This morning Lena and I attended an early reading by Joe Pulver and Laird Barron, two of my favorite writers. Joe had hinted yesterday that he had a “surprise” planned, so Scott Nicolay and I definitely couldn’t miss it.

After Joe read his story, a “Mountains of Madness” tribute bound for an upcoming S.T. Joshi anthology, he revealed the surprise. He and Laird had arranged in advance to leave a gap of time so Scott and I could both read briefly in between them. Joe handed me his copy of The Grimscribe’s Puppets, and I went first.

After a brief, fumbling intro (I figured this was necessary because most of the audience had no idea who I am), I read about the first third of “Diamond Dust.” It seemed to go very well, and people applauded, and many said nice things afterward.

I’ll have more to say about it later, but that was a major highlight for me so far. I really owe major thanks to Joe and Laird for giving me and Scott this boost.