Larry Correia Half Price Books Feb 2019

Before I traveled to LA for Gallifrey One, I went to a book signing for Larry Correia. The signing was at Half Price Books.

Larry is a goofy sci fi writing guy. He knows he’s goofy and doesn’t shy away from that. He is charming in his goofiness and had me smiling and laughing as he spoke. He gave an update on his projects. It seems he is writing 20 books at once. Then he took questions from the audience.  While the questions seemed dull, the answers were goofy enough to make up that.

AH

Josh Gates and LA Travel and Adventure Show 2019

This is a cautionary tale of a man greying at the temples (okay more than just the temples), growing at the waistline, and feeding his addiction.  A man, whose Wife you need to pity, that somehow allowed the evil empire of Facebook to track him to LA, California.  And worse, they placed an ad on this feed.   Yes, you are correct, he did the worst thing imaginable: he read that ad.

Okay, enough of the melodrama.

While I don’t check-in with Facebook, I’m sure the cell towers in LA told Facebook everything they needed.  While I was slightly irked that I saw a local ads while I was in LA for Gallifrey One, this ad was opportune. The ad was for the LA Travel and Adventure show. It just happened to be occurring downtown at the LA Convention Center the same weekend as Gallifrey One. It also just happened to have Josh Gates in attendance.  

I like Josh. I find him funny. I watched him on the SyFy channel’s ‘Destination Truth’ and I now watch him on ‘Expedition Unknown’.  I have wanted his autograph for years.  This was my chance. Facebook was feeding my addiction.

I stressed over about getting a photo printed for him to sign. But I figured there would be a generic stock head available. I also worried about missing Gallifrey One to attend a different convention. While the Fates like to toy with people, this time they were kind. Josh was at the show for Sunday only. I had gotten all of the autographs I need from Gallifrey One by Saturday. I would only be missing out on the Sunday panels if I changed plans.

I decided it was meant to be. I ubered to the LA Convention Center which was about 30 minutes away.  I wandered around and actually found a booth selling Josh's book and some photos.  I was happy. Then I relaxed and sat in on some travel panels instead of Whovian panels.

As I waited, I sat through Samantha Brown’s panel. The Wife and I have enjoyed her shows over the years. It was great to hear Samantha had a new show on PBS. She gave a great tip abut using the ironing board in the hotel room as a desk or as a storage shelf. After her, there was a short panel about visiting Korea and Japan. Both locations I want to see.  Then Josh took the stage. He was amusing as always. One of his themes for the panel was ‘taking a chance’ when traveling. his point was to give yourself some time to change plans and add something unplanned to the agenda after you ‘hit the ground’.

After the panel, I got in line for his signing. He had a long line. When I finally got to the front, I mentioned, I took a chance and came to this show. I told him I came from to Dallas for the Dr Who Convention. He paused and asked how I liked the new Doctor.  We exchanged a few words about Dr Who. Turns out he is also a Tom Baker fan.

After we were done, I headed back to the hotel. I called The Wife and explained how one convention full of autographs wasn’t enough and I HAD to go to another show. Yes, my name is AH and I collect autographs…

AH

Barbara Hambly Gallifrey One

The last autograph I picked up at Gallifrey one was the author Barbara Hambly.  

I read a lot of Star Trek books as a kid. Then Star Trek got some fresh legs and they started printing a new book every few months. It was impossible to keep up with them as I was now an adult and working. A few of those new books were from Barbara. I tracked one down and got her to sign it. 

AH

Jack Hanna UTA speaker series 2019

We all know and love Jack Hanna. You never know what he might say or what one of his animals might do.  Letterman seemed to have a love/hate relationship with him and his critters.

When I learned he was coming to UT Arlington, I wanted to go. I debated about watching his presentation or just trying to get his autograph after the show. I’m glad I watched the presentation. By the way, the lecture series has changed venues and it’s much larger now.

His show was about an hour long with a mix of videos from his career, amusing anecdotes, and some live animals from the Dallas zoo. The Dallas zoo provided a nice support cast for him to amuse the audience as he interacted with the different creatures.

After the show, we agreed to sign and I had brought a book and photo. He was also signing a small 5 x 7 photo that he handed out as you met him.

