Coolest. Thing. Ever!!

(That's right, it's a non-racing blog. Don't worry, I'm gearing up for my multi-part epic later this month.)

Right after work this afternoon I drove to the large bookstore down the street. I had to buy a copy of Brad Meltzer's latest thriller, The Book of Lies, and get down to Highlands Ranch to another bookstore where he was doing a signing. I'm a big fan of Brad Meltzer. A few years ago he wrote an incredible seven-part miniseries for DC Comics entitled Identity Crisis which absolutely turned the industry upside-down. Even before the series was finished, I was hooked. Heck, after the first issue, I bought one of his novels in an airport bookstore to have something to read on the flight. I remember looking at them all, thinking they all sounded fantastic, and finally settling on The First Counsel because the opening paragraph was so arresting. Check it out and see what I mean. Within months I had bought all of his books, and now I grab the new ones as soon as they hit the shelves (in fact, last year I bought the last one when it came out, and finished reading it before my best friend had a chance to tell me that he'd bought it for me, for Christmas).

Before leaving this morning, I had also grabbed my copies of all 6 of Brad's other novels, as well as all seven parts of that comic miniseries masterpiece, Identity Crisis. I figured at the signing, if he was feeling generous, maybe I could get his autograph on some of those, as well. (This is nothing new for me: when Dragons of Summer Flame was published in 1996, I brought no less than 12 books with me to the authors' appearance at the Tattered Cover Cherry Creek.)

As I was getting in my car following my purchase, I glanced out the window and who should I see in the parking lot but Brad Meltzer himelf! I stopped the car, did a double take, rolled down my window, and called "Excuse me...are you Brad Meltzer?"

"I am," he replied.

"Holy crap!" I said. I held aloft my recent purchase. "I literally just bought this book and am on my way to your signing!"

"Oh," he said. Then, a beat later, he offered, "Would you like me to sign it now?"

I think my head exploded just a little bit at that moment. "Sure!" I stopped the car, and as he came over to shake my hand, I introduced myself. He signed The Book of Lies for me: "For Doug--this has never happened before! Really." He handed it back, and I thanked him, and then asked if he would mind signing my Identity Crisis issues. He was more than happy to, so I pulled them out of my backpack and removed them, one at a time, from their plastic bags (yes, I keep my comics in bags. None of you are surprised). While he was doing this, we chatted for a bit. He commented that my comics were all first editions ("Yeah, I don't have the patience to wait for reprints"). I told him I was glad he was signing the comics; when he was in town last year I'd seen a notice asking people to only bring books because otherwise it might take all night ("What? Who said that?" he demanded). He invited me to come down to the other bookstore for the signing anyway. I assured him that I would, pleased now that I, at least, wouldn't have to stand in line afterwards.

(By the way, it took me some time to find a copy in that first bookstore. They seemed unaccountably to have disappeared, which was odd since there'd been a huge pile of them yesterday. I deduced later that the reason I couldn't find any copies of The Book of Lies, and the reason Brad Meltzer happened to be at that exact same bookstore at that exact same time, was that he was in the store signing them so they could stick an "Autographed Copy" sticker on the cover.)

As we parted company and I got back into my car, the most flattering part of the encounter happened. As I pulled out, I heard him calling my name again. "Doug! The Doug!" I stopped. He pointed at my car--specifically at my personalized license plate. "The Doug! Is that in your email?"

"Yes," I said. "It's in my signature."

"I've gotten an email from you!" I was more than impressed (and, again, flattered). Sure, it's a distinctive nickname, that's why I use it; but here's a big-time, New York Times Bestselling author with millions of fans and god knows how many email correspondents, and I think I sent him one tiny email once, and he remembers. That's awesome. Tell me that's not awesome!

I went to the signing. I listened to Brad read from the new book, and talk about comics, and his campaign to save the House Where Superman Was Born, and his newest TV show pitch. I watched the crowd (several with armloads of comics--Identity Crisis, Justice League of America, Green Arrow) line up. I jumped in quickly to shake his hand one last time and thank him for his kindness and autographs and say good-bye. I even spent some time chatting up the cute blonde who was his media escort. All in all, it was an awesome evening.

But nothing can top the afternoon's random, lightning-strike meeting in the bookstore parking lot.