NOS4A2 Fun Times with @Joe_Hill

Yesterday, Edmund and I went to see author Joe Hill read from his newest book NOS4A2 at the South Portland Books-A-Million.

It was a fun, albeit intense, couple of hours.

Now, I went to a reading Joe Hill did a few years ago, it might’ve been for Horns OR for Heart-Shaped Box. Regardless, this time there were a lot more people there. The difference was amazing. And, I noticed he seemed more at ease in front of the audience. He rocked it. (Now, he did just fine last time, but this time, he was much more polished.) We were thoroughly entertained, and he was so gracious and kind with everyone who wanted a picture (including me).

He is on my wish list to be on the Lounging with LannaLee show. So how was I going to wow him? My plan was to make him a balloon caricature and give it to him at the event. And I tried to do it, I really did, but I am so out of practice and I didn’t leave enough time to work it out, and I was getting too stressed, so I made a balloon vampire (which fits the theme of NOS4A2 very well), and included a couple of the pens plus a business card.

And he loved it! (See pix below.) He also tweeted the pic of me and him and the balloon, which was very sweet. [Not sure if him being on the show is a slam dunk, but it’s all good.]

We had a surprise guest: Joe’s father, Stephen King, dropped by to hear him read. Everyone went a bit nuts. (Not me, nosirree. I was cool as a cucumber. And too lazy to run up and try to get my picture with him.) Joe did a great job acknowledging his dad, “My Dad’s here to see me today. He’s a writer too.” big laugh “I think if he keeps it up, he might go places.” I am paraphrasing, of course, but whatever he said got a great laugh, and won the audience over. I was totally won over, that’s for sure.

Also, I think it bears mentioning: the Books-A-Million crew did a fantastic job with the organization of the event. We all had numbers, which made it easy when it came to getting our books signed. They had a person working the line, another person at the table getting the book(s) ready for signing, and yet another person helping out by taking pictures (whenever they were requested.)

So here are some pictures.

Oh. And He tweeted our pic too! (I embedded it at the bottom, just for you.)