Tales of horror: coming face-to-face with authors

Westlake seems like the worst in the thread.

i can't think of many authors i've met -- we have a big local book festival here so i've gone to listen to quite a few authors read, but haven't really had any profound interactions with anyone. i did get to chat with rick perlstein for a few minutes as he signed my copy of nixonland, which was pretty cool. i also met george saunders very briefly after he did a reading here. very nice guy. so, no horror stories!

Embarrassing story: Umberto Eco was doing a signing at The Strand here in NYC. After he signed my book, I smiled and said "Grazzi", one of the three Italian words I know. At that, he uttered about five sentences to me in Italian. I just smiled and walked away, looking and feeling like a complete moron.

underrated