I showed him the photo and he said that was just a ‘crazy photo’. The people around me all peeked and gave their ‘oooohs’ and ‘ahhhhs’ when they saw the cat.

Even though he was trying to move quickly, he gave a few moments to everyone as he tried to personal the photos and books. 

AH

Brenda Blair Ft Worth Book Festival Oct 2018

After a long hard day of hunting, I took a trip to Ft Worth. I was looking for a friend I have known for a while now. I found her at her table quietly looking at her phone.  As I approached, she looked up and gave me a smile.  It was the polite smile you give all strangers.  Then she looked away – just for a heartbeat - then she turned back with a huge surprised smile of recognition.

She was in Ft Worth doing a book fair/festival to promote several of her books. This was why I was there. I was finally going to get a book signed by her.

Yes, I embarrassed her. Yes, I wanted her to be slightly embarrassed. I am so proud that she has done something that many people attempt but never accomplish. She has taken an idea and translated it into a book. Something as easy as that; however, so many people fail for a myriad of reasons.

She signed and we chatted for a while. At the end of the day, we walked out together and I had my signed copy.  It is proudly on my shelf of signed books.

AH

Robert Kirkman SDCC 2018

Yes, it’s about time I got Robert Kirkman’s signature. All these years I’ve gone to SDCC and have seen him, I never got a chance to have him sign something.

This year was a different ComicCon for me. I could spend some time around the comic booths and I was on the expo floor early enough to pick up a wristband. Yeah me.  I guess seeing Robert Kirkman walk the floor on Preview night and having him wave back was a good omen.

Kirkman is not a ‘hard’ get at SDCC. He is accessible and he signs at different booths (or did in the past) and on multiple days. It’s a question of getting to the booth that is having the signing before the wristbands are gone. This year, I accomplished this feat.

Once I had the wristband on my grubby little wrist, I had to figure out what to get signed.  I wasn’t going to spend hundreds on a comic as that’s not my thing. While I could get three items signed, I wasn’t looking for collector’s items to flip. I wanted something that was more my style.

I went to the booth (they had lots of merchandise for sale) and asked one of the clerks what I should get.  He didn’t have a poker face and you could tell he thought I was a loon.  Okay, it was an odd question. I spent just enough time with him to be polite and left. I had some time before the signing. I would come back and ask a different a worker.

Later, I got someone different.  I asked again.  He only wanted to sell me collector action figures.  Not my thing. A coworker came up and she worked better for me.  I got a book (I like books), a Walking Dead comic book variant (at least they told me it was a variant. How would I know?), and the first volume of Outcast.  Outcast is another comic that crossed over to TV.

I got to the signing early and I was close to the front. Robert arrived about 15 minutes early and said with a smile: You’re here. I’m here. Let’s get started.

I heard the people in front of me. They gushed.  They were fanboying out. Not an issue. I do it too.  When I handed over my things, I said straight up: I don’t read comic so I don’t know much about these but I love both Walking and Fear.  He paused. He digested that.  He smiled to himself and said, That’s okay. Nothing wrong with that. We can be inclusive.’

I liked that answer. I picked up my items and left with a great memory.

AH

Andy Weir SDCC 2018

This would be the second time I’ve gotten Andy Weir’s signature at SDCC. The first time was a year AFTER the movie, The Martian came out. He was at SDCC the year BEFORE the movie too but he was not on my radar.

I wanted to get him to sign Artemis last year but the line was way too long. This year I succeeded. He was friendly.  He was at a table with several authors and he chatted with the crowd as people waited for the next author. The conversation turned to IPAs and alcohol content versus a quality taste. Being a nondrinker, it was a conversation I’ve not heard before.

AH

R A Salvatore SDCC 2018

Another author quest bites the dust at SDCC 2018: R A Salvatore. 

A few years back, I got his autograph on a signed poster for a video game he was involved with. It’s not the same as getting a book signed.

AH

Raymond E Feist SDCC 2018

Another author I have been passively trying to get at various conventions over the years is Raymond E Feist. SDCC 2018 has been a good year for authors and I finally picked up Feist’s autograph. Since my focus wasn’t on the WB and Fox booths, I had more time to stand in other lines.

Raymond was nice. He was hurried as he had a meeting with some ‘big wigs’.  He didn’t give much of the details but mentioned he had been down that road before. You hope for the best and try not to get your hopes up.

