Last Tuesday, M and I went to the book signing for The Wise Man’s Fear at the University Bookstore. Fortuitously, we got really good seats – center in the second row. The event started at 7:00 pm, I arrived at about 5:00 pm to scope it out and save a spot for M, who was working until 6:00. Even two hours early, the chairs set up were nearly full, and by the time the event had started there were people crammed everywhere. The other nice thing about getting good seats was that the front rows got to go through the signing line first and, since my day job starts at 5:00 am (I’m a baker), I was very grateful to get my book signed earlier rather than later (and I am sure it was much later for some folks).
Patrick was a funny and engaging speaker with a very conversational tone. He was very interactive with the audience and I really admired his way of fielding the more silly, inappropriate or unanswerable questions. “That’s a really good question,” he might say, “I wish I had time to answer it. Next?” But he did it in both a humorous and gracious way.
One of the questions he did answer, which I found particularly interesting, was about keeping track of the enormity of his world – which, as I mentioned in my review of The Name of the Wind, is very complex and well realized. He said that he does have some notes, etc. but that a lot of it is in his head. I spent a bunch of time figuring out how to keep track of Idhua and lit upon making myself an encyclopedia for it, so I am very impressed that can keep all that in his head.
I have not started The Wise Man’s Fear yet, for fear (ha!) of becoming immersed in it and not getting my to-do list for this week finished. However, I am planning on picking it up this weekend. Patrick promised the next book will be out in 100 years (but probably sooner), so I have some time to finish this one. ;)
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