What a weird, amazing, and surreal weekend.

It rained on Saturday. Like really rained. Like downpour for a quite a bit. Oh, and the hail. That was fun. In hindsight, I should have made anyone asking to stand under our umbrellas buy a book. Bwahahahah.

Speaking of books and rain....

Books and water don't mix. I knew we had a chance of rain. Had some sprinkling and drizzling last year. That's what I had expected based on the weather report. So, that's what I had prepared for. Siiiigh. I wound up giving away around $400-$500 in damaged stock. Books and water do not mix. The funniest bit of that spontaneous giveaway was having to stop one of my crew from giving Honest Dating App Profiles to kids. Man, OH MAN, I can't imagine the questions parents might have to answer after some kid reads "LadyLike," "tRRAINwR3CKs33KSs3CUR1Ty," and "We Are Restless in Our Quantum Memories."

Still, despite the wet and the spontaneous giveaway, I had some amazing shows.

Rook got some great pictures and video clips of me doing the Jack story. Look to my socials later for those.

I'll remember my last show of the day on Saturday for years and years. The faire had me scheduled at the back of the faire for 5 pm. By that time, the faire was rather sparse. Some people had braved the rain, but not many. I thought I would go, hawk for my show a bit, and then call it a day. However... I got these four, gother-out twentysomethings to sit in the front. They started peer pressuring people to come and sit down. Soon, I had a decent crowd, with standing room only. They were into like everything I did. Even cheered when I took a drink from the big flask. Like, went screaming nuts. The banter back and forth was great. I wish I could go into it more, but it was a whirlwind blur. You really had to be there.

Oh. And one of the loyal members of the Gallowglas Army made some swag: wooden challenge coins and bookmarks. More than that, they shared the process, including the gear needed to make more, with Rook and I. We've got plans.

Sunday was definitely less rainy. Perhaps Grandfather Shadow felt he had smiled upon us enough the day before. (That's a Tears of Rage reference, to those who haven't read it.) I prepared anyway, wrapping books in plastic bags, just in case. Didn't really need it.

I had two highlights on Saturday.

Toward the end of the day, a guy came to my table and said he'd met me at a Comic Con like 10 years ago. Had no idea I was going to be at Valhalla. He's a fan of Dead Weight. We talked for a bit, and I assured him that more Dead Weight is coming. This goes to show you, you never know how far your reach is going to go, and when and where you'll run into your people again.

The best part of the whole weekend was meeting a lady who moved from Ireland to the US when she was a teenager. She and her friends came up to me after the second show and grilled me about where I was from. One of the group indicated the lady from Ireland. To whom I said, "Dia dhuit. Conas ata tu." First, shock and a bit of confusion spread across her face, and then delight shone in her eyes. She replied in Irish. We bantered off and on through the afternoon, and we agreed we should keep in touch to practice our Irish together. I'm so jazzed. I think the big thing keeping me from being more fluent is having someone to speak with on an even semi-regular basis.

All in all, these two weekends of Valhalla were just what I needed -- creatively, emotionally, and financially. In the past, I've sometimes gotten a bit jaded and complacent about what I do. When it's just me and my pens or computer, it's easy to lose sight of how much I bring to people's lives. Events like Valhalla remind me that I'm really good at what I do, and what I do matters to the people who enjoy my books and watch my shows. While most of the people who did come to my shows and stopped by the table to buy a book won't see this, I'm going to send out a hearty thank you. Ours is a symbiotic relationship, and I'm grateful to each and every one of you for giving meaning to my art and creativity.

Until the next report from the front lines, may all of your stories have happy endings.