AH

Kass Morgan SDCC 2018

As I have mentioned before, I really enjoy the TV series, The 100. I have gotten autographs from several cast members. Now was the chance to get the author, Kass Morgan.

Authors can be hit or miss at SDCC. Sometimes they have extremely long lines. Sometimes they are chatty and the line is slow. Other times, the line is short or empty and the process is quick.

This time the line was short-ish. I got to the front of the line fairly quick but the person in front of me had a lot to say. It’s wasn’t an issue and Kass was kind and listened.

For me, I think Kass wondered if I read the book. I’m not the demographic (Teen and/or Female). But I told her I really enjoyed the show and I was excited to get her to sign a copy of the book that started the series.

As an added bonus, I got  Light Years for free (advanced reading copy) and signed.  Very cool.

AH

SDCC and The Beatles 2018

This is not a complaint. It’s a wonderful observation. For some reason, this was a very Beatles ComicCon.

Alex Ross had some wonderful prints for sale. There was a set of 4 but there was some ancillary artwork to make it a larger college or theme to a wall. It would have looked awesome in our house. I have no idea about the prices or the worth or how many copies but they were beautiful. My photos are hurried as I wasn’t sure I was allowed to take photos. I wanted to show them to friends but not get caught. Please forgive the cock-eyed images.

Then Mattel created Hot Wheels to celebrate several Beatle albums. I’m not sure if they had cars for each record or the only the ones that were soundtracks to their movies.

Lastly, Titan Comics did a companion book to the Yellow Submarine and I got the artists to sign their book. 

Bill Morrison, Nathan Kane, and Andrew Pepoy signed.

AH

Neal Shusterman SDCC 2018

I actually said this to Neal Shusterman: it was about time I met him. He looked at me oddly. I told him it seemed every time I planned on seeing him, something came up and I missed out. He has actually been to Dallas (and maybe Frisco) within the last 2 years. I had to travel half way across the country to get him to sign a book. Funny how The Fates conspire.

Maybe his next book tour I won’t have to lug around a hardback half a day.

AH

Lynn Johnston SDCC 2018

The last several years, the IDW booth has been good to me. This year, they had Lynn Johnston who did the For Better or For Worse comic strip.  I read her comic for years in Jersey and when I moved to Dallas as a young adult. I only stopped reading it when we stopped getting a newspaper.

Early that morning I bought the massive tome For Better or For Worse: The Complete Library Vol 2.  It weighs about 5 pounds. Not fun to walk around ComicCon with that extra weight.  When it was time for the signing, I didn’t see her. I would have hated to have missed her. Just before I tracked someone down, I saw her sitting on a side counter talking to a man with a microphone. It looked like she was being interviewed.  I caught the attention of the booth attendee and he said I could walk right up. I wasn’t interrupting anything.

I slowly approached to make sure I didn’t ruin the interview and they both looked up and smiled. I introduced myself and told her I read the strip for years.  She introduced me to the blogger that was interviewing her.  He wanted to ask me some questions.  I paused as I tried to come up with some quick repartee. He saw my looked and told me it was not an issue if I didn’t want to be interviewed.  I teasingly threw out that I would end up talking about Farley and get all teary eyed. And I didn’t want to cry at ComicCon. We all laughed. And DANG IT!, I started thinking about Farley and I got all teary eyed! I jinxed myself.  And yes, I’m a little misty as I write this. Sniff.

Lynn had signed the book that I had selected that morning. When I handed over the book she picked up a blue pencil and shaded the sketch. It was great meeting her and she was very friendly.

AH

Kari Byron SDCC 2018

Who doesn’t love the semi red-head Kari Bryon from Myth Busters?

I have been fortunate enough to win a raffle ticket for a MythBusters (or alumni) every time I‘ve tried. Unfortunately, only once have I been able to get an autograph. Either the line is too slow and I need to leave or I have conflicts and can’t attend.

This time, Kari was signing her book, Crash Test Girl at the Harper Collins booth and I could actually attend. She gave me that heart melting smile. I told her I really enjoyed MythBusters and blah blah blah.  I asked if could sign the photo I printed.  When she saw the photo, she told me that was from a special day. She just returned from maternity leave and she was worried if she still had ‘it’.  Once she shot the rifle and hit the target with the first attempt, she knew she was ’back’.

