. But we're back and looking forward to seeing folks turn out on Saturday. Pecantown is a nifty shop with several rooms filled with books plus a wine and beer bar. I think every bookstore should have a wine and beer bar incorporated into the general layout. Everybody wins!

I also have fresh news to share--as in just confirmed minutes ago. I'm finally coming to the Metroplex for a signing event! After many false starts, misfires and schedule conflicts dating back to 2016 I am delighted to announce that I will be at Monkey and Dog Books in Fort Worth on Nov. 4 for a 2-4 p.m. signing and discussion. The Dallas-Fort Worth area plays such a significant role in the history of the Chicken Ranch--both in Miss Edna's early days as a sex worker before she found her way to La Grange, to the start of that brothel's weird afterlife when the parlour section was shipped to Dallas to become a short-lived, chicken-themed restaurant. I mean, it's crazy I haven't made it up there, isn't it? Well, I go where I'm wanted and Monkey and Dog Books want me, so I hope to see you there in November!

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Alpine loves the Chicken Ranch!

Wow! I didn't know what to expect in Alpine for my Inside the Texas Chicken Ranch signing at Front Street Books, but the end result was a fantastic evening! There was a great turnout, I signed lots of books and answered lots of questions about the Chicken Ranch brothel of La Grange, which closed 50 years ago. I like to tell people that after every book signing I have, there's always at least one person who finds his way over to me and whispers quietly, "I don't want everyone to know, but I went there the summer of '68." Guess what? This signing was no different!

I'd never been to Alpine before, which seems absurd now that I think of it. My best friend growing up had an older brother living in Alpine, so I've known about it as long as I've known about pretty much any town in Texas. We almost bought a house in New Braunfels 10 years ago from folks who lived in Alpine. I've been to Big Bend, the Davis Mountains, Terlingua and McDonald Observatory but never quite made it to Alpine, until now. I'm happy to report that it's a charming little town, reminding me a little of Winslow, Az., with some Flagstaff and artsy Marfa thrown in for good measure. I'm staying in the historic Holland Hotel, which has been renovated but not to the point of being a generic Motel 6 clone. It feels vintage. The character is preserved.

Jean Pittman (pictured below), the owner and manager of Front Street Books, was a delight. I don't know if I've ever met a more enthusiastic bookstore owner. She has build a fantastic bookstore here in West Texas and I am not ashamed to admit I am jealous. New Braunfels and San Marcos, each 10 times Alpine's size, have no bookstores whatsoever. That's sad. I hope the people of Alpine appreciate what they've got.

I was also fortunate to see longtime friends Sandy and Scott Cupp. They've been in Alpine for the better part of the past decade, but Scott's nearing retirement and they plan to return to San Antonio before the end of the year if everything works out. It'll be great having them nearby again.

And can you say "good omen"? This is the first thing I saw when I checked in at the historic Holland Hotel: A poster advertising my book signing. A couple from New Orleans who are road tripping across the U.S. happened to stop in Alpine for the night, saw the poster and came to my signing on the spur of the moment. Being from New Orleans, they knew all about Houston's Marvin Zindler and could not pass up the opportunity to learn more about the infamous Chicken Ranch. They had me sign several copies of the book they bought as gifts for friends and relatives. Talk about great timing!

I have to say, Alpine is charming and Front Street Books is a top-notch bookstore. If you ever find yourself in West Texas and have the opportunity, stop in and pay them a visit. It's well worth your time!

Next up on the signing tour is Armadillocon in Austin Aug. 4-6, Fabled Bookshop and Cafe in Waco Aug. 22 and Murder By The Book in Houston Aug. 26.

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AUTHOR FEST!

