Holiday booksigning will be bittersweet as seven fantasy authors return to Waldenbooks

From Jpskewedthrone@aol.com:

Holiday booksigning will be bittersweet as seven fantasy authors return to Waldenbooks



Waldenbooks store manager April Steenburgh and her staff know books, and loved nothing better than finding new authors to share with their customers. On Saturday, December 5th, from noon till 4PM, seven of these authors will be returning to the Oakdale Mall for the store's final booksigning, for one last chance to meet local readers and to thank the Waldenbooks staff for their support.

News that the Oakdale Mall store was one of the 200 Waldenbooks that would be closed in January was a blow to readers and authors alike. "The store staff was always friendly and ready to help, particularly when it came to choosing books as gifts for others. All I had to do was name an author or genre and they'd come up with a half-dozen suggestions," observed Patricia Bray, who has been shopping at this Waldenbooks for over two decades. "And as a local author, their support has been invaluable."

The holiday booksigning is both a chance for shoppers to purchase autographed books as holiday gifts, and for the authors to have one last reunion with the store staff. Appearing will be fantasy authors Patricia Bray, S.C. Butler, Barbara Campbell, Laura Anne Gilman, Jackie Kessler, Joshua Palmatier and Anton Strout. Their works range from light-hearted adventure to epic fantasy to contemporary urban fantasy, offering something for everyone. The authors will also gift-wrap any signed book for free.





About the Authors:



Patricia Bray combines her writing with a career as a Senior Systems Analyst at IBM. When not writing, her hobbies include studying forensics asking friends to pose as corpses. The award-winning author of Devlin's Luck, her newest release is The Final Sacrifice, the third volume in the Chronicles of Josan series. Find out more at www.patriciabray.com.



S.C. Butler was born in Cambridge, MA in the middle of the last century, which really isn't so very long ago. He currently resides in Brooklyn, NY with a dog, no cats, and certainly no shapeshifting bears. The third novel in his Stoneways Trilogy, The Magicians’ Daughter, was released in April 2009. Visit him at www.valingstoneways.com.



Barbara Campbell was born in Wilmington, Delaware. After graduating from Bucknell University, she pursued her dream of acting before attending the Odyssey Writing Workshop and developing the initial ideas for Heartwood, released in 2005 after completion. Bloodstone soon followed, with the third book in the series, Foxfire, released in February 2009. Visit her Website at www.barbara-campbell.com.



Laura Anne Gilman - The author of the Cosa Nostradamus books (the Retrievers and Paranormal Scene Investigations series) and the recently released Flesh and Fire: Book One of the Vineart War, Laura Anne Gilman also writes paranormal romances as Anna Leonard. Visit www.lauraannegilman.net to learn more.



Jackie Kessler used to run around in Wonder Woman Underoos and watch Challenge of the Super Friends. Now she watches superhero cartoons with her kids. She lives in upstate New York with her loving husband, two precious little tax deductions, a curmudgeonly cat, and 8,000 comic books. Learn more at www.jackiekessler.com.



Joshua Palmatier is a fantasy writer with a PhD in mathematics, currently residing in Binghamton, NY, while teaching mathematics at SUNY--College at Oneonta. He has three books currently on the shelves: The Skewed Throne, nominated for the Compton Crook Award for 2006, The Cracked Throne, and the recently released The Vacant Throne, the conclusion of the Throne of Amenkor series. He can be reached at jpalmatier@sff.net.



Anton Strout was born in the Berkshire Hills, mere miles from writing heavyweights Nathaniel Hawthorne and Herman Melville. He currently lives in the haunted corn maze that is New Jersey. He is the author of the Simon Canderous urban fantasy series that includes Dead to Me and Deader Still. Learn more at www.antonstrout.com.