Patrick Rothfuss Book Signing at Forbidden Planet (Last Night)

I try to be pretty disciplined about the order that things get posted here but every so often something comes along that pretty much demands a place right at the front of the queue! Sometimes it’s a book that I’ve been waiting ages to read; sometimes it’s a book that I think people might like to hear about. Right now it’s a post all about Patrick Rothfuss’ pretty darn cool signing session at Forbidden Planet (and Q&A in the pub afterwards) last night. Was this the best book signing that I’ve been to? Quite possibly... Joe Abercrombie certainly has his work cut out if he is going to top it when he comes to town on the 5th of June ;o)

The last time I met an American fantasy author, with a huge beard, I was subjected to the full force of a GRRM scowl when I inadvertently made a comment about how long I’d been waiting for ‘Feast for Crows’. It was his fault for not phrasing his questions properly, not my fault at all! Nevertheless, I’ve got a bad record with bearded American fantasy authors and was resolved to be on my best behaviour this time round. I needn’t have worried, not only was Patrick bright eyed and bushy tailed (despite trekking across Europe) but he was also armed with a sense of humour and was fully intent on making sure that we enjoyed the signing as much as we did.
This is a guy who stopped the signing, a few books in, to tell us that he would write anything we wanted in our books but we had to tell him what we wanted first. If you know me then you’ll know that there was only question I could ask and only one answer that I’d want in my book. Here’s what Patrick wrote...



Patrick was also willing to pose for photos and insisted on full artistic control for that personal touch. I got ‘Serious Pat’ (thanks to Adam, of The Wertzone for taking the picture)...



Others got ‘Not So Serious Pat’... (Adam, I’m looking at you! I want to see that picture posted on your blog...)

After the signing finished a select band made their way to a top secret location where beer was drunk and Patrick answered questions thrown at him by an eager audience. These ranged from ‘Have you caught a pigeon yet?’ (he hasn’t but he’s still getting the urge to try) to ‘Are you a musician?’ (I thought he was, given Kvothe’s love of music, but apparently not; he loves it when people think he is a musician though...) with questions on world building and the art of writing as well. There were some really well considered questions being asked; so many, in fact, that I completely chickened out on asking mine. (‘Who would win in a fight between Kvothe and Harry Potter?’ Come on; don’t tell me you’ve never asked yourself this question!)

I had to leave just before Patrick read excerpts from ‘The Wise Man’s Fear’ but took the opportunity to grab what I think is a bit of a world exclusive. Whilst others may post pictures of the actual reading itself (and fair play to them), Graeme’s Fantasy Book Review can boast perhaps the only pictures of Patrick Rothfuss pretending to read from ‘The Wise Man’s Fear’ (and trying not to laugh at the same time)...





I had a great time, thanks to Gollancz and Forbidden Planet for putting this all on!