They say you can't go home again, and in my experience that's generally true. But you can visit on occasion and that's exactly what I'll be doing this Saturday, August 27. The Nesbitt Memorial Library in Columbus (Texas, for all you folks who immediately thought Ohio or Georgia) is hosting an Author Fest 10 a.m.-2 p.m. in the Buddy Rau Room of the venerable Stafford Opera House. It's the kickoff event for a year-long bicentennial celebration of the town's founding. I--along with a baker's dozen authors from the surrounding areas--will be on hand to sign and sell copies of their various books. In addition to Inside the Texas Chicken Ranch, I will also have a few copies of the coffeetable photo book I co-authored with Lisa, Ghosts of the Chicken Ranch. Believe it or not, I also recently came across several copies of my 2005 interview collection, Voices of Vision: Creators of Science Fiction & Fantasy Speak, which I'll have there as well.

I have to say, every time I'm invited to participate in some event or other by the Nesbitt I feel a surge of joy. This is a place where I spent a significant portion of my childhood, devouring so, so many books. My love of science fiction was born here, when I stumbled across the intriguing cover of the young adult novel Battle on Mercury by Eric Van Lhin (ie Lester Del Rey). That one book hooked me and set in motion ripples that continue to impact my life to this day. For that I shall always be grateful. So if you're in the area, come on out and I will regale you with all manner of stories, some of which might even be true!

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The Chicken Ranch vs. the Texas Book Festival!

I'll be at the Texas Book Festival this weekend, signing copies of Inside the Texas Chicken Ranch: The Definitive Account of the Best Little Whorehouse 12:30-2:30 p.m. on November 5 and 2-4 p.m. on November 6. I'll be at the Arcadia/History Press booth, which--as I understand it--will be located on the south side of the capitol grounds, along 11th Street between Congress Avenue and Brazos Street. I'm hoping for a good turnout (after all, what Texan doesn't love a good Chicken Ranch book?) but I have to confess I'm keeping a close eye on the weather forecast. Saturday should be okay, but right now there a predicted 80 percent chance of rain for Sunday. Yikes!

Now, I've got a fun story to share. A few nights ago, I accompanied The Wife to a meet-up with some of her internet friends at Herbert's Taco Hut in New Braunfels. The women were at one table, so naturally the menfolk sat separately. Gradually the conversation drifted to the utter trainwreck that is the Baylor athletic program, so in between sips from my margarita, I tossed out the fun factoid that Waco had the first legalized prostitution/vice district in Texas. That prompted one of the guys to share that he'd come across a cool new book on the Chicken Ranch. He was going to buy a copy--but get this--the author lives in New Braunfels! So he thought he'd wait to get the book locally and have the author sign it.

Honestly, I thought he was putting me on. I'd never met any of these guys before, but The Wife has conversed with their wifes online, so... Anyway, I piped up, "What sick sonofabitch would write about the Chicken Ranch?" which got a bit of a laugh from the guys. But then they continued talking about it with increasing interest, saying how the author had tracked down the last madam ("Edna Milton," I offered) and how the reporter who shut it down was from Houston ("Marvin Zindler. He died in 2007," I said) and that there was actually another brothel that was shut down the same time, called the Wagon Wheel in Seguin.

"No, that was in Sealy."

That was the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back. One of them turned to me with an odd look on his face and said, "How do you know so much about it? Did you write the book?"

"Yup," I answered, taking another drink from my margarita. There was a short pause, as they were thinking I was putting them on, quickly followed by a bunch of laughter and a flood of questions about the Chicken Ranch. I'm telling you, it was surreal hearing folks I'd never met wax enthusiastic about my book right in front of me, without knowing they were talking about me. I suppose if they'd been trashing it and saying how awful it was, I'd have been pretty miserable, but as it was, it served as a nice ego boost.

Inside the Texas Chicken Ranch: The Definitive Account of the Best Little Whorehouse is now available from both Amazon.com and BarnesAndNoble.com. It's also available as an ebook in the following formats: Kindle, Nook, Google Play, iBooks and Kobo.

