You Meet Some Interesting People in Bookshops....

I had a book signing in Waterstones, Coleraine on Saturday 2nd November. The weather was atrocious - in Northern Ireland we call that kind of rain 'a deluge'...it just comes down in sheets and doesn't stop for ages; great fat drops of water thundering out of the sky and soaking everyone in seconds. It was okay though - I was happy inside a nice warm shop, surrounded by books, drinking coffee and signing books while I watched the lads from Uproar Comics sign their copies of Zombies Hi and draw zombie portraits of the customers. It was excellent.

One of the most common questions I get asked at book signings is 'What are your books about?' And the man who stopped by my table around 3pm didn't disappoint. He lifted one of my books, flicked through it and asked 'So, what's this about?"  I launched into my description about Emily, demons, angels, teenage angst and paranormal romance. The man nodded, put the book down and lifted another. "So, are you famous?" he asked. "Um...no, sorry," I told him. He nodded again, put the book down, lifted the third in the series, flicked through it and said "So, have you written any books about witches?"

Now at this point my mouth dropped open - the new series that I'm writing is indeed about witches but no-one, and I mean NO-ONE knows about it. "Um..." I managed to splutter. The man seemed unconcerned about my lack of brain-to-mouth coordination, he set the book down and said, "Hold on a minute." Off he went and I got distracted by someone else wanting some signed books, got lost in chatting about the new books that's coming out soon, giggled at the antics of the Uproar Comics clan as they clowned about biting each other on the neck for photos and then the man came back and showed me a photo on his phone - it was of the cover of a book about a history of witches. "I don't really like witches," he told me, "But I thought you might find that book interesting."

I think I managed to thank him and he nodded, said it had been nice chatting to me and he'd be sure to come back and buy some of my books and then he disappeared out into the rain. 

As chance encounters go it was right up there on my 'well-that-was-weird' scale but I've taken it as a sign that I should keep going with this series (I was wavering a little) so thank you mystery man!