Meeting the Man Behind Discworld

On Sunday, I awoke early, made a fresh pot of coffee (Sumatra), opened the blinds to let in the morning light, sat on the couch and eagerly read Thud!, the latest Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett. I had been anticipating his book since June and had initially intended to order the British version online, but once I learned that he would be speaking and signing books in Capitola on Sunday, my plans changed and I bought the American version at the bookstore. My goal was to finish the book before he signed it.

The event took place Sunday afternoon, at the Capitola Book Cafe, an independent bookstore on 41st Avenue. Some of its memorable features include a metal elephant head on the wall, a skylight above the cafe area and a small stage and podium built specifically for speaking engagements.

We arrived an hour early and found decent seats to the left of the podium, behind a book table and display. Well, they were decent seats until a man decided to stand in front of M and lean on the book display, blocking her view with a strategically placed elbow.

Mr. Pratchett arrived ten minutes beforehand and by himself. He spoke and answered questions for nearly forty-five minutes, talking about himself, his writing method, his inspiration for Thud! and Where's My Cow? (its companion book), and his future projects. Through it all, he was entertaining and engaging.

Afterwards, I stood in line to get my book signed. Not surprisingly, Mr. Elbow elbowed his way ahead of me with six books tucked under his arm. When he reached the front of the line, Mr. Pratchett personalized the first two books, pausing before the second one to verify the spelling of the name on the sticky note. "Baladhir?" he asked the man, "What an unusual name. Where are you from? Middle Earth?" "No, no," the man replied, oblivious to the joke, "Turkey."

Finally, when it was my turn, I slid my book in front of Mr. Pratchett and fell into mute and dumb mode (or my default mode, some would say). That is when he asked if I knew anything about Pocket PCs. He was seeking a good keyboard for his unit. For the next minute or so, he threw me for such a loop that I completely forgot to look at M, who was standing off to the side, waiting to take a posed photo of us. In a weird way, I'm happy that I wound up with pictures of me in various states of confusion and not one of the oh-so-typical smile-for-the-camera shots.

If you're a Terry Pratchett fan or would like to meet the man behind Discworld, he will be in the San Francisco Bay Area through Thursday. Here's a quick list of his local appearances clipped from his posted itinerary:

Tuesday, September 20, 7:30 P.M.
Books Inc., 301 Castro Street, Mountain View, CA 94041

Wednesday, September 21, 2005 07:30 P.M.
Cody's Books, 2454 Telegraph Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94704

Thursday, September 22, 2005 07:00 P.M.
The Booksmith, 1644 Haight Street, San Francisco, CA 94117