Shenanigans, indeed! The first part of this weekend’s fun times was the West Midlands book signing event, held in Wellington. The day didn’t get off to a great start for me, as a battle with a recalcitrant ticket machine at Euston meant I missed one train and had to 
wail and howl and plead with the guard to be allowed onto the next one.
My temper did improve once I’d made my connection at New Street, though, and I started getting enthralled by all the pretty little vintage stations on the Shrewsbury line (yes, I am still a raging train nut, thanks.)
The signing venue, the White House Hotel, was light and airy, and it didn’t take me long to set out my stall. I had the Dicewriting book, plus both Eroticon anthologies, and some copies of Silver Desire, Corrupted, and Who Thrilled Cock Robin?
Author signings can be a bit of a gamble in terms of how many visitors you actually get, but this one was fairly well attended – and, 
as usual, full of lovely, friendly, gossipy fellow authors. Highlight of the day for me, though, was catching up with a couple of old friends I hadn’t seen in more than two decades. We repaired to the pub once the signing finished, and caught up with several years’ worth of gossip. Next stop, for me, was Birmingham, where I’d booked a hostel bed for the night, having managed to sort myself a pitch for the BBB the next day.
I’m quite fond of hostels, even though I don’t exactly fit the backpacker demographic – if all you want is a dry bed and the chance to grab a cup of tea in the morning they are ideal for people wanting to keep their travel costs down. This one even threw in free breakfast, so I was fighting fit when I made my way to Nightingales mid-morning.
In the course of a pretty decent day’s trading, I ran into a couple more people i hadn’t seen for a long time, which was equally lovely. Finally tottered onto the train home on Sunday evening with a much lighter bookbag and plenty of spare change in my pockets. Now I just need to plot my next few adventures.