When authors meet for the first time, it is a treat for those able to watch.
I’m a lucky guy in that regard. Over the years I’ve been fortunate enough to work with one of the bestselling writers of all time. Knowing Terry Brooks has opened a few doors for me, one of which was starting The Signed Page and have it be successful almost from the get go. My signed book business then led me to dozens and dozens of other writers, many of whom have never met one another.
In effect, in some way I didn’t realize until two years ago, I’ve become a keystone in the arch of authordom. I connect various people when those people aren’t connected another way.
As an example, two years ago I had the ability to put Terry Brooks and Stephenie Meyer together for a lunch. She was in Seattle on tour for Breaking Dawn; Terry was in town because he lives here. One of the first fantasy books she had read was The Sword of Shannara; Terry had read Twilight and lives in a matriarchal family who had read the entire series. It made sense, in my mind, to put them together.
It was a fun way to spend a lunch time, watching two very different writers geek out over one another.
Something similar happened at Comic Con when I put Christopher Paolini and Patrick Rothfuss together. There is just something magical about two very different writers talking about the same genre they know and love.
A few days ago I thought it would be fun if Terry met author Brent Weeks. Terry had read The Way of Shadows and loved it. Brent had read Terry’s newest, Bearers of the Black Staff, and enjoyed it so much he blurbed it. The two had never met or spoken to one another. Again, it made sense for them to.
Brent and I had met at Comic Con, if briefly, so it was nice to get together with him and set it up. First, he signed the pre-ordered copies of The Black Prism for his fans via The Signed Page. Since time was limited, we decided to do it out of the back of my Honda Element instead of him coming to my place of business:
Then Brent got the great idea of stealing his own books from my car:
At that point, Terry arrived. We went to dinner—Terry, Brent, Brent’s wife Kristi, Peter Orullian (new Tor author), and myself.
It was a great discussion. Most of it hinged around writing and the industry, of course. Brent and his wife were keenly interested in any advice Terry could give about touring since this is Brent’s first tour. Soon stories were flowing from everyone at the table and it was great fun.
After dinner, Terry and Brent wanted to sign books to each other. Here is the exchange:
Bearers of the Black Staff by Terry Brooks and The Black Prism by Brent Weeks are in fine bookstores right now.
I hope I can be that keystone between them and you, the reader!
