I don’t attend many book readings. In fact, tonight’s was only the second I’ve ever attended. Both I went to because the authors were friends of mine.
The first was in Portland, Oregon’s Powell’s Bookstore when I went to see Chuck Palahniuk read Fight Club when it was only a short story published in a collection called Pursuit Of Happiness. The notable moment here was that I jokingly ran up to Chuck like Bugs Bunny does in "Long-Haired Hare" screaming, "Oh, Mr. Palahniuk, Mr. Palahniuk. You’re my writer dream boat. Can I have your autograph?" He embarrassingly signed my copy saying no one had ever asked for his autograph before. So I have, according to Chuck at the time, his first autograph. We were friends while I was living in Portland for a while but then I moved to Denver and lost contact with him. He was a sweet and funny man (and am still not used to him with hair).
And speaking of sweet and funny men, I went to see William Haywood Henderson read from his new book, Augusta Locke, tonight at the Tattered Cover Bookstore. Bill has become a friend of mine through Walt, and it was great to see him get in front of people and hold himself together to promote his book. He’s a shy, quiet man who writes stories set in the wide open spaces of Colorado and Wyoming. I’m looking forward to reading Augusta. The evening was enjoyable and I even started the question round.
"Bill, as a virgin to your works who has as recently as tonight been deflowered, how would you describe your own work to introduce it to someone new?"
It got a laugh, but I really did want to hear about his work described on the surface before people started asking their symbolism and ‘how did you get into the characters’ heads’ questions. Bill described his writing style as dense and used the term ‘landscape writing’, which I now understand from his readings. There were a lot of good questions which helped bring understanding to the mind of Henderson. I did get another question in about humor in his books which came from my own need to hear how others create comedy. Bill’s funny, so don’t believe what he tells you he’s not; however, he did say that humorous scenes in his books end up being cut out because he doesn’t feel they come out sounding funny. I think a little self-confidence boost is in order here.
Thanks for the lovely reading, Bill, and I really love the note you put in my copy. It was sweet and thoughtful. Congratulations on getting published yet again.
Listening to: Just Like A Movie Star - The 6ths with Dominique A
