“My neighbor wrote a zombie book,” she told him. “It’s called Zombie Apocalypse something.” She smokes a ton of weed. Cut her some slack.
“Is his name Ian,” he asked. She told him it is. For her, this was an open and shut case. A guy named Ian who wrote a zombie book couldn’t possibly be anyone but me. I know that it could be dozens, or even hundreds, of Ians or even Iains. It’s a popular name amongst zombie authors.
He explained that when he was serving in Afghanistan, he and his fellow soldiers enjoyed passing the time reading zombie books and that Zombie Apocalypse Something by Ian was one of his favorites. I doubted very highly that it was my book he’d read, but decided to go by and give him a copy anyway. It was the least I could do for a veteran who enjoys zombie literature. “William, Thank you for your service- Ian McClellan,” I wrote inside the cover and drove over to Eyeglass World in the clothes I’d worn to Comic Con the day before.
Well, when I got there and explained who I was, he was ecstatic. He had read my book and loved it. I didn’t know this, but the U.S.O. sends a lot of books to our troops. I haven’t sold many physical books, so I’d guess that someone donated one they won in a giveaway. He took the copy I’d brought and told me the one he’d read hadn’t looked as good. “Traveling six thousand miles and sitting in sand for a few weeks will get you a little rough. Believe me, I know.”
So I guess I met a fan today. Kind of weird. It almost makes me feel like an author. The fact that that fan had discovered me while serving this country overseas is monumental to me. In my opinion, he is a hero and has no cause to admire a truck driver who writes stories about dead people coming back to life.
By the way, something most of you probably don’t know about me- I did enlist in the Marine Corp and passed most of the tests until the visual. I have special eyes like that guy in that commercial, and they kept me from serving my country. Although I wasn’t born here I am very Americanized and staunchly patriotic. While I have come to disagree strongly with our foreign policy and the situations in which we choose to involve ourselves, I would NEVER hold that against the brave men and women of the United States Armed Forces. I have nothing but love and respect for them.