2011 Oktober Fluke Report

OKTOBERFLUKE WAS ... well, to be honest it wasn't awesome. It was okay. Here's the good, the bad and the ugly:

The Good: We tabled next to Patrick and Robert (The Fluke Organizers) and had some very interesting conversations about children, music, racism, Spiderman and mutants. Later, I saw the cover that Patrick drew for Athens' Flagpole Magazine. It looked really good. Kudos.

The Poptober Fair venue in Athens' Civic Center was a huge space. Chew and I created a new table display, and I have to admit, our table looked pretty good. Before we left Athens, we had pizza and beer at Little Italy – the slices are thick, huge, cheesy and cheap. My kind of place. 

The Bad:  I have to admit that I have, until now, always taken Patrick and Robert's efforts to promote Fluke for granted – the Flagpole coverage, the posters and flyers everywhere, a venue in the heart of downtown Athens, cheap admission for the general public, their social network updates ... the list goes on and on. It's no wonder that attendance for Fluke has grown every year. Unfortunately, the folks who organized the Poptober Fair did not do the same ... 

The venue was in the basement level of the Civic Center. There was no access to this venue except for a side street, half of which was closed for construction and the other half was used periodically for fund-raising marathons. There were no signs. No posters. No advertisement. No ads or coverage in Flagpole. Nothing. Nada. Zip. Zilch. If you didn't already know about this fair, you weren't going to stumble across it. And if you did go, you had to pay $5 at the front door. The attendance was poor. I don't think anybody did well (except the vintage record swap guys).

Oktoberfluke was Fluke's ugly little step-sister. And that's okay. They can't all be winners. I am not placing any of this at Patrick or Robert's feet. I just never realized how much they did to make Fluke successful. Thanks guys.

The Ugly: Headaches, nausea, no sleep, and the loooong dark drive back home.

And Finally: I am really looking forward to Fluke 2012. She's pretty. She's tall. And best of all, she puts out. A lot.

Thanks to everyone who stopped by, bought books, or said hello. We'll see you again next year!

Chew, feel free to add your two cents when you get a chance.

Optimistically and understandingly yours,

Jeff Tuffenstuff

Open auditions ...

Another brave new member of the fellowship.

- Jeff Tuffenstuff

We missed you too ...

I spent the entire day at the pool with my kids. Playing. Watergun fights. Teaching them how to swim. My brother almost drowned me twice and made me bite my lip (he's a big guy and loves to wrestle). All of that on a stomach full of my Dad's barbecue. Free food provided by family. Yum. I thought I applied enough sunscreen. Hahaha! That's what I get for trusting myself to apply creamy sun blocker correctly. Who knew that prolonged exposure to the sun causes skin to burn? Sure, my shoulders are burnt to a crisp ...but it was my eight month old baby's first day at the pool. She splashed and drank some of the pool water ... and my mom popped me upside the head for letting her do it. It was a good day.

It's been over a month and it's time to get to work on our next project: A follow up to Carnage Cream (How ah met your muddah). The details are still hush-hush. But it's going to be a big book. Some members of the old Fellowship will return. New warriors will join. The new quest will be ridiculous and dangerous. And all of you get to decide how it ends.

Who's in the the new fellowship? Funny you should ask. Two of the members are above. More will follow ...

- Jeff Tuffenstuff