Have you ever looked forward to meeting an author of a book you really like, only to find out they're nothing you expected? For John Kessel it was Issac Asimov, who astonished John with his thick Brooklyn accent. For me it was Caitlin Kiernan at World Horror Con, where I discovered she was not really a she. But finding out she was a transsexual didn't make me like her work less; it actually made me like it more. Still, it was a bit of a surprise. Those moments where someone completely upsets your expectation of them are unnerving. Your whole worldview has been turned upside down.

Meeting Jonathan Carroll last night was nothing like that. He met all my expectations and surpassed them. He was charming and funny, and had the confidence of someone who is good looking and knows it. He read "Simon's House of Lipstick" (which is in the new issue 39 of Conjunctions, and which will be the first chapter of his next book: the sequel to White Apples, and the second book in the Ettrich family trilogy) in a deep voice tinged with a light New York accent, that depite his living in Vienna for thirty years has not gone away. He wore black slacks, a black t-shirt, and a black sportcoat. He used the f-word several times in his story, putting emphasis on it every time it came up, making sure everyone in the store could hear it from the PA system, and no one seemed to mind. After the reading, he answered a bunch of questions to which I already knew the answers, then signed for the thirty or so people that showed up. He's got a "... for so-and-so" signature; in my copy of Outside the Dog Museum, he wrote, "A museum for Jason," and in White Apples, he wrote "Apples for Jason." His penmanship is excellent. I thanked him profusely for coming, and he thanked me for the review of his book. He had a strong handshake.

Tonight is my friend Taylor Roberts's CD release party at Five Points in Raleigh. My other musician friend Kyler is coming down from New York especially to play with Taylor, with whom she has duetted many times in the past, though I expect they'll have sets of their own. It should be a really good show. Kyler's also performing at the North Carolina Songwriters Finals on Saturday night in Carrboro, and I may go to that too.