So I just got back from getting A Feast For Crows and my Game of Thrones RPG signed. George was looking very good despite all his traveling.
The Border's in Ann Arbor was packed. In fact, George seemed a bit overwhelmed by the number of people who were there. I personally was unable to find anyone of the Brotherhood or even people I'd planned to meet who aren't members of the Brotherhood. Sorry to miss you guys!
George began by talking about how pleased he was to see so many people there. He told a story about a signing he gave in St. Louis for A Game of Thrones. Evidently he'd been sent to St. Louis to sign during Archon. Which was ironic, because that's a con he's visited many times and enjoys quite a bit. But it's actually about 30 miles outside of St. Louis in Illinois (and coincidentally, the first Con I met George at, as well as got my introduction to the BwB care of Trebla, Terra, Hauberk, and Gareth).
So he was set up to sign books in downtown St. Louis on Saturday night. Come to find out, however, the Guest of Honor at Archon that year was an author "you might have all heard of, Ray Bradbury. And Bradbury had brought along a friend of his some of you also might have heard of, Harry Harrison. Both of whom were signing books Saturday night."
So there's George, at this very liberal, feminist bookstore in downtown St. Louis on the one night of the year that the science fiction and fantasy community are all in Illinois 30 miles away. He walks into the store and is taken to the section where he's supposed to be doing his reading. It's a cafe, of course, and there are four people sitting in the cafe, drinking their cappuchinos. They waited for a while to see if anyone else would show up, and George decided he's not too concerned; he know's it's Archon that weekend and he's read to four people before. No problem. So the store manager gets up to the podium and does a nice little introduction. At this point all four people in the cafe stand up with their cappuchinos and take them to drink on the sidewalk outside.
That's how George ended up giving a signing to -4 people at a bookstore.
It was a great story and everybody really enjoyed it. George then talked about visiting Ann Arbor in his college days and he told the story of the five year skip of A Feast for Crows. Nothing new there.
Because there were so many people, he then opened the floor for a few questions. The first one was about the movie possibilities, disappointingly. No new info there. Then the question about his favorite character: Tyrion. His most difficult to write character he explained at the same time: Bran. Someone asked about magic, and he told the Anchovies on the Pizza story per the other thread in this forum.
Someone did ask about Dunk and Egg before I got a chance too. He said the next short story is about half done. Another question about favorite characters from a personality, non-writer perspective. He said he loved them all.
Then there was pretty much the signing. I got in pretty quickly and while Geroge was signing I asked if he had a publisher for the next Dunk and Egg story. George said he doesn't yet, as the story isn't finished yet and he's still looking around for the best presentation and some contractual agreements and the like. There were so many people in the bookstore, and he had promised to sign for everybody, that I didn't ask anymore questions. Introduced him to someone I was with and he was very gracious, and then I wished him a good night, shook his hand, and that was about it.