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Chicken Ranch: The week ahead

I might as well put Willie Nelson on repeat in my car, since I'm "On the Road Again" this coming week. If you want to catch my dancing monkey show, you've got three more opportunities coming up shortly. Tomorrow, otherwise known as Saturday, October 8, I'll have a signing noon-2:30 p.m. at the MSC Bookstore on the Texas A&M University campus in College Station, prior to the Tennessee football game. Parking and traffic are a bit insane, but if you're already going to the game, drop by and say "Howdy!"

The next day, Sunday, October 9, I'll be at the La Grange public library 2-4 p.m. for a meeting of the 2nd Sunday Gang book club. Book club discussions are always a lot of fun, and this one's open to the public, so anyone who wants to drop by is welcome. I think this is my fifth visit to La Grange since August, but it's the last one I have on my calendar at the moment.

Finally, skipping ahead to next Saturday, October 15, I'll be back in Houston--my fourth trip since August--for a 3-5 p.m. signing and discussion at River Oaks Bookstore. The event's open to anyone and, again, this is the last visit to Houston I have on the calendar for the foreseeable future. So if you want to hear me hold forth on all things Chicken Ranch, here's your chance!

Inside the Texas Chicken Ranch: The Definitive Account of the Best Little Whorehouse is now available from both Amazon.com and BarnesAndNoble.com. It's also available as an ebook in the following formats: Kindle, Nook, Google Play, iBooks and Kobo.

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Inside the Texas Chicken Ranch: For those keeping score at home

Okay, I've been very busy lately and very remiss on keeping this blog updated. A thousand pardons. Last Friday, September 23 to be exact, I had a signing in San Marcos at Bad Boy Books, which had the singular misfortune of coinciding with the Texas State/University of Houston football weekend. Which meant the city center was full of college revelers with nary a parking spot to be had for miles. That put a real damper on the turnout for the event, but we soldiered on and and a heck of a time anyway.

Sunday found me at Rustic Ranch in Wimberley for the annual fundraiser of the Wimberley Players. Their theme this year was "The Best Little Playhouse in Texas," and someone thought having me there would be entertaining. That, too, was a lot of fun. The M.C. for the night dressed up like the legendary Marvin Zindler and I officially sold out of Inside the Texas Chicken Ranch. A portion of every sale went to the Wimberley Players, so it was win-win. I had a lot of great conversations, particularly with Allison, a student from Texas Woman's University who's in the women's studies program. We got into a great discussion on the merits and drawbacks of legalized prostitution versus prohibition, and I look forward to continuing it some day. And yes, I have more books on order, but this is the first time since early July that I've not had a single copy of my book in the house. That's an odd sensation.

Monday proved to be one of those "interesting times" Chinese proverb-tellers are always going on about. My car was dead in the morning (foolish me somehow left the lights on and killed the battery) so I had to take my daughter's car to work. Okay, fine. Except right around lunch the skies opened up with a bonafide deluge. The San Marcos River rose up to cover the Aquarena Drive bridge, which means we're getting a lot of the wet stuff. But this wasn't a normal flood. There were pockets of heavy rain, and other pockets of really heavy rain, and that caused localized flooding where it hadn't ever been seen before. Like in the parking lots around the edge of campus. Like, in the parking lot where I'd parked my daughter's car. This particular lot was partway up a hill, so one would think the drainage would preclude any flooding. One would be wrong. The rain was coming down so hard, and the runoff from up hill was coming down so fast that everything pooled in the relatively flat lot. I saw one SUV with white water halfway up its doors. I got to my daughter's car with the water lapping around the rear wheels, and then relocated it to the third floor of a parking garage three blocks away. Then walked back to my office. My raincoat and waterproof hiking boots were completely soaked through. After dealing with the media excitement, I rushed home at the end of the day, took a hot shower and put on some dry clothes before rushing back to San Marcos for a meeting of the "Trashy Ladies Book Club." I'm telling you, I love book clubs, and the Trashy Ladies are at the top of my list. They were brassy and bawdy and knew how to throw a party with good food and plenty of wine flowing throughout the evening. That's them in the photo above. I signed a whole bunch of books and answered all manner of questions about the Chicken Ranch and Miss Edna. The ladies discussed the practicalities of "having a poke" at the Chicken Ranch so much I felt like I was an extra on the set of Lonesome Dove. It was a great deal of fun and I'm grateful for several of them leaving me reviews on Amazon. So, yay for reviews!

