Monday, February 2, 2015

The Woven release party was so fun I want to do it again

It's been kind of a Woven blitz on my blog lately, but I wanted to put up one more post and tell you about the Woven release party I went to on Friday evening. First off, David Powers King and his wife Joanna joined me and my friends Jake and Meg at the Paris Bistro (a French-style restaurant across the street from The King's English here in Salt Lake City).
Above is a picture of The Paris Bistro in the summertime. It's one of my favorite places to go (especially when the weather is warm) because you can sit outside, and they hire local musicians to come by and play accordion music which just kind of heightens the atmosphere of the place. David ordered a filet mignon (it was his first!) on my recommendation, and I'm glad he liked it. Then we talked lots of book stuff. At this point in my life, Mr. King is the most famous person I know, and he happens to be rather well connected with friends like James Dashner (who wrote The Maze Runner) on essentially "speed dial." I told him if he's ever hanging out with George R.R. Martin, to snap a selfie in the car and send that to me with a message: "Just me and George cruisin' around town."

Anyway, the book launch party started promptly at 7:00 p.m. and it was in the nice art gallery next to The King's English and boy did it ever fill up. Some of my pictures show empty seats, but as the speaking got underway, those quickly filled up. Here is a view of the gallery peeps:
There were also seats on one side and on the other, so this view is just of the main seating down the middle. You can see the paintings on display for the gallery in the background. Also, I bought two hardcover copies of Woven. One was for my friend Meg as a gift so that she could read it. The other is as pictured below. I did get it signed afterwards by both of the authors, and I want to say that the hardcover is much prettier than the Advanced Reader Copy. For one, it is just higher quality and for two, all the naturally occurring breaks are set off with a beautiful inscribed needle instead of bullets and the chapter heads all have swirling thread decorating the paper.
Finally, below is my picture of Michael Jensen and David Powers King. They both shared the microphone really well. Michael (who is on the right) burst into tears when he was telling his story of how difficult it was to get published. David is cool as a cucumber. Like seriously, the man probably barely lets his pulse get above 80. And David was the one who read us a few pages from the book. At the end, there were some prizes that got handed out. None of us won any, but there were some good books to be had for sure.
And I guess that's all I have to show. It was a lovely evening and there was a huge line at The King's English that wrapped all around their store and even went outside. I'm sure they sold out of all 90 of the books they had. Good thing David brought extras in his trunk. I bet they needed them. All in all, the Woven release party was so much fun I want to do it again. I guess it's a good thing there are sequels planned!

15 comments:

  1. Looks like the release party was a hit. Glad David had so many friends turn out for the event.

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  2. Awesome. Thanks for sharing your pics with us, and I'm excited for David and Michael! Woven is on my list of books to read this year. Now I'm hungry for filet mignon....

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  3. It was a real blast having dinner with you and your friends, Michael. So glad you all came to enjoy the book launch. Thank you for coming!

    I could do with another nick name; how about Cool Cucumber King? :)

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  4. Lines forming outside sure sounds like a success. Congrats to David and Michael!

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  5. It sounds like an all-around wonderful evening. I hope Woven's sales go through the roof and vindicate the authors in the publishing world.

    And hell, I'm ready to cry over how hard it is to get published, so I more than feel for these sweet guys.

    P.S. I'm now craving a perfect medium rare filet mignon. But I'm having leftover tuna for dinner.

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  6. YEAH MAN! What a grand release party. Mike, it sounds like a great time was had by all. What a gorgeous room to have any kind of party in. Tons of congratulations to David and Michael. They deserve it! That cover is SO bodacious! I can't wait to have a weekend to read Woven.

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  7. I'm so happy for David and Michael and I can't wait to read Woven!

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  8. How fun. The book looks so pretty.

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  9. You must have had loads of fun Michael. So everything went well and can't wait to read more.

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  10. Ohhhhh… Michael, I'm still SO SAD I wasn't there. :( Sad of course not to be at the party, but more so not to hang with YOU. I LOVE the pics though. And I bet the food was wonderful. I want to be there in the summer when there's live music!

    And DPK is as cool as a cucumber!

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  11. That sounds so lovely! I am going to the B&N one in Orem tonight since I missed that one with you guys. Much more doable closer, but I'm sad I missed going to the Bistro and seeing you!

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