When I got back from vacation, I had one day to catch my breath before I headed down to Borders in Hollywood for stop #2 on Geek Tour 2K4. I was nervous and hell, since I didn’t know if anyone would show up . . . but they filled every seat! I saw several familiar faces there, including some soapboxers, people I’d worked with on Star Trek and Teen Titans, and this guy who I grew up with in Sunland. We were the best of friends, and lost contact (like so many kids do) when he moved away right before my family moved away. Even though I hadn’t seen him in over 20 years, I thought about him all the time, and wondered what happened to him. See, we used to spend hours sitting on his porch, making up video games together. We’d both write them, he’d draw them, and we had grand dreams of developing for ColecoVision . . . I truly believed that he was going to do something great with himself someday.
I nearly fainted when he came up to me, and asked me if I remembered him. Of course, we’ve both aged over the years, and I was drawing a blank when this tall dude said, “Wil, don’t you remember me?” (Yeah, because nobody ever says that to me. 😉 But as soon as he said his name, I could see the 11 year old kid I remembered — his eyes haven’t changed a bit. So the coolest thing? He’s a writer now, and has just had his first book published by Tokyopop! The book is called “@Large,” and it’s the first time I’ve ever seen Manga and Hip-Hop culture fused together. I think it’s really cool. See, I got to read it, because we traded books. How cool is that? Talk about closing a circle that started in 1984!
The reading went well, despite my nerves. I’m still figuring out what material I should perform at these events, and I tried out something new this time. I ended up reading part of Chapter 1, and part of Chapter 9, and I felt like I never lost the audience. Julie and Peggy from Borders told me that it was a hugely successful event, and Borders is going to have me appear at some other stores as part of The Geek Tour. I feel like Borders is supporting me (they even have my book in the New Releases section, right in the front of the store!) and I can’t wait to do more events with them.
Finally, TrekWeb’s review of Just A Geek is up today, and it’s just . . . awesome. I’m truly at a loss for words to describe how happy I am about it.