I’d just liek to know if anyone met one of the greats,
My mom and brother met Ray Bradbury, at a book signing in
Austin, TX.
I have a book,
yeah I know big deal,
but I was wondering
aaack!
I’d LIKE to know,
and I apologize for the punctuation, especially all the commas. I’ve been up since monday morning, and am too dam’
lazy to do it right.
“preview is my friend”
apologies to everyone else that has ever said it,but it sure is appropriate.
Great sci-fi legends… uh, no… but I met Alan Ginsburgh and Stephen King! Maybe you could count King, as he sometimes gets a little sci-fy-y (??)…
Ditto for Ray Bradbury. Our middle school class went to a small breakfast (100 people?) with him as the keynote. We also got a chance to go up to him and talk to him. He was warm, personable, friendly–all in all a great guy (and not just because he signed my 1st edition copy of The Illustrated Man)
I worked with a lady from Maine at a 7-11 when I was kid.
She had worked at a pizza place in the town he(Steven King) lived in, she said he used to come in and be extra special evil to the video games.
I cant say as I’d call him sci fi,maaaayybe the Gunslinger stuff. But it’d be a close call.
I am ashamed to admit I don’t know what Ginsberg wrote.
damn damn damn
I can’t spell
I apologize,
Well, I don’t know if he counts as a “sci-fi great” or not, but this is the best I can come up with. Several years ago at a science fiction convention, Kelly Freas and his wife had locked themselves out of the room where their paintings were on display. I was only ten at the time, and so they asked me if I would go outside, climb through the window, and unlock the door for them. I was just getting ready to do it, then someone came along with a key. Somewhere around here I do have an autographed drawing of Alfred E. Neuman from the encounter.
I work for the Creature from the Black Lagoon, does that count?
I met Isaac Asimov once, hear him speak twice. I’ve also heard Joe Haldeman speak (and spoken with him – I think I’m the only one in that audience who’d actually read any of his books). I met Alexei Panshin at a WorldCon ad bught one of his books from him. I’ve spoken to L. Sprague deCamp for an extended period, an goten autographs frm Fredrick Pohl and Hal Clement and Harlan Ellison. I’ve ben to quite a fw lectures by other “greats” (Joan Vinge, James Hogan, Theodore Sturgeon, Roger Zelazny, etc.) There’s nothing ununsual in the latter part – you just have to go to a lot of SF conventions.
Orson Scott Card overheard me reading one of m stories to another amateur writer (we were getting together as a writer’s group), and he took my story and critiqued it, markinh it up in red pen.
I met Harlan Ellison.
Ray Bradbury lives near me, but since this is L.A. I haven’t asked him over for tea.
CalMeacham -
You got anything you’ll let me read?
Right now,barring someone communing with R.A.H.
you are my hero,
Orson Scott Card is one of my favorites.
Ever read any Spider Robinson?
Zelazny, Sturgeon, Ellison, Pohl, I’ve read some of each,
can’t recall any specific titles,but I’m bad about that even when NOT sleep deprived,
Asimov is one of the greats as well!
I have yet to see a sci fi convention here in Austin,
although I dont pay all that much attention to the locals unless the place is on fire.
poohpah chalupa-
I used to work for that bastard…or someone very similar.
or mabe it was Mothra,never was quite clear on that…
an ever metamorphasizing personality that one was.
Hal Clement (real name: Harry C. Stubbs) was my high-school astronomy teacher back in the mid-seventies. He also taught chemistry, but I never took it. I got some autographs (most notably Harlan Ellison and David Gerrold, as well as some Star Trek actors) at the one convention I ever attended, but I don’t really count that.
I’ve never communed with him, but I have a tale to tell of my R.A.H. pilgramige…
It turns out that a friend of mine’s grandparents lived across the street from the Heinlein’s in Bonny Doon, CA for a while.
These nice folks had the Heinleins over for dinner on several occasions, and vice versa… they said his house was quite unique… it was round, and was very nautical themed.
I have in my closet at home a sliver of wood, from a fence that was hand made by the master… I think. I held in my hands a time life book that came for the R.A.H. household that had markings inside… looked like notes for Mistress… where places would be… little things like that.
My best friend got some artwork that used to hang in their house. Nice stuff… kind of art deco, vaugely naked woman themed…
Man, I wish I had been born earlier…
I met Pohl at last years Baycon.
I talked a while with C.J.Cherryh at another convention, after an excellent panel on language.
I talked with Terry Pratchett at one of his book signings.
What would he do? Kidnap their children? Tie them to the railroad tracks? Condemn their sales to an eternity of hellfire???
Um, of course that was supposed to be souls.
(sigh)
Kinda took the kick out of sounding diabolical, eh? :rolleyes:
Alan Ginsberg was a poet… he wrote Howl, Plutonia Ode, Sunflower Sutra…
Not sci-fi, though… I just threw that in to name-drop a bit! Not too effective if no-one recognizes the name that has been dropped… 
I met Spider Robinson at a book signing at a small bookstore in East Lansing Michigan. I asked him to sign two of my well worn paperbacks, one beside my favorite short story of all time, his “True Minds” He wrote that nobody had ever told him they liked that particular story.
I wrote to him some time later, to ask if I had correctly guessed the identity of a TV newsman one of his characters was said to resemble. He wrote back a personal reply saying I was correct, and the first one to do so. He seemed like a really nice guy.
Hardly in the same league as R.A.H., but I met Tim Powers at a signing. We were standing around waiting for him to show up at the booth for a signing, and he was standing next to us talking to Harry Turtledove. Wound up talking to him for about 15 minutes.
I was surprised (after reading last call and anubis gates) to find that he was married.
I had lunch with Robert Sheckley and his wife at a con my SO was appearing at. Michael Moorcock was supposed to be the Guest of Honour but he cancelled at the con due to ill health :(. Peter Jackson was also supposed to appear but sent his make up artists instead.
I could namedrop NZ writers endlessly but probably they would mean nothing to anybody. 