Our journey south for the Miami Book Fair and Readers' Favorite International Book Awards ceremony was a fantastic experience. The timing was also quite fortuitous. Final touches on the whopping new 13,000 square foot location for Nautical Ventures were still underway, so my cousin Hank McDowell and his wife Lauren had time to give us a tour of South Beach and Miami from a local's perspective, culminating with a pleasant dinner on the veranda at the Miami Yacht Club while reminiscing about the foolish days of our youth in Savannah. That alone was well worth the trip. But before I forget, here's a note to future attendees about the book fair: Miami is a coastal city, and on a peninsula. The tropical weather can and does change rapidly, from torrential rain to bright sun and back in short order. In retrospect, carrying a poncho or umbrella would have been prudent at the Miami Book Fair. But as we huddled under the vendor tents, the spontaneous rain shower became a great opportunity to shop for books. During one such interval my wife and I had the leasure of meeting Stephan Earl, author of the children's book Kayla and Eli Discover Jazz. We found Mr. Earl gregarious and engaging. His books are colorful, educational, and entertaining, so we got an autographed copy for my youngest grandson. If you have a preteen kid or grandchild who loves to read, you should check out his website. Miami is also headquarters for M2Hospitality. His client list includes U2, the Chicago Bulls and Boston Celtics sports teams, Jeff Gordon, Beyonce and Jay-Z, Leonardo Di … [Read more...]