The Big July - Brisbane Part II

I checked out of the Royal Albert Hotel at 10am and had an hour to spare before heading up to Pulp Fiction, the specialist fantasy store in Brisbane. So I wandered around the streets, ducked into an internet cafe to write the first part of the Brisbane blog, and found myself noticing far more of the buskers and spruikers on the streets.
I listened to a busker and threw a couple of dollars into his guitar case, shook hands with a Red Cross spruiker, who had a nice line in greeting patter ... I found myself thinking it was only right that I give as many as possible the time of day when I walked past an old man shouting something about ``The Indonesians are coming!''
I drew the line there.
It was great to go to both the Brisbane Dymocks and Borders stores and it was fascinating to see the people who like to read fantasy.
The first guy to buy a book in Borders was this biker called Froggie (well, that was what I signed the book to) who had a full beard, a delightful Irish accent and the ability to use the word ``Fooken'' as both a noun, adjective and a compliment.
Two blokes who both bought the full trilogy were big New Zealanders, who looked like they'd be happier ripping apart a scrum than they would settling down with a book - just goes to show that you can never judge a book by its cover ... (groan!)
I have to admit I was walking on air the whole time, after the manager at Dymocks, Pam, told me that Radiant Child had gone straight onto the Dymocks Top 10 Bestseller List for fantasy! Obviously I was delighted - although couldn't help thinking perhaps I should have scheduled a few more Dymocks apperances, rather than all those A+R and Borders ...!
One more wrestle with the GPS, which I turned off as I approached the airport, with it imploring me to chuck a u-turn immediately (perhaps it didn't want me to leave) and I was heading back for Sydney and a busy weekend of appearances.