Stephen King

True first edition of Revival signed in blue pen. Back on September 15th I got an email from StephenKing.com - Stephen was going to be stopping at Books-A-Million in South Portland as part of his book tour promoting the release of Revival! I decided to try and get a ticket.

On veteran's day, my girlfriend and I got up at 1:30 AM and drove to South Portland to stand in line. by the time we got there around 2:30, there were already nearly a hundred people waiting. The first person in line had gotten there at 10:00 the previous morning! While my girlfriend slept in the car, I staked us out a spot. Waiting in line was an experience. I was sitting next to several extremely sketchy people who were being paid to get tickets to be resold (I checked online later, it looks like they were going for around $300). When I got there, they were smoking and talking about the reasons they were losing their teeth. One thought it was because he was doing hard drugs. Another said it was "'cause someone knocked them out in a fight." An hour later, they were taking about their experiences with Venezuelan strippers. By 4:30 I was freezing (it was about 20 degrees out), and they were discussing theology and Martin Luther. An hour after that I ran across the street to McDonald's to use the restroom and find something warm to drink.

My girlfriend joined me around 6:00, and we chatted until the store opened. By that time, the line stretched around the store and across the parking lot. We were quite lucky - we managed to get tickets. There were only 400 guaranteed tickets available and nearly a thousand people in line!

Jump forward a week - the day of the signing. It was cold and wet. Luckily, we didn't have to wait outside for long. We got in line for the signing at about 3:15, and our group was called inside at about 3:30 (15 minutes ahead of schedule). The actual signing was fast - 15 minutes later we were out of the store. When I got up to the table, Mr. King smiled and cracked a joke:

"For a bunch of people who've been scared to death, this is a pretty lively group. It's kind of like 'The Walking Dead.'"

And that was it. It may have been fast, but it was a thrill. I started reading Mr. King's books just a few years ago, but he quickly became one of my favorite authors. Today was an experience I will remember for a long time.