A year or so ago, a queer romance book convention made a questionable decision to change the location of their annual event. In response, multiple new events celebrating queer fiction (romance or otherwise) have sprung up. As a fairly new author to this genre, I’ve been excited to take advantage of these opportunities. I recently attended the inaugural Read the Rainbow signing in Havre de Grace, Maryland, and had a blast connecting with other authors and readers. A community center in a small town in northern Maryland might seem like an odd place for an event, but it was perfectly out of the way for absolutely everyone (between Philadelphia and Baltimore).

A massive shout-out and thank you to author Katherine McIntyre for developing and executing a truly amazing event! Go check out their amazing books!

Two friends, one of them fellow author Abrianna Denae, stayed with me a few days before and after, since I live less than an hour away. So, even though this was a single-day signing, it felt more like an amazing multi-day event that I got to spend with lots of my favorite people!

Thursday

My first guest, Molly, came in on Wednesday night, but poor Abri took a red-eye from California! After picking them up bright and early, we hit the local grocery store to stock up on materials for Molly’s big contribution to the signing: cookies!

My kitchen was busy most of the day, and everything they baked was absolutely fabulous (as you can attest if you ate some at the signing). Of course, these sugar cookies were the highlight:

Friday

Molly was kind enough to book a local AirBnB in northern Maryland so that we could spend the night before and after instead of commuting to the event. We headed up Friday afternoon, with a stop at my favorite restaurant in Baltimore City, the eclectic but delicious Paper Moon Diner. Luckily, we were able to drop off all my books (along with Alethea Faust‘s, since they had theirs shipped to me a few weeks before) at the community center on Friday afternoon.

Saying that Molly has a lot of tattoos is an understatement. They wanted to get a new one with Abri and booked an appointment at a nearby place. Since I’ve only been contemplating one in particular for over a decade (my original plan to get it after the publication of Steel Justice in 2021 derailed by the pandemic), I finally also got inked!

The symbol represents “home” in the Stargate universe, which has been one of my favorite science-fiction properties for nearly 20 years. As a military brat who grew up all over the place, having this symbol permanently on my skin now means that from now on, wherever I am, I’m home.

We met up with other signing attendees for dinner in Havre de Grace afterward. Then these three introverts happily returned to our AirBnB, split into separate rooms, and read for the rest of the evening.

Saturday

I won’t go too much into the drama of Saturday morning, except that I forgot half of what I meant to wear to the signing and Rory Maxwell is my hero for stopping by my house on her way up to Havre de Grace to fetch it for me. I almost ended up wearing a Mclean House T-shirt for the day, which while not my brand, still would have been very on brand for me!

The signing itself went phenomenally! As always, I sold different books than I expected. This isn’t a complaint, just an amusing trend. I was thrilled that many people who stopped by my table mentioned that they’d already read and enjoyed Fur and Honor.

About midway through the signing, I crashed hard with the same cold my spouse brought home from San Antonio a few days before. Eliza Rae was my second hero of the day for supplying me with tea and meds. I powered through the afternoon by only eating a few more cookies than I originally intended.

After the signing, we spent some chill time back at the AirBnB house . The cat who lived downstairs with our hosts came to visit and aggressively love on all of us. That evening, we had dinner at a local hibachi restaurant with other writers, then I happily passed out afterward.

Sunday

Woke up. Acquired coffee. Drove home. Passed out for a 3 hour nap. Introduced Molly and Abri to proper ramen for dinner. Passed out again.

Monday

I felt much better on Monday, but I’m glad that I’d already taken the day off from work. We had brunch with my spouse and spent a chill afternoon at my place, then met up again with Rory Maxwell in the afternoon for an early dinner at the local beer farm where she and I often get together to write.

On the way home, I brought Molly and Abri to my favorite ice cream place! The Charmery is where Finn treats himself after his disastrous date at the beginning of Service Before Self.

I was back to work on Tuesday as usual, other than two trips to the airport to send my guests on their way home. Since then, I’m thrilled to learn that Kat McIntyre is already starting to plan for a return of the Read the Rainbow event in 2027. I’ll definitely be signing up.

Next Up

Attending any of these events? My books are available for preorder!

Final Haul

Note: Links go to my available reviews of any previously read books.

  • Read the Rainbow swag, including T-shirt, sticker, and magnet
  • Event-exclusive charity anthology, Safe Space
  • His Captor by Merry Farmer + stickers
  • You’re Ours by D.C. Emerson + adorable pan stuffie
  • Touch in Excess by E.M. Lindsey + swag
  • Deviations series (Submission, Domination, Discipline, Bondage & Safe Word) by Jodi Payne & Chris Owen
  • Soft Limits & Stable Hill by Jodi Payne + swag
  • B.A. Tortuga swag
  • White House Men series (Press, Friends, Click, Serve, Care, Puzzle & Heal) and No Regrets series (No Surrender, No Rules & No Secrets) by Nora Phoenix + candle

One thought on “Con Report: Read the Rainbow 2025”

  1. Pingback: April Wrap-Up & May Goals | J.L. Gribble, Author, Editor, Worldbuilder

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