Thanks so much to everyone who came out Wednesday night to the Bride of the Tornado launch party at Exile in Bookville! I love this bookstore, which is run by my friends Javier and Kristin. It’s in the Fine Arts Building right on Michigan Avenue in Chicago, and it has a gorgeous view of Grant Park, with Lake Michigan beyond. Walking into the building, it feels like you’re stepping into another era—there is even an old-fashioned elevator that is manually operated by a human attendant! (You might recognize the building, and the bookstore, from this video Keir Graff and I made with Javier as the opener for the 11th Annual 90-Second Newbery Film Festival.)
So what happened at the book launch? Oh, the normal stuff. It started with me barging into the room in tornado costume to sing my own version of “Rock You Like A Hurricane”:
I was so happy and honored to have Chicago horror author Cynthia Pelayo interview me about the book. What a warm, talented, funny, supportive person—and a great writer too, check out her books! Why is it that horror authors are so nice? (Cynthia put up a great Twitter thread about the event, with plenty of pictures and video, here.)
So many friends and family pitched in. My friend Sandor Weisz (the puzzlemaster who runs the Mystery League) mixed tornado-themed drinks, my daughter Lucy made tornado cupcakes, and my niece and nephew Freya and Theo made cool Bride of the Tornado prints!
It’s an author’s worst nightmare to host an event and nobody comes. I’m so grateful we were able to pack the place with old friends and new. (And this isn’t my only event by a long shot: check out my events calendar for more Bride of the Tornado events all across the country—not only more events in the Chicago area, but also in Milwaukee, Seattle, San Francisco, Portland, Ann Arbor, Grand Rapids, Petoskey MI, La Salle IL, and more to come!)
Thanks also to Theo and Philip Montoro for braving the Tornado Trivia Contest (and Philip’s account of the Peshtigo fire tornado), and my daughters Lucy and Ingrid for working security, and everyone for coming and supporting me! You are all written into the Book of Life! My heart is full!
Now if you haven’t already, support independent bookstores like Exile in Bookville and get your signed, personalized copy of Bride of the Tornado today!
