It's the Baltimore Book Festival, hon

Baltimore is a strange, quirky sort of city. It's the birthplace of Betsy Bonaparte who married Napoleon's brother Jerome. Napoleon was not amused. Poor Betsy never got a crack at being a European bigwig though her extremely French ooh la la fashion sense appalled the fashionable set of Washington. I blogged about it here.

Baltimore brought us the Star Spangled Banner (which I blogged about very recently), Edgar Allen Poe, John Waters, the endearment hon (pronounced in the very odd regional accent), The Wire, and many other strange and wonderful things. And every year it brings the Baltimore Book Festival and I'll be talking and reading there tomorrow on the Maryland Romance Writers' Stage. It's a huge three-day event which takes place in the Mount Vernon district. Lots and lots of books, beer, writers, kids' activities, readings, food, and many good things.

I'll be on panels talking about vamps, erotic romance, and keeping the history in historical fiction. We have some terrific guests including local writers like Stephanie Draven, Laura Kaye, and Christie Kelley. My out of town friend Miranda Neville will be there with me tomorrow and my other buddy Pam Rosenthal will talk on Saturday evening. We'll all read from our books which you'll be able to buy on the spot courtesy of Ukazoo Books (Baltimore is also rich in indy book stores).

There will also be drawings and giveaways and a bunch of us who are talking about vampires on Friday are doing a gift basket that has various treasures packed into a True Blood lunch bag (I think it would put me off my lunch, but there you go)--books, chocolate, jewelry, and one of my Austen mugs. I hate being involved in chocolate-heavy events. I just know I'm going to absent mindedly eat it.

So if you're in spitting distance of Charm City, please visit the Baltimore Book Festival. You'll have a lot of fun.

If you had to plan a book festival, who would you invite?