Desert Bookburning
I don’t usually post reader mail, but this one from last night was too good not to share:
Peter:
I don’t write fan mail, but after some of my students and I found that we share a common love of Patrick Rothfuss, I’ve been seeing authors as actual people; not drones who exist to satisfy my need for excellent fiction or rock stars who would never deign to notice me. I went back and forth with Rothfuss, trying to get him to come to my school, which didn’t work out, a near miss. That’s not why I’m writing you, however; I’m writing to tell you how your book saved the day.
After reading and loving The Warded Man, I couldn’t pick up The Desert Spear for some time. The betrayal of such a great character left me with no desire to read about the man who committed such a heinous act. I gave in, finally, and was drawn in immediately by the things that make your books great: well drawn, complicated characters, great action, tremendous world building. I was so hooked, in fact, that I brought The Desert Spear when I went camping in the mountains of the Upper Peninsula in Michigan this week.
My wife, son and I hiked in to a yurt maintained by the state park for a time of enjoying each others’ company and the great outdoors. As the sun dropped low on the horizon, I struggled to build a fire after discovering that I had not included fire building materials in my pack. I tried using bark and toilet paper, but my efforts came to naught as the fire smoldered and went out. As my family looked on, I was coming to grips with the idea that my family would have no fire for the night and would be eating a cold dinner; my sons’ hero was failing before his eyes.
Then my wife said, “what about your book”? My heart stopped, my blood froze. How could I sacrifice one of my beloved books? How could I not? So I started over, using previously read pages to begin the best fire I have ever built. The flames leapt from the written page to sticks and twigs as if it understood the sacrifice. As I read on in my now mutilated book I made a promise to myself, which I now make to you. I will finish reading this copy of The Desert Spear, then I will buy a hard cover edition and both will reside in an honored place among my favorite books.
Here is a picture of the book. I wish I had one of the fire. I am so careful with my books that my wife teases me about it; they often still look new when I am done. To tear the pages from this book was tough to do. I look forward to finishing The Demon Cycle and checking out your blog and future projects.
Thank you for your work.
Mark Grosvenor
Normally I disapprove of book burning in all it’s forms, but when you have to torch a beloved book to save face in front of your family and you man up and do it, that is the mark of a goddamn hero.
P.S.
For those of you still waiting to hear the Cosplay Contest winners, I have selected them and will be posting in a few days. Been out of the office a lot, and picture-heavy posts are hard to do on the iPad.
P.S.S.
Because of a conflict with the Brent Weeks/Brandon Sanderson panel I was hoping to crash at Worldcon, I have moved my signing to 2pm on Friday Aug. 19. More on Worldcon soon.
I tried the same thing but the toxic fumes from my Kindle overwhelmed me. 😉
I guess it all comes down to context and reasons and in this case the guy actually paid twice for your book so I guess you can’t complain. Being a self-confessed bibliophile it’d pain me too putting ANY book into a fire even if I didn’t like the content. But I guess in the end it’s just a “thing” and when compared to your family it just isn’t as important. And really it’s not about the paper and ink but the words that are to be treasured! 🙂
Wow, I would have a hard time burning any of my books. If it was one of my un-signed copies it would be easy to do, but my hardbacks are all signed and about half are personalized by the author themselves. To burn one of my hardbacks would be impossible, I would rather burn my shirt than that.
Andrew, I laughed.
My family would be going w/o a fire unless it was a life-threatening situation. But, when I go camping I am “the pyro” so not having a book to burn wouldn’t stop me. We should send Mark a fire starter!
Either way, good job making camping a good experience for your son. 🙂
And to add a happy ending to it all, a signed hardcover copy of The Desert Spear is on it’s way to Mark today, compliments of Del Rey Books.
Peat, when I said we should send him a fire starter I didn’t mean another book.
Arthur, my turn to laugh. 🙂
LOL seems kinda fitting really, a book full of fire demons and wood demons.. seems like the makings of a huge bonfire right there 🙂
I’m the same way by the way, I keep my books in pristine condition, my wife Yelie however, she likes them to look a little “loved” (aka all bent up and stuff)
Awwww! A happy ending! 🙂
A most memorable camping trip. You should get that copy signed, too. Thankfully, you didn’t pack The Great Bazaar!