Truth or Dare Tour 2004

Busy day in warm, sunny P. The first event was an interview for the Scottsdale Public Library cable show, @ Your Library. Okay, maybe I did get the gig because the Scottsdale Library plays a brief but crucial role in TorD. But hey, we had fun. My thanks to Joanne and John and the other staff library staff members for tea and conversation afterward. We were joined by Ann Maxell/Elizabeth Lowell, which really made the afternoon great.

Then onto the formal signing at the Barnes & Nobel on North Tatum Blvd. Some friendly faces in the crowd, including Talpianna of bulletin board fame and her friend Hilda. They did a lot to spice up the Q&A.

Distances are vast in the great Southwest, but that's why they invented cars and freeways, right? A special thanks to those folks in the audience who drove from far-flung places like Tucson, Tempe, and Mesa. I also want to thank the audience for some really provacative questions. We talked about everything from the role of popular fiction in American culture to why I chose the name Amanda Quick for my historical romantic suspense.

Answer: when I fired up the AQ career, I really did my research. Went straight down to my local bookstore and checked out the romance shelves. Guess what? At that time there wer NO books in the Q section. Figured I had that space to myself. Obviously things have changed over the years. I figure my great and lasting contribution to the genre was opening up an entire section of the alphabet for future romance writers.

     Love,
     --Jayne



Reader Report from Talpianna

Hilde, Bruce and I turned up almost a half hour early, but we still had to sit pretty far back. I think there must have been about 50 people there at least. Jayne was svelte and astonishingly petite in black, and as in other venues she ignored her prepared speech and did a Q&A. The topics ranged widely from writing and research methods, the difficulty of finding good names (see me after class about this, Jayne), and the distinctions between "literary" and "popular" fiction. I pointed out that most of the novels in the literary canon started as popular fiction (Charles Dickens wrote magazine serials, for heaven's sake!) and wondered whether in a hundred years college English classes would be studying Stephen King and Jayne Ann Krentz instead of Margaret Drabble and Philip Roth. Jayne was very insightful on the whole reason popular fiction IS so popular (she never did explain why literary fiction survives) and was pretty funny, too. It was a very successful talk and was received with great enthusiasm.

I'm not sure exactly how she recognized me, but it may have something to do with the fact that I reached out a hand wearing a mole puppet and murfled at her......

Reader Report from Earthmom

It's been months since I posted, but I lurk a lot, and when I heard that Jayne was coming to my neck of the woods for a talk and signing, I knew I had to be there. I was not alone in that impulse. There were close to a hundred people there, according to the headcount that Bruce did (yep, he went with me).

The Vero Beach Book Center is a dreamer's bookstore; they get things in that are not available in BAM or Walden, the two chains in Indian River County, and the staff are always happy to take ideas or talk about authors they've read and enjoyed.

Jayne was introduced almost exactly at the stroke of 2, and she had the crowd from the word "Hello." We laughed and listened with almost the devotion of a religious experience, drinking in the warm and wit that Jayne shares in her speech and presence, as well as her writing. After she spoke for several minutes, she did a Q&A, much enjoyed by everyone, although I heard several women say later that they were a little too awed to ask their questions!

Then came the signing. Bruce and I had been at the back, for the simple reason that we weren't sure he'd make it through the whole time. She was extremely gracious to one and all, and Bruce thought she was amazing (he now wants me to read him her books).

Oh--before I forget to add this--there were several authors in the crowd (I can only remember Debbie Macomber and Julie Elizabeth Lehto), whom Jayne greeted and acknowledged at the end of her Q&A.

What a lovely time with a lovely person. Thank you, Jayne, for making it beyond special for all of us who were lucky enough to be there.

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