Fans

I just had my first ever face-to-face meeting with a fan last night. How fucking awesome is that? I was out shopping with my roommate and Kathy, her girlfriend, when a guy, a little younger than me, came up to me asking if I was Alex. Took me a bit aback because, well, have you ever had a total stranger come up to you, asking for you by name? It didn’t help that he was a big guy with some, in hind sight, pretty wicked piercings. I sorta got on guard and asked why he was looking for me.

“I heard you got a novel deal. I’m a big fan.”

I relaxed pretty much instantly after that. Started shooting the shit with the guy. Apparently mine is the only blog he’s really read, which is odd, but flattering. I’m not totally sure when my work jumped into the interest bubble of Ed Hardy hoodie-wearing skinheads, but, hey, I ain’t complaining. 

Eventually Mary swung by, grabbed me, and dragged me back to the car with Kathy. They asked about the guy, and I explained he was just a fan of my story. 

“How’d he find you, then?”

Kathy’s question made me do a double-take, and honestly freaked me out for a moment until I remembered two weeks ago when my creative writing teacher had me doing the rounds of classes. She wanted me to speak about chaotic fiction, and about getting in touch with publishers. Fanboy must have heard of me through that whole process. Still, the whole event put me on edge for the rest of the evening.

I’m really gonna have to get used to that whole thing if this book deal goes through. It may be ridiculously unlikely, but DiD could get huge. I’m not sure how well that really meshes with my hermit lifestyle… Guess I’ll just have to be one of those authors who just lives out in the woods so his rabid fans can’t get to him.

Heh. Unlikely.