I was a teen-age vampire author escort

I was the fill-in local author-tour escort for urban fantasy author Richelle Mead in Houston on Saturday.

These author tours are usually my wife’s gig – sort of an add-on to her work at Houston’s leading indie-cool Blue Willow Bookshop. She was in Boston helping #1 son move into his sophomore dorm, and got a bonus dash of hurricane and almost-state funeral for Ted Kennedy; leaving me to handle the author tour. Main event was a reading/signing at the Barnes and Noble in the Woodlands. 200-plus fans (some from NOLA and Dallas) with about 1,000 copies of her books (the fourth in the young-adult series just came out; there are two adult series – also vampire-centric – as well) waited in a long line for a signature, a photo and a quick chat. Who knew teen-age vampires were such a draw?

'Connected’ - Christakis and Fowler

PhD authors figure out that our friends make us happy – or not. Lots of data; pretty interesting.

Authors Christakis and Fowler draw on diverse studies to chart how we manage our social networks. Lots of sociology, a little evolutionary biology and more than a few observations about online society. A good summary with a few rules of networks would be helpful.

'A Voyage Long and Strange' - T. Horowitz

Journalist traces marches and mayhem of pre-Columbian incursions into North America; witty observations ensue.

Good idea already done better in Lost City of Z - author Tony Horowitz visits Plymouth Rock and realizes that a lot happened before the Pligrims and Columbus. He sets off to follow the routes earlier explorers took into what is now the U.S., ties in the Lost Colony of North Carolina, south-west cliff-dweller civilizations and Florida retirees, making slightly sharky observations along the way. Nice read for history buffs and people looking for echos today of what happened long ago.

Doing my part

Yesterday I started a new job and the Fed declared the recession over. Coincidence?

On August 12 I started in a new position (new for me and newly created) in corporate communications at Reliant Energy, the largest electricity supplier in Houston. After several months in career transition, I'm really excited about getting started in new company with some great opportunities.