Thursday 28 May 2009

In Which there is an Author, a Reading, and a Signing

About 10 days ago, I went to check out Patrick Rothfuss’s, blog and noticed that he was doing several signings in the UK, and that he was trying to arrange one in Taunton, subject to being able to get from Glastonbury to Taunton. I thought, 'Hmm. I have a car, I live practically next door, I was planning to take Tuesday as a day off work anyway, and I think that Authors going to bookshops and meeting readers and fans is a Good Thing....' so I sent him an e-mail offering my chauffeur-ing services.

Which led, pretty much directly, to my being in my car, en route to Glastonbury, on Tuesday morning, to collect an author before travelling on to Taunton

Rothfuss is the author of The Name of The Wind which is his first novel and the first part of a trilogy, and which I can definitely recommend (unless of course you are likely to become fretful or aggrieved at the fact that books take longer to write than they do to read, and that therefore you will have to wait for parts 2 and 3...
He is also a very nice guy, and an interesting conversationalist.

The signing in Taunton was small – as it was on a weekday and arranged at short notice there weren’t huge numbers of people there, which from the point of view of an attendee was great, as we got to hang out & chat. I'd like to think that we made up in quality what we lacked in quantity.

We all talked - about reading, and writing, and whether the books you love are hoarded or pressed upon all comers, and whether it is ethical to donate bad books to libraries, and about swine flu - Pat was fighting off a bug of some kind, so we were considering getting T-shirts, 'I met Pat Rothfuss and all I got was Swine Flu' - and about Serenity, and urban fanatasy and genre writing.

And then, after Pat signed further copies of the book for the shop. (We tried to persuade him to sign other author’s books at random, but we were unsuccessful)
We headed out to Vivary Park, where we sat in the sun for more conversation. We addressed the question of whether having a child, and reading aloud and telling stories to him/her will stand Pat in good stead when it comes to doing the voices when reading his own work, or whether it will simply mean that book three reads “Here’s Kvothe. See Kvothe run. Run Kvothe, Run”... we talked about Santa Claus and mineral water, how we see different characters from the book, and then Pat read to us from the second book – just a taste, to whet the appetite.

And then we all went for dinner.


Where conversation included asking questions about the book and it’s inspiration, but also all manner of other subjects, such as the plural of Lego and some nice Italian food.

I don’t know whether all fans of The Name of the Wind are as companionable, or if we just struck lucky. It felt like spending an afternoon with a bunch of old friends, except I hadn't met any of them previously.

It was a lovely day.


I don’t know how Pat would rate me as a chauffeur, but I would certainly recommend him as a passenger!

8 comments:

Phiala said...

“Here’s Kvothe. See Kvothe run. Run Kvothe, Run”

I shouldn't laugh that hard at work. People wonder.

Well, people wonder anyway, I suppose.

Sounds like a lovely time. I have never met An Author, nor attended a signing, though I did go to a panel discussion featuring Walter Jon Williams once.

Marjorie said...

I made Phiala laugh out loud!! (Happy dance!)

It's good making people wonder. Keep them guessing. The paranoia is good for them.

Rubius said...

A very nice afternoon indeed. I am glad you two connected and that it was so universally positive for everyone. Patrick was the author GoH at our convention last year and it was a pleasure to get to know him. He is a great speaker and a wonderfully nice person.

I also love the line 'Here’s Kvothe. See Kvothe run. Run Kvothe, Run'

It made my day.

I can't wait for his next book.

Siri said...

So, I should clicky the box that will wing this book toward my home? That's what you are saying?

(Library doesn't have it.)

Dragonsally said...

what a wonderful day! Your generosity paid off big time.

I'm pretty sure I have the book...I will check later and order it if I don't.

vampi said...

sounds awesome:)

"It's good making people wonder. Keep them guessing. The paranoia is good for them." this made mr giggle out loud.

Kitty Cat said...

hello driving miss Daisy...
those photos of the grass-sitting were quite inviting..

Marjorie said...

It was lots of fun!

Kitty - the grass sitting *was* inviting. We could've sat on a park bench but the grass looked nicer!

I did want to keep leaping up and grabbing passers-by to say 'look, we've got an author here, come and chat and lsiten!'