I've got another book club visit coming up October 9 in La Grange, when I pay a visit to the 2nd Sunday Gang at the Fayette County Library. I doubt there will be as much wine flowing, but I expect it to be a blast nonetheless, because hey, it's La Grange. Before that, though, I'm at the MSC Bookstore on the Texas A&M campus, prior to the big A&M/Tennessee football game, so for any Aggies looking to get some Christmas shopping out of the way early, I can fix you up. Then on October 15 I'm back in Houston (I can't stay away from this place!) for a 3-5 p.m. signing at River Oaks Bookstore. I've had some great experiences in Houston thus far, and am really looking forward to the return trip.

That wraps up my October events, but I've got a full slate coming up in November. Beyond that, I've got some spring tour dates firming up as well. I'll share those pretty soon, but for now, wow, I sure am busy!

Inside the Texas Chicken Ranch: The Definitive Account of the Best Little Whorehouse is now available from both Amazon.com and BarnesAndNoble.com. It's also available as an ebook in the following formats: Kindle, Nook, Google Play, iBooks and Kobo.

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Chicken Ranch report no. 73: So... this happened

So, today was quite eventful. I accomplished quite a bit--some pretty cool things are breaking in my favor--and I was all set to blog about them when I got home this evening. Then this happened:

The box was sitting in my office when I got home and HOLY GEEZE GUYS! I WAS NOT EXPECTING THIS! Okay, hang on, let me catch my breath... I MEAN IT'S ALMOST SIX WEEKS TO GO UNTIL THE RELEASE DATE AND I KNEW THEY WERE GETTING CLOSE TO PRINTING BUT THOUGHT MAYBE I'D GET COPIES MID-JULY OR SOMETIME!

Oh my. I'm giddy. This is seven years of my life here, a project that I originally thought would demand maybe six months of effort, tops. Instead it turned into my own personal albatross, a Sisyphean stone that took on rectangular form with pages that flapped in between the stony covers. There were times I thought it might never see print. But now it's a real, tangible thing in my hands. And let me tell you, it's a handsome book. It's a hefty book. I mean, it is substantial. Until now I hadn't realized how much of a presence 110,000 words were, plus two appendices, plus 741 endnotes, plus an index... Nobody will mistake it for one of George R.R. Martin's books, true, but that doesn't mean you couldn't inflict serious injury on someone if you flung it at them hard enough. The pages are of semi-glossy stock, slick and smooth and very kind to the 100 illustrations included therein. Physically, it's dense. I'm very pleased with how it turned out.

And yes, I've already found typos. Thanks for asking.

Since I have a for-true book now, I suppose it apropos that I share the for-true book signings I have on the calendar for the coming months:

I will be at BookPeople in Austin on August 15 at 7 p.m.

I will be at the Twig in San Antonio on August 19 at 7 p.m.

I will be at the Memorial Student Center Bookstore on the Texas A&M University campus prior to the A&M-UCLA football game September 3, and again October 8 prior to the A&M-Tennessee football game. Signing times are yet to be determined.

That's not all, folks. I've got more groovy events in the works that I'll be sharing in the coming weeks. This is going to be an exciting autumn for me!

Inside the Texas Chicken Ranch: The Definitive Account of the Best Little Whorehouse is now listed on both Amazon.com and BarnesAndNoble.com for pre-order.

Title: Inside the Texas Chicken Ranch: The Definitive Account of the Best Little Whorehouse
Author: Jayme Lynn Blaschke
Publication Date: August 1, 2016
ISBN: 978.1.46713.563.4

Ghosts of the Chicken Ranch is still available:

Ghosts of the Chicken Ranch by Jayme Blaschke & Lisa Blaschke

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