A Short Touch of George R. R. Martin

So I drove up to Lucy and John's place, and we headed into the city. Japantown is considerably smaller than Chinatown, which isn't really surprising given that the Bay Area supposedly has the largest population of Chinese outside of China. It consists mainly of a medium-sized mall and some stores on some adjoining streets. Well, at least that's what I saw, but Lucy implied that that was most of it. It's pretty nice, though: Food, shopping, and a large Japanese bookstore in the mall. Lucy shopped for a little bit, then we went walking outside, and ended up getting Mediterranean food at a restaurant, while sitting next to a could of guys at the restaurant smoking a Hookah (sp?), which seems to basically be fruit smoke. It was rather odd. The smell was curious, but I can't say I particularly liked it. (Not as much as, say, the smell of a good pipe.) The food was tasty, though!

I must remember this area of the city for when, say, my mother or sister come to visit. Good window shopping.

On the way back we stopped at Borderlands Books, which I've mentioned here before as being an excellent used SF&F store. Well, it turned out that we swung by during the hour-long window and SF author George R. R. Martin was there signing. Lucy has apparently gone ga-ga over his "A Song of Fire and Ice" fantasy series, and just bought his latest book, A Storm of Swords, yesterday. Naturally she was disappointed that she didn't have it with her.

But behold! The Borderlands folks offer to trade her a signed-and-inscribed copy for the one she bought at Barnes & Noble, so Lucy is delighted. She also talked briefly to Martin, and afterwards said that she was star-struck at meeting him, which doesn't often happen.

Okay, I was a little star-stuck myself, and too embarrassed to talk to him. You see, I'm a Martin fan from the 80s, having enjoyed his 70s and 80s short science fiction, and two of his novels, The Armageddon Rag (a must-read for fans of late-60s and early-70s rock music) and Fevre Dream (one of that rare breed: a great vampire novel). But being not much of a fan of fantasy, especially the sword-and-sorcery variety, I've not been reading his latest stuff. Which made me feel uncomfortable. He seemed like a very nice fellow, though.

Lucy also bought John Crowley's latest, Daemonomania. I've heard good things about him from Lucy and Laurel, and might give him a try sometime. I didn't pick up anything today, although I noted a few things for possible future purchase. But my reading plate is pretty full right now.

Anyway, Lucy seemed pretty impressed with the store. It was a neat experience for her, I think!

We spent the late afternoon hanging around with John. I pumped them for more information on buying a home, and they seem pretty optimistic that I ought to be able to afford something. The market around here seems to be slowing down a bit, which means it's moving from "completely insane" to "rather nutty".

I charmed their cat, Keiko, as I always do, and cut her nails, too. We watched their lava lamps slowly come to life. And I loaned Lucy the bulk of my Alex Ross-drawn comic books, as she's now read all but a few issues of Astro City, as well as Marvels and has loved them all. I might foist The Armageddon Rag on her next.

We also talked about some sad news lately, such as the suicide of journaller Ginkgo, and the fact that a couple of friends of our are getting divorced.

Oh, and Lucy - I think to her surprise - showed me some photos of herself from her past, such as old driver's licenses or school IDs. They're pretty amusing! Although in fact they're not quite as much fun as her follicle follies.

So all-in-all it was a fine day. Nice weather, good company, good food, relaxing. Couldn't ask for anything more, really!