Remembrance

I met Terry Pratchett only once, at Torcon (World Con 2002). I’d wanted to get a chance to meet him and get one of his books signed but I’d gotten held up by something or other and had thought I’d missed the opportunity.

Instead I ran into him at the Dealer’s Room and after apologizing for breaking one of the cardinal rules of con going (asking for an autograph away from the signing table) he kindly took my proffered copy of one of the Discworld novels, asked my name and signed it gracefully. We talked for only five minutes or so but his kindness and generosity was impressed upon me and I’ve never forgotten it.

After practically idolizing Leonard Nimoy as a teenager, I got the opportunity to meet him at a bookstore in San Francisco in 1995 or 1996. He was in town to promote his new book, I Am Spock. The bookstore was packed when I got there and I waited for quite a while, reading the book with a ton of other fans.

With that kind of crowd for that kind of celebrity, getting your book signed is an assembly line sort of experience. You hand your book to a bookstore worker, he makes sure it’s open to the right page and slides it down the table to the writer to sign.

So my experience was basically stepping across from Nimoy, telling him my name, asking how he was doing, and thanking him. He shook my hand, and the moment that I remember most clearly is when he said that I was welcome. It was Spock’s voice but with a warmth that Spock never had.  I waited for maybe 45 minutes to have half a minute with him but still, I’m glad I had it.

Now both are gone and though they will live on in their work, there’s a palpable absence in the world without them. I’m grateful that I had my moments with them both, however, no matter how brief.