Surprisingly, she brought her own photos and she gave me one of those signed too.  Three autographs in one visit AND that smile…very nice.

AH

Roma Downey B&N April 2018

While I didn’t plan in advance to attend this signing, I got there a few minutes before Roma Downey arrived. Even after me, people were coming into the store to get in line. It was a good turnout. Everyone in line was a Touched by an Angel fan. I heard a lot of ‘moments’ that people shared while waiting to get their books signed.

Roma signed as people crouched behind her to get a photo. She listened as they told her how the show impacted them. I saw a lot of tears. She listened and seemed to comfort them.

When it was my turn,  I commented on her shoes. To me, the shoes looked like tennis shoes with a wedged heel.  She beamed a smile up to me and said they were SOOOOO comfortable.  She was past the point wanting to deal with the pain of heels.  I smiled back and said I’m glad they are comfy.  Then I shook her hand and left.

AH

Veronica Roth B&N April 2018

I have gotten Veronica Roth before. While I usually don’t repeat celebs, I will get authors more than once. I first got Veronica’s autograph at SDCC many years ago, I also got her in Dallas for another book signing.

As always, she is friendly and charming and outgoing.

At this signing, she and her friend (an artist and I did not catch her name) sat in front of the crowd and chatted for an hour or so.  It was causal as they answered questions from the fans.

The signing went quicker than I expected. While a lot of their questions were answered in the discussion before the signing, the fans still got their facetime with Veronica.  When it was my turn, I name dropped SDCC.  Yeah, shame on me. She leaned back and said that was a whirlwind.  She hardly remembered any of it. I quickly looked disappointed and asked if she remembered me.  She quickly smiled back knowing I was joking.

I picked up my book and thanked her for coming to Texas.

AH

Krysten Ritten Book People Austin TX

Road trip.  Four of us drove to the weirdness that is known as Austin. Krysten Ritter was at the store, Book People to sign her novel, Bonfire.

The nice thing about this road trip, it did not start at o’dark thirty and we got home at a decent time too. We drove together, which was good as I had no clue where this book store was. We hung out, ate, had a nice time, and drove home.

AH

Wait…you want more…oh. We’ll its Christmas. I’m kinda busy. I’d thought I’d just write that and move on.

Huh…this is embarrassing. Okay, here goes…

She was sweet. She showed up a little early. That is always nice. She was more than willing to sign outside items. Which also was really nice as we all brought something for her to sign. She was very friendly and upbeat and she chatted with everyone.

Good enough?

What do you mean I always say that? Do I? Wow, tough crowd.

Okay. This isn’t really my tale to tell but I’ll share.

One guy in our group wore a cool looking Jessica Jones t-shit. He had just gotten it from eBay. After Krysten signed and posed for a photo with him, she noticed the shirt. As he started walking away, she called to him: Wait! Where’d you get that shirt...(I swear I heard a New York accent in her voice)

Fellow hound: Ummm, I bought it...

Krysten, excitedly didn’t wait for our hero to answer: That’s the cast and crew shirt for season 2. Who sold that it you?

The crowd hushed. It was like a kid being called out by the teacher. They expectantly waited for tears.

Friend: I got it off of eBay. It was a t-shirt company…

Krysten, with a big smile and little less of a NY accent: It’s okay. I just wanted to give the guy a hard time for selling the shirt the made for the crew. We only just got those.

Friend: It was a nice looking shirt…

Krysten: Yes, we love that shirt. That was why I was wondering who sold theirs.  I wanted to bust some chops (said with some NY hutzpah). Thanks for coming.

Then it was over. No fight. No tears. Krysten turned to the next fan and continued on. We left to drive back to Dallas.

AH

Kate Hudson Pretty Fun B&N Nov 2017

Kate Hudson was at B&N for her book, Pretty Fun. She signed the books before the event started. When the event started, they passed out signed books. A fellow collector and I quickly checked that the signatures were different. We would have been bummed if they were auto-penned or stamped.

Kate looked very pretty in her long dress or robe thingy. She posed for photos with everyone.  I look as goofy as ever. The line moved very quickly and then we were done.

