talking with authors

[Angel]

Geekazoid: I was in the Chorus. Hehe, I was considerably more shy then, so I wasn't quite cut out for the spotlight just yet. Still, I loved it. I'm a huge fan of musicals...

And as for you, Bryan, if you have a large stash of cookies available for bargaining, we'll see.

[singer]

I've forgotten. I talked to Joy Hakim. A History of US author.

(cries cause she's wants to meet Card too.) I can't mind his Children of the Mind anywhere, and I need to read that book. It's the fourth in Ender series.

[Bryan]

Here :hands you 4 dozen of my grandmas choc. chip cookies: now introduce me to him!

[Geekazoid]

PLease oh please introduce me as well
i will give you tripple the cookies Bryan did

[Bryan]

My cookies are still better :-p.

[dragonfly_firefly]

i met Arthur Miller last year.

[singer]

(slides up with 8 dozen of her famous Lemon Cookies)

[the_peridexis]

perhaps i should go stuff my head in a toilet.

[Bryan]

Originally posted by singer:
(slides up with 8 dozen of her famous Lemon Cookies)

:steals them and offers my 4 dozen with her 8 dozen :-p:

[seabiscuit1009]

Don't mean to be rude guys, but umm...you're way off topic, and one-liners aren't cool, especially when they're this off topic. So...sorry if I'm being a kill-joy or anything like that...

I guess since I'm bored, I'll go back to the original point of this thread: talking with authors. Umm...I've only talked with one author, Sue Monk Kidd, author of The Secret Life of Bees and several other books on things like spirituality and religion (haven't read those ones XD). She's pretty nice, very down to earth and all that stuff, and she tells great stories. Lots of fun.

[Kathy Li]

I once talked for hours with Chris Claremont, because I was a complete X-Men nut at the time (I was probably 16 or so), and he was nice enough to let me. I think the absolute best part was when I asked him if he really knew Diane Duane, and he blinked, said yes, and then we spent half an hour enthusing over DD's Young Wizard books. It was kind of like talking Doctor Who with Terry Pratchett last year. Only better.

I think one of the things I love about talking to writers is that (funny this) most of them are voracious readers, and they give the best book recommendations. Connie Willis will tell you to read Damon Runyon and Charles Williams. Elizabeth Peters will tell you to read Terry Pratchett. Terry Pratchett will tell you to read Donald Westlake. Geeking out with writers over writing is fun.

[Mel]

I hadn't just really thought about it until now, but once I wrote this letter to Sharon Creech (I can't help but love her books. They're so good!) and spent a lot of time on it, and I got this letter back from Harper Collins saying how she couldn't answer at this time because she is busy. Blah, I hate those letters!

[Kathy Li]

You could always try again. I think the "at this time" phrase is key--it probably means either that 1) she doesn't have the time or 2) there were too many letters at that moment for a timely response to get back to you.

But yeah, that's not fun, getting a canned response, especially since they're actively soliciting letters on her website.

But not all authors are so standoffish. A surprising number, like DD, will even put e-mail addresses out there by which you can contact them.

[illiriam]

Ooh, just found this thread thanks to Kathy Li posting a link in ToGR. Thanks!
In elementary school we used to have authors come in. One time it was an author for the book we were reading in class (this was first grade, think picture book about a cat.) I was so excited. Lol. I also have a more mature book, which I can't remember the name of, which was signed. I do remember that it was about a girl who escaped from slavery and ran to the north.
Other than that, I haven't met any authors in a convention or signing.
But, the mother of one of my best friends from high school is an author. She got published around the time I was in middle school, or the start of high school, which would be.... 6, gosh that can't be right... 6 years ago. Her name is Kathleen Eschenburg, and she is a romance writer. Colleen, her daughter, and I weren't allowed to read the books though. Apparently they were a bit explicit. I might have to go find her books and read them now, since I guess I am old enough. lol. Plus, what good is having a friend with an author for a mother if you've never read her books?

[bookgirl]

oooh! I didn't know we had this thread, cool!

I got to meet Mary Higgins Clark! *squeals* She came to a high school near me for a library thing, her daughter Carol Higgins Clark, came too. First they just answered questions that the lady hosting asked them. Then they opened it up to those of us in the audience. After all that they announced that they would be doing a book signing. My friend and I hurried out to get in line, there was already a huge line. We stood in line for almost two hours waiting, but we're both book geeks so we didn't mind waiting. When we got up there she signed my book, and I couldn't resist asking for a picture. She was totally fine with it. She just said "of course"! I didn't really get to talk with her, but as we were leaving she thanked us for waiting in line. I was surprised, I was the one who should be thanking her. As my friend and I walked out of the building we both totally geeked out. We looked at each other and yelled, "We met Mary Higgins Clark!". lol.

But she is such a nice lady! She one of those people that simply exude class. And she's funny too, she was telling a story about someone that had be really rude to her and she said it didn't really bother her because she said "When someone is rude to me I just make them a victim in my next book."

I've met other authors too, though they are mostly from small publishing companies here in Utah. I work at a bookstore, and that is how I meet most of them. I'm friends with several of them.
Kathy Li, you're right, authors give the best book recommendations!

I'm jealous of those of you that have met so many cool authors! Like Orson Scott Card, I would love to meet him. I've read most of his books, including his religious ones. We belong to the same religion.

And Anthony Rapp???!!! That is so awesome!