Crazy Stupid Fast 2012 Booktour

Just a quick tip for anyone else who may be planning their own crazy, stupid fast road trips.

Here are some free apps that made my journey much more manageable:

Instagram: One app lets you take a picture, add some cool filters, then post it simultaneously to Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr.

MapQuest: Nearly a free GPS. Its only limitations are signal range and strength. But anytime I got lost I could push a button and it would walk me through the directions to my next location.

Tumblr: Works just like Tumblr, but, by using the record-audio feature, it can basically turn your iPhone into a portable voice recorder for interviews on the fly.

A special thanks to two bookstores that I was not able to visit on this crazy trip:

The Mysterious Bookshop (New York City)

and

The Poisoned Pen Bookstore (Scottsdale, Arizona)

Both have many signed copies of The Man from Primrose Lane. So if you’re in the neighborhood and want a signed 1st edition while they last, please stop by.

I’m rested. Let’s light this candle.

First stop: Square Books in Oxford.

ETA 11:30.

This about sums it up.

Notes from the road, after day 3. In which I discuss why Amazon’s ranking system sucks balls.

As Jeff Goldblum often says, “Must Go Faster!”

Traffic threw a wrench in my master plan today and I didn’t get in to Richmond until just now. I will stop in at The Fountain Bookstore first thing in the morning and then head directly to Charleston, skipping Wilmington (though I will send along book plates when I return).

In order to make up for lost time, I will most likely have to leave Jacksonville after two hours or so of sleep to get to western Alabama by 10 am.

The Strand opens at 11 am so I will take in the sights of the city for a bit, maybe grab a knish.

I fucking love this city. I love the smells, that baked-in-heat and cooked meat business that permeates the place.

There’s an Eastern European man in Union Square teaching his kid to ride a bike with no pedals.

I understand why there are so many writers here, even if I’m tired of reading about the place.

Everything you wanted to know about the publishing business, explained with Star Wars figures.

Casey discovers Skype.

A brief interview with Richard Gorman at the Mystery Lovers Bookshop in Pittsburgh.