Independent Book Publicist Joan Schulhafer just furnished me with this report from the RT Booklovers Convention this past weekend along with the photo of Jackson and Dickey.

Their biggest attendance ever; rumored to be 1100 registrants, not counting staff. Seemingly all of them - plus many readers from the local area - converged upon the Hilton Hotel ballroom at 11:00 on Saturday morning armed with vintage novels for signatures and ready to buy, buy, buy (from bookseller - Joseph Beth) and they did. People everywhere standing in line for favorite authors such as Christine Feehan, Lisa Jackson, J.R. Ward and Heather Graham among others. By near closing time the crowds in the ballroom had thinned, but not enough to quell panic among a number of attendees when the lights went out and the room went black. They came back on not too long afterward, but the question guests are asking Hilton is not why the lights went out, but why the emergency exit lights did not go on. However no one in the crowd of mostly women readers uttered a word of complaint about being trapped in the dark with the many "studly" young men preparing to compete in the evening's Mr. Romance pageant.

Bloggers Sarah Wendell (Smart Bitches (heart) Trashy Books) and Publishers Weekly's Barbara Vey (Beyond the Book ) were prominent among internet media covering the event and have been reporting on the action all weekend.

Barbara Vey was doing "Drive by Videos" of authors and others and they've been being posted on Publishers Weekly along with her notes.

One of the most intriguing pairings, and one of the panels that caused the most buzz, was on "writing the bestseller" with Lisa Jackson (Lost Souls) and Eric Jerome Dickey (Waking with Enemies) both still touring for their new novels-not surprising since both are known to readers who have attended previous signings and panels as writers whose humorous delivery and lack of hubris enliven every appearance.

More after the jump including The Fabio Incident and Mr Romance 2008

The suprise encounter of the weekend was between Fabio and the Rebel of Romance Liz Maverick who says "perhaps he did not actually mean to put his hand on my bazoonga... it's not really a cop or a feel given that he's not really, like, *gripping* at anything, really. Perhaps it's more of a...shall we say, "grazing"? You'll have to visit her site and judge for yourself when you see the picture.

In trolling for other news about the con, I came across Wendell's "Overheard at the RT Convention":

Mr. Romance contestant #1: I'm a model and dancer.
Mr. Romance contestant #3: I'm a model.
Mr. Romance contestant #2 Jimmy Gaskin: I analyze engineering data for an energy company trying to locate new sources.
Sarah: Cool.

As for who won the 2008 Mr Romance competition? Janice Lynn has great coverage on her blog with tons of pictures, but for the record its...Chris Winters. If you want your morning fill of beefcake, check out his gallery