Jim Butcher: IRL

This past Monday, I attended my first ever book signing for none other than Jim Butcher, author of the Dresden Files series. Butcher is on a signing tour to promote his newest book in the Dresden series, Ghost Story. [I’m actually only on book 6, so no spoilers please!] Joining me in this adventure were two other members of the NEC gaming crew, Sitara and Marius. The three of us suffered through our workdays in anticipation of the nerd fest that awaited us. 

Beginning of the line

Around 5 PM, Barnes and Noble employees started handing out wristbands which noted a specific signing group. As Sitara said “We’re number two! We’re number two!” After our brief wait to get through the line, we decided a beer and some food were in order, and walked 10 feet away to the Gordon Biersch for some much needed fuel.

Dedication!

At 6:30 we headed to the second floor of B&N to mill about (in the SciFi/Fantasy section, which was TOTALLY unplanned) and wait for Jim to appear. The event consisted of an hour long Q&A session (Did you know Jim Butcher recently bought a LARP farm??) and a very well organized book signing. Butcher was very pleasant, down to earth, and definitely appreciative of his fans.

Storm Front Graphic Novel + Dresden-ettes + NEC Security

Through some strategic iPhone placement, I was able to capture the whole Q&A section. I've posted part one of the entire video and the other 4 parts are available to watch here on my YouTube Channel.

Jim Butcher 1 from Alexis B. on Vimeo.
Jim Butcher Q&A @ B&N Tysons Corner, Pt. 1

I had Jim sign the first volume of the Storm Front graphic novel, since Chris had already purchased a copy of Ghost Story on a business trip. Since the signing was pretty packed we kind of had to photo-bomb the pictures with Jim, but between the 3 of us, I think we made out pretty well.

Cheese!

 Afterwards, we did a little happy nerd dance over to the B&N café for a drink and to geek out over our signed pieces of Dresden history. As a side note, I'd like to give a kudos to the Barnes and Noble staff at Tyson's Corner. They were pleasant, well organized, and from a participants point of view, the event went off without a hitch.

You can purchase your own copy of Ghost Story here and here.

Also, head over to The Belly Dancing Gamer to check out Sitara’s photos and write up of the event.

Question: Have you ever been to a book signing? What was your favourite?

Jim Butcher: IRL