AH

Bush Sisters meet A Christmas Story Nov 2017

One of the Dallas B&N’s had the First Daughters in for a book signing.  Jenna Bush Hager and Barbara Pierce Bush wrote the book, Sisters First.  I got a copy signed.

They of course were friendly and all smiles.  It was more interesting to watch the crowd. The crowd was 99% women and 1% men. The males in the crowd were fellow autograph collectors. Yes, we did look out of place. The males wore sneakers with shorts or jeans and a sport jersey or concert t-shirt. The women were dressy casual. A dressy casual that looked relaxed but clearly showed the dollars spent.

As the news spread that yes, the Sisters would be posing for photos, a lot of phones were turned to selfie mode as makeup was touched up and recalcitrant hairs were put back in place.

The line moved fast and before I knew it was I front of the sisters. Since I didn’t bring any lip gloss to apply to my makeup, I choose not to take a photo with them. However, I did mention I saw Jenna many years ago at another book signing. That book was Ana’s Story. It was held at a Frisco School auditorium. It was just after she got engaged and she had her new ring.  As she signed Ana’s Story, the ring caught the light. I made some offhand comment about the ring. Jenna was sweet and held her hand up so I could get a closer look. Yes, The Wife, who attended this signing in Frisco and didn’t want to wait with me in line, was extremely jealous. And I’m also sure Secret Service took a few steps closer as I leaned toward the ring.

Well, this is what I wanted to say to Jenna. In reality, I mentioned Ana’s Story and I quickly mentioned the ring glittering in the light. And I added The Wife was jealous.  It might have been 1 sentence and about 10 words. I then looked at them expectantly. Jenna and Barbara’s smiles never faltered.  They thanked me for coming. They nodded and I left.

Afterward, feeling chagrined and reviewing the exchange in my head, I realized I was Ralphie from A Christmas Story. I had just asked Santa for a Red Ryder BB gun with a Compass in the stock. I was rushed. I was blathering. All that was needed to finish the scene was Jenna telling me: You’ll shoot your eye out Kid.

Maybe I should have used some lip gloss.

AH

Midnight, Texas cast/book signing SDCC 2017

Since the convention center is already packed with booths and displays, there are many large interactive displays set up in the Gaslamp district. This is very convenient for the attendees as it’s across the street and next to a lot of restaurants that my fellow nerds eat at every day.

Between the convention center and the Hard Rock Hotel, is an island of concrete for the trolley stop.  The area is large enough to contain some of the convention overflow displays.  At the Midnight Texas display, there was a cast signing for the new TV series. I must admit this was a surprise and as far as I know really under-publicized.  This makes me wonder how many more events outside the convention center occur that I never hear about and miss each year.

A buddy of my SDCC friend clued us into this. I got in line about 90 minutes early. The signing for Midnight, Texas overlapped the time for The Originals signing. Thankfully The Wife was flexible and attended that signing for me. The sun was brutal but I had my foldup stool and a neckerchief soaked in water which I wore on my head.  The people around me were nice and friendly. A rarity. I even let the mom use my stool for a while.

The studio didn’t provide posters. They handed out copies of Charlaine Harris’s book which inspired this TV series.  Getting a book is different and I kind of like the idea. Having the cast sign the book is slightly unstable.  With 9 people signing, the title page can get crowded. I did see that other people used the promotional bags to have the cast sign. That was a good idea as it had the 8 actors displayed on the bag.

While I know some of the actors from other roles, I didn’t recognize most. However, I did recognize Peter Mensah from Spartacus.  As I told him I really enjoyed Spartacus, he bowed his head in acknowledgement and said this show was very different. Yeah, I would imagine. Not too many vampires in Rome.

As I stood in front of Charlaine Harris, I mentioned I got her signature at a book store in Plano, TX. She smiled and told me that was a while ago. Then I followed up that it was before True Blood. I got a bigger smile, and ‘oh, that was ages ago’.

Arielle Kebbel (top left), Dylan Bruce (top center), PeterMensah (top center 2nd row), Jason Lewis (middle right), Parisa Fitz-Henley (middle left), Charlaine Harris (middle center), Yul Vazquez (beneath Harris), Francois Arnaud (lower left), Sarah Ramos (lower right)

AH