the la times festival of books was way different than i expected

first of all, waaaay more people than youd ever think.

all those people read books!?!?!?!?

no really who would think that the way you get tons of people to come outside in LA is to have a huge two-day love fest for books and authors and stories and hanging out?

booth after booth after booth of interesting people, cool writers, and fascinating themes.

also, outdoor conventions are far cooler than indoor ones.

so much more natural and easy-going.

kids were rolling in the grass, dogs were fetching, people brought picnic baskets. you dont see that in convention halls.

concessionaires roamed selling lemonade and cotton candy and pop

and sprinkled here and there were cartoon characters scaring the crap out of adults

and soothing the children.

it made me wanna write books so i too could partake in the party.

i was very proud of the Times for this very cool deal.

but the coolest thing i saw was The Hero Complex, named after our comic book blog

Geoff Boucher worked super hard to get that blog approved, and worked even harder to make it what it is today which is THE source for all things genre-related.

geoff gets all the directors from batman to avatar, all the big stars, all the cool legends, and they talk to him and give him the scoops and he blogs about it every day.

i think about all the pushback he experienced trying to get that thing to happen

and now it has its own section at the book fest. and its perfect.

got to hang out with former LAT brainiac Josh Lucas, all around great guy and Cub fan, who works with the other Josh and several others at AT&T Interactive,

and as we started talking he told me that he worked with our old pal Charlie Hornberger.

you know the guy i married?

i think Josh had told me that they worked together a while ago but i had no clue what they were working on…

Buzz.com!

and sure enough, theres charlie and theres josh kleinpeter!

omg smallest world in the world.

not sure how Buzz will do, but now that i know its Charlie and the Josh’s thing, im gonna sign up asap cuz i know it wont suck.

but first, since its sunday, and the cubs are up 12-1 i will crack open the best book of all, the greatest story ever told

peace out babies