Jim Butcher Signing

Do you like The Dresden Files? I've recently gotten a bit hooked between the tv show and finally getting to read a couple of the books. The newest came out a week ago. I've been steadily making progress through it, which is good since I read more than one book at a time now. I'm surprised that's been working out, but that's besides the point.

I found out recently that Jim Butcher, the writer/creator of The Dresden Files would be signing in St. Louis to promote White Night. In a string of odd luck, I found myself able to go. So, this afternoon, I piled into a car with a couple of friends and we were off.

Along the way, we encountered many strange things, which I won't recount here. Long story short, we had all the makings of a typical road trip, with the exception of the manditory sequence of getting lost. That happened on the way back.

As the clock struck 7PM, we found ourselves listening to Jim Butcher personally answering questions from the crowd. He's quite an interesting speaker, mixing together the right amounts of humor, raw information, and entertaining anecdotes.

When it came time for the signing itself, a bookseller took down what we wanted written in our books. With most people, myself included, our names were the order of the day. I spelled mine out to make sure it was right. Misspelling names of those directly infront of you is a minor pet peeve of mine, as well as Jim Butcher. He always made a point to clarify someone's name if it wasn't written down in front of him.

The thing that made me smile the most about the actual signing was that, when he wrote in my books, Jim began with "For Len!" When I just write my first name down on something, I usually put my first name in all caps followed by an exclamation point. It was a fun coincidence, nothing more.