Had to go into Aberdeen this evening to catch up with some old acquaintances, not least of which was Alex from work (who was kind enough to inflict fajitas upon me – and very nice they were too). He was going to be a little late, so I went for a walk to see if the local Waterstones were flogging Cold Granite to an unsuspecting public. You know: killing time. Nothing in the window, but there was a display stand just as you go in through the door (cue frisson of excitement in the bearded write-ist) along with a sign saying 'Waterstones Scottish Book Of The Month!'. And another display-style area at the front of the crime section. And yet more books under 'M'. All of which were face out, hurrah!
Now I've had this little evil desire for a while (no not that one) to walk into a bookshop, pick one of my books off the shelf and sign it. In secret. And if anyone comes up and shouts, "What the HELL do you think you’re doing?" I can point at the hairy-potato-style author photo and go, "Ta-daaaaaa!" Complete with jazz hands (ask Bryon, he knows what I'm talking about). So I did: took that sucker right off the shelf, signed it, drew a flamethrower-wielding teddy bear and inscribed the page with '*signed in secret, while nobody was looking…' Then hung about for a bit while the ink dried. And stuck it back on the shelf. Then I did a hunt for anyone else's books I knew, so I could turn them all face out too – any sales of 'Touch Of Ghosts' in Aberdeen are my doing Rickards – and then wandered out. All the time hoping someone was going to accost me for defacing a book, but they never did.
But it was still fun. Think I'm going to make a habit of it ;}#