In Which I Get Signed

As many of you know (or at least should know by now), I am a pretty big Stephen King fan. I'm actually nearing the end of my King Quest, which is to read everything he's published back to back. I've been working on this for almost two years, but when I learned a few months back that he was putting out a new book, I was pretty stoked.

The new book, "Full Dark, No Stars", came out yesterday, and I had it all planned out. I was going to get a copy at a local bookstore with a coupon that I had for 40% off to save a few bucks. His books, while a good read for sure, don't come cheap. The Boss was going to order it for me as a late birthday present from our favorite bookstore in the town we used to live in, but with my coupon being for a chain store, she cancelled.

Now, as luck would have it, The Boss and I happened to be in the neck of the woods where our favorite bookstore is yesterday. The Boss asked if I wanted to go in, and truth be told, I didn't. It was getting late and we were supposed to meet my parents for dinner, but we did have ten minutes to kill, so I said sure. We went in, and my eyes were drawn to the New Release shelves where I knew I'd find some copies of King's new book. 

There was one copy left.

I picked it up nonchalantly, knowing that I wouldn't be buying it. I flipped a few pages, and then I saw something that caught my eye. I turned back a few pages, and confirmed what my heart had been hoping for.

His autograph.

Yes, my friends. Stephen King signed this book. 

He had been in the store earlier in the morning to pick up some books he had on order. He has a summer home the next town over, so this in itself isn't much of a surprise to me. As he has been rumored to do, he signs random copies of his books and leave them on the shelves for his readers to find. So yesterday, on the day the book was released, he signed this one copy and stuck it in the back of the stack. 

The owner of the store went on to tell me that he had received only a fraction of the copies he had ordered. He said that he only had six or seven copies to put out today, and he didn't know how many of them King had signed. It was just complete chance that I happened to walk in and pick up not only the last copy, but one that had been signed by him.

Once I started breathing again, I clutched the book to my chest. It was like winning the lottery.

Needless to say, I am beyond stoked. I'm almost afraid to read it, for fear of damaging it in some way. I think I'm going to get some gloves to wear while reading it. I'm totally serious about that, too.