Reiksguard signing tour
Saturday 16th May - Kensington, Plaza, Brent Cross
Reiksguard hits the shelves for the first time around the country and my signing tour begins amongst the idyllic green streets of Kensington. I planted the Reiksguard banner outside the store and made ready for gentle introduction to my day's signing.
Little did I know what lay in store for me...
The guys at GW Kensington had put on a game from the book representing a band of Averland militia (represented by the new greatsword models) defending a laager against the goblin hordes. I had a look and settled in, models... check, signing pen... check, embossing seal... check.
Hang on... there was one thing missing.
Where were the books?!
I looked around, there were no books to be seen. At this point, the manager Karl, rather pink with embarrassment, revealed that their shipment of books had not arrived!
Another problem was that, while all this was going on, time had been ticking. It was already 10:45am. Getting to Plaza and back might take over an hour, and my signing was due to finish at noon!
Fortunately, the Plaza store on Oxford Street had some that could be spared and one of the Kensington staffers, Blake (pictured above), was willing to rollerblade from Kensington to Plaza and pick them up.
Never let it be said, however, that I can't turn a crisis into a challenge. As a bit of entertainment for the assembled fans, I would match Blake and his blades against my travelcard and the best public transport that Boris had to offer!
Karl got off the phone with the Plaza store at 10:52am and, with the immortal command, "Blake! Fetch!" We were off!
10:55am - On the buses
Leaving Blake behind to strap on his blades, I jumped on the first bus I saw.
Now, anyone who read my previous experience of travelling from Kensington to Plaza in the 9 stores, 8 hours challenge might be suitably concerned. On that day I had made the same journey I was about to undertake and it had taken me 49 minutes! Surely there was no chance of making it there before Blake and then back before noon?
This time, however, I was more confident. Partly it was because it was earlier in the day and traffic would be less bad, and mostly because last time I had been a moron and tried to make the entire journey by bus!
This time around I knew what I was doing was willing to ruthlessly exploit my all-day travelcard to do it! I was on the bus only to get to the Central line at Notting Hill Gate.
10:58am - Notting Hill Gate tube station
I got off the bus after only a stop (much to the very-British irritation of the other passengers who obviously considered that, as we were both paying the same amount for our tickets, but that they were getting far more out of it, that they were due extra consideration).
On foot I warped time & space to gain a few extra seconds (see top picture above). Time warping is, of course, standard issue for all Black Library authors (just check out our dress-sense) and Rocky Horror fans alike.
11:02am - Sounds of the Underground
Down onto the Central line, I found my luck was in. Only one minute wait until the next tube. I hopped on board and sat down, concentrating all my mental powers on ensuring there were no signalling problems, 'passenger actions', wildcat strikes or leaves on the track.
11:11am - Oxford Circus
The gods of the BL smiled upon me! I arrived at Oxford Circus in double-quick and raced up a surprisingly empty (& clean) escalator and out onto Oxford Street.
The race was in the bag... or so I thought...
11:15am - Oxford Street
... until I remember that it was Oxford Street, at Saturday lunch-time, and that meant only one thing....
The Hare Krishnas...
BTW Pop-quiz, hot-shot, of the two people above, which one is the Hare Krishna?
That's correct, both of them!
On the left you have the 'classic Krishna' look, while on the right you have one of the new range of 'ninja Krishas'. The tell-tale sign, however, are the books they carry and look to give you in the street.
Now never let it be said that I discriminate on the basis of a person's faith. To me, a Warhammer fan is a Warhammer fan, so I shook their hand, took the book they offered, signed it, and handed it back with the hearty entreaty "Hope you enjoy it!"
I used the subsequent confusion to cover my escape.
11:18am - Plaza!
I had made it, and thanks to the tube and bus gods, it had taken me just over 20 minutes. Short of employing a rocket-propelled jet-pack there was no chance that Blake could have made it there before I, so I headed up into the store to pick up the bag of books that was doubtless waiting for me...
Doubtless waiting for me...
Absolutely doubtless... because after all we'd phone ahead and every second was crucial...
So where was the bag?!
I found the books easily enough, but I had no idea which ones I could take to Kensington. Neither had any of the staffers, while the manager had stepped out and they didn't know when he would be back.
I had made it there in record time, but I was stymied because I couldn't take the books until the manager got back.
My solution?
Outright thievery!
(Hey! I left a note. Honest!)
11:21am - High-tailing it out of there!
No sooner had I ran out of GW Plaza with a bag full of new release books (don't try this at home, kids, or especially in GW, I'm a professional), than there was Blake!
He'd been all set to make it up the escalator until a security guard pulled him over and told him to take his blades off. Thus proving the benefit of public transport over roller-blading... no special footwear is required!
Seriously, though, Blake had made it from Kensington, through Hyde Park, past Marble Arch, all the way down a congested Oxford Street in 26 minutes... and that included the time to put his blades on and take them off again! A really impressive achievement. Next time we do it, we agreed, he'll take the camera with him.
11:50am - Back to Kensington
The holy trinity of TFL were equally kind to me on the way back and I made it back to Kensington before noon with the swag...
Pausing to catch my breath, I unsheathed my signing pen and got to work!
I lingered a little late at Kensington to make up for the earlier escapades, and then took a slightly more leisurely trip back to GW Plaza for the next signing.
As regulars at Plaza will know, the store is guarded by their pet Chaos Champion 'Bob'. For today, however, to celebrate the release of Reiksguard 'Bob' was joined by a stalwart defender of order and justice 'Tom'!
Behind the helmet, Tom is one of the new London staffers. Tom's recently come to the UK from Down Under and has a rather extensive background in metalwork, including this impressive helmet which he made himself.
I met him first about a month ago during the 'Heroes of the Reiksguard' pre-release tour and started chatting. I knew as soon as he mentioned that his armoury was being shipped over from Oz, yes, his armoury, that this was a young man who could go far (unless there were strong electro-magnets around the place).
For anyone who missed out on the Plaza signing, Tom is also scheduled to come along (with armour) to the GW Woking signing on Saturday June 27th.
The Plaza store put on a nice display for the signing, including allowing fans to design their own knights.
Response was great and the signing really started hotting up. I chatted with a lot of folk, including an American who, on his second day in London, relocating from a US army base in Kuwait, he made a special trip to see GW Plaza!
Every copy went, including the last one you see on the shelf there, snagged by a customer just as I was walking out the door. Making a less covert exit from Plaza than I did earlier in the day, and headed off to the last signing at Brent Cross.
GW Brent Cross... with its tube station cunningly concealed within a hedge and its shopping centre protected behind an impenetrable barrier of concrete and racing motorcars... there really is no better place than the GW store. I whiled away the last few hours of the day, signing and chatting.
3 stores down! 11 to go! Next up, Birmingham, Coventry and the return to Walsall...
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