Love Books Will Travel: Andy Robb

What: Book Signing


Who: Andy Robb


Where: Waterstone’s Alton
             Hampshire


When: 23rd of June 2012


Why: To promote Geekhood: Close Encounters of the Girl Kind
If you haven’t worked it out yet, girls don’t do this. They don’t come to the Hovel. They don’t like goblins and dragons. They don’t paint miniatures. They don’t play role playing games or re-enact fictional battles. And they don’t talk to Geeks like me especially if they’re pretty. And this girl is pretty. What do you do if you’re a fourteen-year-old Geek, and a Beautiful Girl has appeared in the midst of your geeky world? And she seems to like you… For Archie, the natural reaction would be to duck and cover … run for the hills … buy a new model elf… Anything but risk stepping into the Real World. But even Geeks have to put their heads above the parapet at some point. With his mum barely able to contain her excitement that her son is about to join the human race, and his step-father, Tony the Tosser, offering crass advice, it’s time for Archie to embark on a daring Quest to win the Beautiful Girl’s heart and shake off his Geekhood for good.
Uncoordinated and bleary eyed following a night shift and just a few hours of sleep, I flopped into Pruedence’s awaiting car. With a knowing smile, fellow shift worker, Pruedence deposited a large, steaming latte in my hand and set her Sat Nav for the picturesque town of Alton. One shot of caffeine and forty minutes of book talk later and I had a moment of wide eyed horror. Was my sleep deprived brain hallucinating or was I really seeing two ladies in regency dress?! Thankfully it turned out that Alton was celebrating it’s annualJane Austen Regency Week
Small but perfectly formed, Alton Waterstone’s was the venue for for Andy Robb’s first ever book signing!
I’d like to provide you with a detailed report of a fabulous and hilarious afternoon Pruedence, Kerrie and I spent keeping Andy company and more likely than not, scaring Waterstone’s customers. Unfortunately everything is a little blurry around the edges and I’m afraid that I’m going to have to direct you to Kerrie atRead and Repeat and Pruedence at The Library Mouse for coherent accounts.
Here’s what I do recall:
Andy’s warm and charismatic personality.
Starting a lot of conversations with the traditional blogger greeting “Hi I’m Caroline BigBookLittleBook. I follow you on twitter”.
The absence of “The TourHat”.
Meeting a remarkable young man called Jack. Jack sat in Waterstone’s and read Geekhood in it entirety in under an hour, before purchasing it to take home to reread!
Watching Andy and Pruedence create an original piece of artwork for Pruedence to giveaway in celebration of her one month blog’aversary. Then embarrassing myself with my pathetic dog doodle on Andy’s Gallery of Geek.
The terms “bur bon and bourbon”, “Veet for men”, “gentleman’s log cabin” and “vagazzle” being banded about with abandon.
How green food colouring is not a suitable substitution for green face paint when dressing up as the Incredible Hulk
Meeting awesome bibliophiles: Kerrie from Read and Repeat, Sammie from I Want To Read That and Kirsty from The Book Mogul
Verdict: A fantastic afternoon. I laughed so hard my face ached.
Post by Caroline