42 Days of 666 - World Premier of SEAL Team 666

SEAL Team 666 is not due out for another 15 days. No one on earth that's not part of the publishing house has the book for sale... except for Mysterious Galaxy Books for a period of the three days of TusCon 39. Maryelizabeth Hart was able to get an event exemption to sell the books ahead of time, which made the flavor of the convention even more special. Long time convention organizer, Joe Palmer, said, "getting to pre-release SEAL Team 666 is one of the great moments of TusCon." And this for a convention that's had the entire pantheon of science fiction and fantasy greats as Guest of Honors.

Speaking with Mysterious Galaxy, the unofficial sales number for the convention was 39 copies sold of the hardback of SEAL Team 666. This not only shattered the record of a single book sold at the convention, but those records that were all shattered were those of Guests of Honor. I wasn't the Guest of Honor. S.M. Stirling was. That said, even though not one of his novels sold more than SEAL Team 666, they were selling all of his novels, so I have no doubt his books far outsold mine. Hell, I bought some of his books. I love his books. Still, the sales numbers of Triple Six were thrilling.

Credit for the first book being signed goes to long time friend, fan, and fellow veteran, Jim Webbert. In fact, the copy I signed for him was the first copy of the hardback I'd ever touched.  So nice.

Then came the onslaught.

Please, I can deal with more onslaughts like this. People wanting books signed, people coming up and talking to me about Triple Six, still others wanting to talk about writing military supernatural thrillers.

Then on Saturday at 11 AM, the convention held the official release party. We had about thirty people in attendance. Mysterious Galaxy mounded a box's worth of books on the table, and stood by to let people buy copies. I explained about the making of SEAL Team 666, cover design, logo design, the editing process, some of the problems we had-- basically, a behind the scenes look at a book everyone has been eager to get their hands on. It went over very well. People laughed at my jokes, which is always good. Then afterward, they queued up and I began signing.

Please, more onslaught.

The weekend ended as it had to on Sunday afternoon. I was sad to say goodbye to all the people. But on the way out the door, an older gentleman passed me with a copy of 666 in a bag.

"Excuse me, sir?"

He turned.

"Do you want me to sign it?"

He stared at me.

"The book," I said, pointing at his bag.

Then he looked at my name tag and broke into a huge smile. "I thought you were gone. They said you'd left."

"Almost. Not yet."

He handed the book and I saw in his eyes a pleasure that turned his sixty-plus years into that of a child. Once I finished and handed it back, he chuckled, shook his head and left.

To engender that feeling in someone is beyond cool.

More onslaught.

Much more onslaught.