Author Book Signing Diary February 17th Part Two

So, I detailed that I met a few odd ducks in my sitting at the Broadway location yesterday, and one of them stands out among the rest as the most entertaining. He was a jolly older gentleman, a retired Navy officer. Made tough as nails and standing an impressive six foot one (at least), he had a toothy smile that told me he was a genial fellow and a heavy gut that told me he was a fan of the bacchanalian life, like me.

So, he came up to my table and greeted me and asked if I was the author. I rep[lied I was, and he asked about the cover. I explained that Darkwater Syndicate had made the cover but hadn't told me who made it, but I would pass on the compliment. He told me he wasn't a fan of genre horror, and liked literary classics.

I asked if he liked Jane Austin,and he replied he didn't like women authors.

I asked about Charles Dickens, and replied that the author was too soft.

So, I tried Hemingway.

That was a hit. He loved Hemingway, so we discussed Hemingway. He was surprised that I even knew the nuances of some of Hemingway's work, let alone that the author had based his novels after his real life experience. He eventually told me of a book he was looking for, called the Left Handed Monkey Wrench. It was a collection of stories that told of naval tales, and detailed a collection story where a young Navy recruit had to find a certain nonexistent wrench.

He then began telling a bawdy tale of when he was in the service of how he bailed out an officer who was charged with a serious offense at a brothel, saving the man from the police and what would have been a rather damning experience. It was in no way politically correct, and made me shake my head as I listened as it was without a doubt misogynistic enough to make Hemingway bust out laughing.

All I could do was chuckle as, when I was a younger more foolish man of eighteen or nineteen, I would have found it funny. We then lamented over aging, as he was in his eighties and I am turning thirty three soon. He told me how I would start having aches and pains when I turn thirty-five, and that I need to take vitamins and make sure I get enough calcium and iron. In my diet.

He stressed them both, citing that as you get older it was difficult to absorb those vital nutrients for some reason. His wife came up around the time that he was telling me has to have a procedure involving a large needle to get iron.

Part of me is curious, and part of me is glad she drug him away.