Road Trip: Patricia Briggs

My friend Bev and I took off Saturday morning on a road trip to attend an author signing. Patricia Briggs was at Uncle Hugo's Science Fiction Bookstore in Minneapolis. I am a big fan and have all of her books. Bev is a new fan. I hauled with me a large bag with 18 of her books; my friend had three and purchased a few more while she was there.

We had a beautiful day for our trip. We left Rochester at 10:45 and arrived at Uncle Hugo's at 12:15. I had done some internet research to find us a good place for lunch. (Thank heavens for the internet! How did we ever find our way around before it?)

The old Sears building just a block away from Uncle Hugo's has been turned into the Midtown Global Market with more than 50 locally-owned independent businesses and inside is a great Middle Eastern Deli called the Holy Land Grocery & Deli. If you are in Minneapolis, I highly recommend it. After eating pitas overstuffed will all kinds of goodness, we headed to Uncle Hugo's.

We arrived at 1:15 to find quite a line. While I held our place in the line and shared book talk with the people around me, Bev cruised the store to find all sorts of wonderful books. I had made a list of books I wanted to buy while I was there.

I finally got a chance to talk to Ms. Briggs and get all of my books signed at about 2:10. Ms. Briggs was wonderful. She was friendly and talked extensively to everyone as she was signing her books.

This one is Patricia Briggs and me. I received lots of compliments on my reading tee shirt (which happened to be a gift from Bev.) I also purchased a new tee shirt while I was there and will be proudly wearing my Uncle Hugo's tee shirt in the future.

This is Patricia Briggs with Bev.

I couldn't leave without doing some book shopping. I bought Hunting Ground by Patricia Briggs so that I could get it autographed. I had already purchased it and read it on my Kindle. I bought Mage in Black by Jaye Wells, Nine Gates by Jane Lindskold, and The Shapeshifters by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes. I added a signed hardcover of The Vor Game by Lois McMaster Bujold to my collection too.

We had hoped to be able to do some more shopping at the Midtown Global Market because they had interesting clothing, bags and jewelry but needed to get back to Rochester so that Bev could get to work by 4:30. We made it with 10 minutes to spare. We are already planning another road trip. (Robin Hobb is coming to Uncle Hugo's in May.) Hopefully next time we will have more time to explore.

Next time I'll take more of my own pictures. Between my shopping, my huge bag of books to be signed and my purse, I just didn't have a hand free to take my camera out and use it for more than a couple of pictures.