Have you ever…

I found this over at Live and In Person, thought about it for a bit and when memories started appearing I thought I’d do it.

Have you ever met one of your favorite authors? Gotten their autograph?
How about an author you felt only so-so about, but got their autograph anyway? Like, say, at a book-signing a friend dragged you to?
How about stumbling across a book signing or reading and being so captivated, you bought the book?

Hmmm, where to begin?..

The first question: have you ever met one of your favorite authors? The answer to that is, yes I have!!   

I first had to think of the term “favorite author”.  To me, this means an author who has written a book or series of books that you love so much you’ve read more than once. (But it does NOT mean to me that I necessarily like everything that they have ever written.

That being said I have a short list of Favorite Authors that I would dearly love to have their autograph on one of my favorite books by them.  They would consist of:  Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman (Dragonlance),  Anne McCaffrey (Pern), David Eddings (Belgarian), Stephen R Donaldson (Thomas Covenant), a new young adult author (who I think is absolutely fabulous), Cornelia Funke (Inkheart) and of course Tolkien!

So, from that list I can say I had the pleasure to meet Anne McCaffrey, who signed her “then new” book of The Dolpins of Pern. 

As at any signing you aren’t given much time to talk to the author because of the line waiting to get the autograph, but I did get an opportunity to ask her if she took her character of MasterHarper Robinton from anyone in real life.  She informed me he was much like her neighbor in Ireland! (ohhhh, how I wanted to go visit her in Ireland! hahaha)   I was thrilled to meet the woman who wrote so many books that I have, more than once, enjoyed.. and continue to enjoy to this day!

I don’t think I would bother trying to get an autograph from an author that I didn’t enjoy to the point of reading more than one of their books, or to reread ones I already had.  Therefore, I have no so-so author autographs… and.. now, you have to trust me on this one… no one has EVER had to drag me to somewhere to get an autograph!  Heh.. after all.. I try to collect them!

Although McCaffrey is the only big time favorite author autograph I have managed to meet, I have a few others ..

I was thrilled to get Alan Beans autograph.  Unfortunately, at the time I didn’t have his book  Apollo, at the time so his signature is on a photograph.

The same can be said for Henry Winkler.   Most who know the name know that he is an actor, but he also has a series of YA books. (Hank Zipzer Collection)  but I have his signature on a photograph also.

I have a book by another actor, Harry Carey Jr (Company of Heroes) in which he describes how it was to work for John Ford at the height of making his John Wayne westerns.  (I have an old short post about when I met Harry Carey Jr that you can find here.)

And  I have a nearly impossible book to get by Tippi Hedren (The Cats of Shambala) who’s signature I have.. but once again, not on the book.

So those are my author signatures… I sure hope one day to get a few more of those on that absolute favorite list!