Amph The Meeting Authors Thread (Share your experiences!)

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Timothy Zhan!

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Orson Scott Card!

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George R. R. Martin!

All thress of these book signings that I went to were in a Barnes and Noble in Huntington Beach. All three were really positive experiences. Zhan was super nice, and went to dinner with my fan force after the book signing. OSC sat and visited with my family for like 10 minutes before the signing, and was very friendly and very nice. His hour of speaking was also really informative and very interesting. George R. R. Martin was super cool, as well, as his talk was amazing, very funny, and all about song of ice and fire!! He was very nice, and signed a million books, practically.

Also I have met Greg Bear, at San Diego Comic-Con, but I did not get a picture!

I think it's awesme of Authors to come out to book signings for their fans. All three of the above authors signed books for HOURS and were very happy to do so.

So, who have you met? Good experience or Bad? Who would you recommend going to see? I highly recommend OSC and Martin, if you are a fan.

 

I have not met one author ever! Blah!

 

I met a bestelling comic fantasy author and he was really rude and grumpy to all the fans, including me. I wouldn't have minded because I wasn't much of a fan to begin with but I had just bought two of his (then) newest hardback and queued for an hour to have them signed for two of my friends who were fans. I felt really bad for the people that were in front of me and behind who were really excited to meet him because you could see how nervous they were and then he was just grumpy and impatient with them. Since then I've only ever borrowed his books from the library, I certainly won't be buying anymore.

 

I met JMS about 2 years ago when he came to NJ. HE's freaking awesome. One think that not many people realise is that he's really tall. I would say he's about 6'5.

 

I've not really met any Sci-fi authors.

I did get get Carl Macek's (the godfather of Robotech) autograph and shake his hand. The only other author I've met is Dawn Wells (Gilligan's Mary Ann) when she came to my old Barnes & Nobel for a book signing.

 

I met Timothy Zahn last night at a book signing in the Beaverton Powell's. I agree, he is really nice, and very good with questions. He was even (or perhaps especially) receptive to those more plot-curious questions voiced by younger readers. I was never really 'into' reading, but due to that experience, I think the sci-fi literature community is something I'd like to look into more.

 

Neil Gaimon was book signing when I went to buy my first Malazan book. I've never seen so many geeks in one room. Searching the shelves for that one book was impossible. The men stood like barricades and the ladies kept chatting me. I hyperspaced out fast as possible. He seemed soft spoken, understandably nervous. But why anyone would read a chapter aloud I don't know. Aside from that, I don't attend author events or pester them with trivial questions, and if I walked past them on the street, chances are high I wouldn't recognise them.

Good topic, droideka27!

 

But why anyone would read a chapter aloud I don't know.

Um, perhaps because the point of the signing is to present an interactive take on an experience that?s usually a solitary one.

As for me, I met James Luceno and Bob Salvatore back in 2002, and Matt Stover last year on the Sith book tour. Luceno didn?t have much to say, Bob?s a really nice guy, and Stover (as always) told it like it is. Hopefully I?ll catch him again when Caine Black Knife is finally done.

 

Yeah! When I went to go see Timothy Zahn, the Powell's employee incharge of the event said that there was going to be a "brief reading, question and answers section," and finally a book signing. When he said 'reading,' I thought that he was going to read a chapter in the book, too. But Zahn didn't, he just sort of talked about some of his experiences working with any and everything 'Thrawn,' and started answering questions.

I'm not sure if when you referred to Gaiman as being 'softspoken,' you also meant utter nervousness, but maybe chapter readings are what these authors do when they don't know what to say until the question panel.

--
Oh, and I'm still trying to find out if anyone here on the JCF was at that same signing (the crowd was fairly smalll!): Zahn on February 8th at the Beaverton, OR Powell's Books.

 

But why anyone would read a chapter aloud I don't know.

Martin didn't read a chapter... but one of the most fascinating things was FINALLY hearing the proper pronounciations for everything.

For example, Catelyn, which looks like a totally normal name, is pronounced Cattle-lynne

Crazy!

