I had a lovely time at the Edinburgh Book Festival yesterday. I started with a school event, playing to a packed house in the main theatre -- 750 excited kids from various schools. School events at external venues like this can be tricky -- sometimes groups cancel at the last minute because of travel gremlins, or the kids aren't allowed to stay on afterwards to get books signed -- but this one went nice and smoothly, and I spent a very busy hour and a half signing books once I'd got done talking.

After a short break, I returned in the evening for my public event. This was a smaller crowd, but pretty much everyone there was a hardcore Shanster. Some were seeing me in action for the first time, but others had come to events or signings on multiple occasions. Many were local, but a good number had come from far and wide, taking hours out of their day (or even longer) to make the trek to the Festival site. I did some old readings which went down a treat, even though I was a bit rusty and made a few mistakes, then took my time signing books and chatting with fans later -- that lasted almost two hours, but the time flew by.

I've attached a few photos below. The first is of my with a fan with the Twitter user name of Amity Lee, who came dressed in honour of Mr Crepsley -- she had made an incredible Madam Octa, and presented me with a beautiful piece of art -- but that didn't prevent her from getting strangled!! :-)

The second photo was taken in the schools event in the big theatre, while the third sees me with my moderator for the public event, Sarah, who was professional and funny and extremely helpful -- but that didn't prevent... :-) :-) :-)

Rare events like these remind me of how much I miss the touring side of my job. I've spent most of the last few years off the road, for a number of reasons (between book series... wanting to spend time with my kids... feeling like it was the right time for a break, after a decade and a half of constant touring). I don't know if I'll ever tour as aggressively again as I did in the past, but hopefully I'll start getting out a bit more from next year, depending on what happens with the new series. For now, I'm just going to enjoy the memories of yesterday. I hope that everyone who was there enjoyed the events even half as much as I did! :-)