Well, As It Turns Out....

I got to go!

After my mom's comment here, plus a private email from her urging me to take the opportunity to do something for myself, I decided to stick one little toe out into the possibility of going by asking my husband if he would mind if I went. He shocked me when he said, "Fine! Sounds like fun for you! Go!"

Next I called the book store to see about the tickets: Were there any left? I am so glad I called because what I learned was that you didn't *really* need a ticket at all. Anybody was able to come and see Diana Gabaldon and hear her speak. The ticket was for the privilege of standing in line and then having her sign your book. Ha! I didn't even want to buy the book, so no ticket required. hehe

Then I called a friend from my book group to see if I could ride along with her, therefore making it much more fun than going all by my lonesome. A ride and a friend to hang out with: check!

I dug up a coupon for a free sub at Subway with the purchase of a drink, and left early enough to get that for my dinner. $1.26 later I had made my only expenditure of the evening.

An hour before Gabaldon I got to see Silas House, whose book Clay's Quilt my book group read, plus another author, Bev Marshall, who has a new book called Hot Fudge Sundae Blues. They each read a bit from their books plus answered questions. Silas House was reading from his new book The Coal Tatoo. I really like Silas House's style. He is from Eastern Kentucky, and writes beautifully, while also really bringing across the flavor of the culture there, and helping the reader understand and appreciate it. So many people think of the mountains of Appalachia as a sad, worn-out kind of place, and House brings pride and beauty to what he knows and loves.

Bev Marshall was a cute lady and her book is written from the perspective of a 14 year old girl. I enjoyed the segment she read and think I will probably read the book. It seemed to very skillfully capture the angst and feelings of the young teenager, and had a bittersweet feel to it.

The crowd for Diana Gabaldon was pretty much filled to capacity. I think there were probably 250 or more people there. The area was decorated with tartan plaid, Scottish coats of arms, and other Scottish-looking items. 15 minutes prior to her speaking, a drum and bagpipe group marched in, setting the mood for the crowd that loves the Outlander series, which is originally set in Scotland. There were also Scottish dancers, whom I couldn't see save for the occasional bouncing hand or head, since the crowd was so thick around them.

Diana Gabaldon made her entrance flanked by Scottish pipers and a tall Scottish-looking escort wearing full kilt and tartan regalia, plus a broadsword strapped across his back. She wore a long black dress and a colorful scarf across one shoulder, and looked much more elegant than she does on her book jackets.

She was a more bawdy speaker than I expected her to be. I'm no prude, but I was kind of surprised at how much she seemed to want to keep her chatter onto sexy things. She's on a book tour, though, so maybe she just missed her husband. ;)

She didn't say anything that I hadn't already read in The Outlandish Companion or her web site so it wasn't really that enlightening. She did read a section from the new book, A Breath of Snow and Ashes, but I actually found it difficult to follow since she uses a Scottish accent to do the voices. That's as it should be, I suppose, but it was tricky to understand her in a crowd. I'll enjoy reading it to myself more.

Another book group friend met us at the event and the three of us stood together sweltering in the crowd of admirers. As it turned out, I can be thankful for middle-aged and old-aged comrades, because the friend that met us there ended up with hot flashes and decided she would leave and not have her book signed. I asked her if she wanted us to get it signed for her. So, I ended up with her book and ticket, waiting in line with all the other Outlander enthusiasts, in order to be very efficiently put before Diana Gabaldon herself, and just as quickly dismissed.

There were so many people there that the tickets had letters on them. We were called up in groups, A's first, and so on. Fortunately, both of my book group friends pre-purchased their books, so they had "C" tickets, so it wasn't a terribly long wait. (there were probably 50 or more people with each letter) While in line some helper people came along with sticky notes, asking what name you wanted your book to be signed to. They got the books opened to the correct page, book jacket holding it's place, and sticky note there to prompt Diana so she could sign as quickly as possible. I was impressed with the efficiency, but it definitely was nothing like I expected. By the time one reached Diana, a man took the book, opened it up, and set it before her where she very quickly signed it "2______, Diana Gabaldon" and swiftly slid your book back at you with nary a hello. We did say a few brilliant and noteworthy things such as "What could we say that you haven't already heard thousands of times?" and then shuffled on our merry way, passing by a table of Scottish cookies and cakes which we both didn't eat since we are trying to lose weight.

What I really thought would be fun to say to her was, "Hi! It's nice to meet you, even though I wasn't about to pay $28 to buy your book to do it. This is actually my friend's book that you're signing. She had to leave because of hot flashes."

Now THAT would have been memorable! But, alas, I didn't have the guts to do it.

It was nice to get a little break from being home, but honestly, it was very impersonal. Diana smiled a lot, but mainly looked like she had her smile just pasted on, and kind of seemed to look through everyone. Maybe for someone as popular a writer as she is, and for as long as she's been writing, it might get old. She just didn't seem that engaged or connected to the people, and so it kind of left me feeling less than impressed. As Gretchen said in her comment in the previous post, it seems kind of less than impressive to have to buy the book in order to meet the author, rather than the author seeming like they appreciated their fans or whatever. I guess with someone as popular as Gabaldon, perhaps a line just has to be drawn in order to keep it managable, but it didn't seem as warm as I hoped it would be.

The up side to all of this is that my hot flash friend said to hang on to the book until next week when we meet for our regular book group meeting. So, I get to read the book right away! It's a whopping 947 pages or some such, so it'll take some attention. What's worse, is that as Carmen mentioned to me once, indeed this *isn't* that last book in the series after all. She said that there would be at least 1 or 2 more books, which in Gabaldon-speak probably means 3. It will be very hard to wait 2.5 years for the next one!