Ready Player One author extraordinaire Ernest Cline was signing books at the cozy (and independent) Boulder Bookstore on Pearl St. Mall in Boulder, CO last night – Tuesday 6/12/12.
Which, ironically, also happens to be the date of James Halliday’s 40th Birthday. Pretty cooooool, if you ask me. I decided to bring my kiddos since they have also loved reading the book and listening to Wil Wheaton narrate the audio version. We trekked up to Boulder, and I’m infinitely glad we did. The event was fascinating, entertaining, and beyond lurvely. My crew (son, daughter, and BFF Chris) were a tad bit late coming in (many apologies to Mr. Cline as he was already speaking and we were squeaking up the stairs in a very un-ninja like manner). Bad fan-crew. Bad!
But we took our seats quietly in the back, behaved ourselves, and luckily we didn’t miss too much. We were able to hear Ernie talk about his amazing adventures as an author, screenwriter, and all around Alpha Geek (and I mean that in the best of ways of course). Impressive, and highly entertaining. I’ll try not to fan-girl out too much here but, I kept thinking as I was listening to Ernie speak, how unfair it was that one person could get so much writing talent, innate humor, be so personable, and also have ability to enthrall a crowd like E.C. has. He’s very, very funny, super talented. And cool! If you didn’t come down to the book signing you can still catch him tomorrow at the Tattered Cover in downtown Denver (Colfax). Come early and get a good seat, there are two book signings on schedule. Don’t go to the wrong one, you’ll be SORRY.
So I kept asking myself, while in line to get my book autographed, “Will I say that I’ve made this fan site while I”m getting my book signed, or will I just go along like life is all la-de-da?” Now, I’m a pretty shy person in real non-blog life, so even though I told myself I might mention this site, I got up there and didn’t. I was just like – ” Uh Yeah. Hi. I’m Tammy, um that’s Tammy with a “y”….
I was probably mumbling something inane to my friend Chris, who is my newest recruit over to RP1 Fandom btw, when Ernie stops writing and asks if I’m, by chance, the person who does the Castle Anorak site. {inside, OMFG} [outwardly] “Yes I AM!”. He came around and gave me a big hug which had me a bit over the top. Said he loved my site (woot, ftw) And then I’m sure I ran on and on about this and that and whatever else rambled out of my mouth. Pretty much, it was a very exciting night to get to meet one of my favorite authors.
But. That’s not all. Oh no. For this tour, Ernest brought the DeLorean. I’d joke and say it was my DeLorean, but so far I’m still stuck in faulty wiring and flashers. ::sigh::
A group of us waited after the signing was done and followed him to a parking lot behind the bookstore, and got to fiddle around with the DeLorean! Ernie was SO cool – he opened the doors, turned on the Huey Lewis, the car was fluxing and everyihng! There was a Rubik’s cube in the car and a hover board, right! It was like my childhood condensed like Campbell’s chicken noodle and landed in a stainless steel package right there in the parking lot. We were all geeking out pretty much beside ourselves with the zOMG of it all. Ah, the ability to bond over such wonderful things like 80s music, movies, gripping literature, and fine, fine people.
Great night. One I won’t soon forget. Be sure to catch Ernest Cline at a bookstore near you this June. You will not regret the experience. Good news! Sounds like he’s working on a new novel (can’t wait!) and we get the cinematic version of RP1 sometime in the next four decades (jk, Hollywood, jk).
Please enjoy these photos. Unfortunately, while I remembered to bring my book, my signing tickets, my glasses (in case the wildfire smoke got too intense for the ride home), a pen (in case his ran out of ink before he got to my book) and a pair of socks from the bowling team building outing our office had the night before; what I did not have was my good camera with the flash and the mega pixels to handle good nighttime shots. So these are the best effort that my smartphone could put forth (lots to be desired in the way of lighting, but better than nothing for sure!). It was great to meet every one who came out. So many nice people.
{group hug}
Thanks again Ernest C, looking forward to the next book, signing tour, film, and what ever else you bring to Colorado.
