Last Sunday, I was hosted by Village Books in The Woodlands to celebrate the release of Stephen King: His Life, Work, and Influences (Young Readers’ Edition). It was a beautiful day after a run of really unpleasant weather, so there was a good chance no one would show up because people wanted to take advantage of the nice day. I joked to my wife on the way there that she might end up doubling the audience.
However, we had a good turnout. I rambled on for fifteen or twenty minutes about this, that and the other, and then I took questions, of which there were many. It was a nice discussion.
Afterward I drew the name of the winner of the gift pack (the promised simulated axe from The Shining didn’t arrive because it proved to be too unwieldy to ship so Quarto substituted a FunkoPop Carrie). I felt strangely under pressure to draw a name for someone who was present, but it didn’t turn out that way. Congratulations to the winner! Then I signed books for those in attendance
Later, I signed copies for the mail orders, of which there were many. So many, in fact, that the store ran out of copies and some mail orders will be fulfilled later this week when the new shipment arrives and I can get back there to sign them. By the way, I inquired about orders outside of the US and the shop owner told me she often shipped internationally, so if you’re in Canada or Italy or elsewhere and you’d like a signed book (be prepared for sticker shock on the shipping), contact Village Books via their website and get a quote.
One thing I realized on Sunday morning, several hours before the event, is that the preliminary pages of the book are all printed on black paper. Hmmm, I thought. How on earth am I going to sign on the title page? Then I remembered the Scream Press edition of Skeleton Crew, where King signed in silver. So off I went to the local shop and got a couple of silver Sharpies, which worked a charm.
I also did an interview on Saturday that should be posted in the near future. I’ll be sure to post the link when it’s live. It was predominantly about my short fiction, so being able to talk about my stories was a nice change of pace.
And, finally, we got our flu and new Covid vaccinations on Saturday morning, so my superpowers are back to full strength!
