Dinner & a Book signing
Nov. 18th, 2005 09:02 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
madbakerDinner with ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
wingedcorset was nice. Good to have in-person chattage for more than three minutes as we fly by each other at an SCA event. I probably kvetched a bit more to her about various and sundry than I have a right to, but oh well.
You'd think that it'd be easier to get together when we live in the same town. You'd be wrong, though.
Then I wandered around the corner to the local library branch, where Ye Local Independent Bookstore was hosting a book signing. Pretty decent crowd (which is why they used the library rather than their store) - about 150 to 200.
Martin seems like a decent sort; he matches his headshot. Yes, he looks at home in a Greek fisherman's hat. He gave a brief summary of how the books came to be, then took questions and answered at quite some length. Eventually the bookstore staff cut him off to start signing books. Otherwise, I got the sense that Martin would have happily chatted along for hours.
Martin limits his signing to three copies, which I don't find unreasonable. Especially since he tells people that they can get in line again for more - it just means that the line moves more quickly when the guy in front of you doesn't plop down his crate of 20 books that go on E-Bay tomorrow. Unfortunately, the latest book is fourth in a series and I wasn't willing to go back in line for one book and wait another 45 minutes (I had to get up at the usual time for work today, and it was already 8:30 PM). Fortunately, the woman in front of me only had two books. She was perfectly willing to carry one of mine as her third. It was all good.
Some random quotes that I jotted down during the evening:
"There are many ways to become a bestseller. A book written by a famous sports figure or your favorite politician. Having Oprah like your book. I don't think Oprah would like my book." (Apparently Feast For Crows debuts next week at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list. That's the second book in a row I've bought that has done that, Anansi Boys being the previous one.)
On the time between this book and the prior: "Instead of writing, I've been sitting in a hot tub for the last five years, swilling champagne with hot beauties... in my imagination."
One of the questions was a request that there be a point-of-view chapter from Hodor. GRRM's response: "Hodor Hodor Hodor."
On moral ambiguity in his books: "I don't paint in black and white. I paint in shades of grey. The battle for good and evil is fought in the human heart, and we are all part good and part evil."
Q: "Are any of your characters going to survive the whole series?"
A: "Possibly. I have so many characters that there are always more."
wingedcorset was nice. Good to have in-person chattage for more than three minutes as we fly by each other at an SCA event. I probably kvetched a bit more to her about various and sundry than I have a right to, but oh well. You'd think that it'd be easier to get together when we live in the same town. You'd be wrong, though.
Then I wandered around the corner to the local library branch, where Ye Local Independent Bookstore was hosting a book signing. Pretty decent crowd (which is why they used the library rather than their store) - about 150 to 200.
Martin seems like a decent sort; he matches his headshot. Yes, he looks at home in a Greek fisherman's hat. He gave a brief summary of how the books came to be, then took questions and answered at quite some length. Eventually the bookstore staff cut him off to start signing books. Otherwise, I got the sense that Martin would have happily chatted along for hours.
Martin limits his signing to three copies, which I don't find unreasonable. Especially since he tells people that they can get in line again for more - it just means that the line moves more quickly when the guy in front of you doesn't plop down his crate of 20 books that go on E-Bay tomorrow. Unfortunately, the latest book is fourth in a series and I wasn't willing to go back in line for one book and wait another 45 minutes (I had to get up at the usual time for work today, and it was already 8:30 PM). Fortunately, the woman in front of me only had two books. She was perfectly willing to carry one of mine as her third. It was all good.
Some random quotes that I jotted down during the evening:
"There are many ways to become a bestseller. A book written by a famous sports figure or your favorite politician. Having Oprah like your book. I don't think Oprah would like my book." (Apparently Feast For Crows debuts next week at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list. That's the second book in a row I've bought that has done that, Anansi Boys being the previous one.)
On the time between this book and the prior: "Instead of writing, I've been sitting in a hot tub for the last five years, swilling champagne with hot beauties... in my imagination."
One of the questions was a request that there be a point-of-view chapter from Hodor. GRRM's response: "Hodor Hodor Hodor."
On moral ambiguity in his books: "I don't paint in black and white. I paint in shades of grey. The battle for good and evil is fought in the human heart, and we are all part good and part evil."
Q: "Are any of your characters going to survive the whole series?"
A: "Possibly. I have so many characters that there are always more."