 

I recently downloaded A Feast for Crows excerpt, I think from Amazon. The mad nut Damphair's first chapter. It was interesting to hear Martin and his pronounciations for half an hour, a slightky different version to the online chapter I've seen. Some parts were funny, and I appreciate he didn't use a monotone.

I understand, Ezekiel, but to project your voice and sound interesting without a monotone takes a lot of effort. I couldn't do it. As for Gaimon, yes, he seemd a bit nervous and soft spoken, but not as nervous as I would have been. A hundred fans staring at you . . .

Anyway, I don't really need to meet these authors. I'll like or dislike what I read, but that's about it.

 

Sadly, I haven't met any sci-fi authors but I've met several mystery writers, the largest being Jim Fusilli and the one whose works I enjoyed the most being Jason Starr.

A total list:
Jim Fusilli
Jason Starr
Russel Andrews
Reed Farrel Coleman
Charlie Stella
Another fellow whose name I forget but he was a nice chap.

I also saw two other authors, both women, speak but I didn't get a chance to talk to them.

Edit: Obviously, I've talked with authors online. The most involved is John Ostrander- terrific guy.

 

Kat-e-lyn, not Kate-lyn? I didn't know that.

I wish more authors came here....I've only seen sports stars spruiking their mandatory memoirs.

 

I think that it was the size of the crowd that made him seem nervous. I saw Gaiman twice in the one day here in Canberra and he didn't seem nervous at all. The first was at a signing session at a local bookstore that was attended by maybe 50 people at best. So it was a more intimate atmosphere and he did a chapter reading (which wasn't planned by worked) and then he got the time to chat to all of us as he signed things since there was not a giant line for it.

I saw him later again that evening at a planned seminar that dealth with MirrorMask and Anansi Boys, and he had the entire theatre eating out of the palm of his hand, even during the long pauses caused by technical issues (ie not having someone there that knew how to operate the equipment properly).

 

Let's see...

Michael Stackpole in 2001 when he came to a signing. Me and my friend Eric were there for several hours pestering him, poor guy.
Archer Mayor, a local VT author who's done some outstanding books, and put my name in one.
At Celebration 3, I met Aaron Allston, Karen Traviss, Timothy Zahn, Troy Denning, Daniel Wallace, Jan Duursema, Matthew Stover, Jeremy Barlow, and the guy who did the Epi-3 Comic adaptation.
My college also hosts a military writer's conference every year, and I've met the following people there: Joseph Galloway (We Were Soldiers), W.E.B. Griffin, Robert L. Bateman (No Gun Ri)
Vermont Writer's Conference: Cam Webster, Erik Esckilsen , and several others who's names I can't remember or find.
By phone, I've talked to Steven Barnes
Online, John Ostrander (Republic Comics), Michael Reaves (Darth Maul novel, Medstar), Steven Perry (Shadows of the Empire, Medstar), Sean Stewart (Dark Rendevous), James Luceno (Cloak of Deception) Mark Bowden (Black Hawk Down), Elaine Cunningham (Dark Journey) Walter Jon Williams (Destiny's Way),

There might be a couple that I've missed

 

Kat-e-lyn, not Kate-lyn? I didn't know that.

Well, maybe a bit more like Cat-el-in

It was really quite strange! The other thing i found surprising is that Petyr, which i really liked the name of, is just a variation and is supposed to be pronounced Peter. I always thought it was like Pet-yer.

 

I met James Luceno at a signing for The Unifying Force. It was a fairly small group, maybe about twenty of us. He did a Q&A, and was very nice and down to earth. When we got to the signing part, I asked somewhat timidly if he would mind signing three books for me, TUF for myself and Hero's Trial and Jedi Eclipse for two JC friends of mine in different states. He smiled, said he didn't mind at all, and kindly signed all the books. He seemed like the kind of guy you'd like to just chat with.

That's the only author I've met so far, but I hope to meet more at some point. Let me just state for the record that this L/M fangirl would probably die of joy to meet Timothy Zahn.

 

Bah, I ain't changin' my naming after 2700 pages. But if he stops saying nipple every second page, I'll give the new Catelyn a go.