Going to the Barry Lyga signing for I Hunt Killers was very spur of the moment. I had gone to MG to buy a book for another signing and decided why not…
We got up to MGRB with time to kill, like always. I ended up going inside around 7 and was chatting with LeAnna [the sole reason this blog exists]. She mentioned that she was going to make an outline of a body and I offered to be the corpse. Thankfully, there was no one in the store at the time. My husband did come into the store in the middle of my “outlining”, thought I had hurt my ankle and that LeAnna was taping it up. :D
When we got to our seats, there were goodie bags on each of the seats. In evidence bags. LeAnna had also made cupcakes topped with severed fingers.
Barry started out by giving a brief synopsis of the book before reading from two different sections. When he came upon a line that was from the character and serial killer, Billy Dent, Barry spoke in the creepiest southern accent. I mean, creeeeeeepy. Like, I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to erase that voice from my head and I’ll definitely be hearing it when I’m reading Billy’s lines in the book sort of creepy.
He then opened the floor to questions, stating that they didn’t have to be about the book, we could ask about Buddhist philosophy or quantum physics. He admitted to not knowing about either topic, but assured us he was an excellent liar.
I asked my standard question… Unfortunately, I had asked after he went on a bit of a lovefest tangent about Billy Dent, so Barry’s answer to my question of his favorite character to write was pretty obvious. He did go on to elaborate that it was while it was fun to think about killing the person who cut in front of you at the coffee shop, he got to actually write it.
The questions mostly centered around serial killers and the research required for the book to be written. Barry also said that there will be at least 2 more books in the series, as well as a tv series currently in the works. Although book 2 is complete, he won’t start working on book 3 until he figures out if there will be a total of 3 or 4 books.
There was a giveaway for some pretty awesome shirts [which I didn’t win] and then there’s another giveaway for an iPod Touch that will be decided later.
When I got up to Barry for my book to be signed, he laughed that I had already faced my book with a post-it. He said that I was definitely a professional and it was clear that it wasn’t my first signing.
Barry was a fun author. He’s charming, charismatic and has a great sense of humor. I can’t wait to see if book 2 or 3 really does come published with the type of spacial paper that causes paper cuts…
Aha, you were the corpse!
I was! :D