Dinner with Tad Williams and Deborah Beale


Yes, there are perks associated with running Pat's Fantasy Hotlist.

I get most speculative fiction books before anyone else, even my fellow bloggers sometimes! :P I host some of the best giveaways in the business. I get to interview some of the biggest names in the industry. I get scoops for SFF-related matters all the time. I'll get myself butchered in George R. R. Martin's A Dance with Dragons. And so much more. . .

Yet the nicest thing about running the Hotlist is that I get to be in contact with most of my favorite authors. And that, more than any other perks, is what kept me going for nearly six years now.

When I recently found out that Tad Williams would be the Guest of Honor at Con*Cept Montréal this weekend, I wasted no time and emailed him and his wife Deborah to arrange a meeting while they were in town. Interestingly enough, it was my review of Shadowmarch back in 2005 which allowed me to get discovered by the Matt Bialer, who would later ask me to be the first reviewer to give a certain Patrick Rothfuss a shot, and who would later become my own agent. Tad Williams was also the second author I ever interview. With a Q&A with David B. Coe and less than 10 reviews under my belt, against all odds he accepted to do an interview with me.

Over the subsequent years, I've worked with both Tad and Deborah on interviews, giveaways, extracts, etc. But we never got the chance to meet in person. So it was with great pleasure that I finally had the opportunity to hook up with them on Saturday evening.

Good food, a bottle of Chilean wine, and a fun and interesting conversation ensued. If you ever meet them at a convention, don't be shy and have a chat with both. They're extremely friendly, down-to-earth, and funny people. And be sure to ask Tad to tell you about his first meeting with Greg Bear, as the two were about to embark on a promo tour that took them around Australia and New Zealand!

Time flew by, and if we didn't have to vacate our table at a certain time (that's the downside of showing up at a popular restaurant in Downtown MTL without a reservation on a Saturday night) we could have talked for hours.

So thanks to both Tad Williams and Deborah Beale for a very pleasant evening in their company! =) I will endeavor to return the favor and accept their open invite for whenever I show up in the Bay Area next!

4 commentaires:

Joseph L. Selby said...

*Fanboy squeal!*

Cecrow said...

Same haircut! ;)

It's comments like this that prevent me from winning any contests, isn't it? :( lol

Unknown said...

Pat's pic reminds me of the guy from CashCab..or is it just the haircut?

Anonymous said...

Who can possibly forget that GRRM has named a character after Pat? He does keep reminding us, after all. That is if the damn book is ever finished.