Last night I had the opportunity to meet bestselling author and all-around great guy
whose new book The Bright Sword came out last week. I’m currently about halfway through reading the novel and I’m happy to report that it’s fabulous. I’m even more delighted to say that Lev is just as charming and friendly as I imagined him to be.Lev is the acclaimed author of The Magicians and several other novels. I’ve been a fan of his for a long time. We’ve had a fun interaction for a couple of years and I thought it would be fun to share that with you.
The Unsigned Book
Several years ago I purchased a signed collector’s edition of Unfettered, which was an anthology of short stories from some well-known fantasy writers. Proceeds at the time went to assist editor Shawn Speakman with paying for his mounting medical bills to fight his cancer diagnosis. The anthology (and Shawn’s treatment) were a huge success and Unfettered is now considered by many to be a shining example of how our community of readers and writers can make a difference in people’s lives.
So I purchased a Colloctor’s Edition of Unfettered which included signatures from all of the contributing writers, but there was only one problem… My copy of the book had everyone’s signature except for Lev Grossman’s. 😱
I have a lot of books and a lot of signed ones. So it wasn’t that big of a deal to me, but I decided to email Shawn and let him know.
Shawn, being the incredibly kind and professional person that he is, replied right away and CC’d Lev on the email and basically said, “Lev, meet Jason. Jason, meet Lev. See if you guys can figure out a way to get the book signed.”
I assured Lev that this wasn’t an urgent situation and that we were bound to cross paths at a convention or some other event. Lev and I chatted a little bit and he agreed that yes, indeed, someday, we’d meet up and he’d sign the book and maybe we’d grab a beer.
Fast forward to last night. Lev had a book signing event at Books, Inc in San Francisco, which is a fairly easy drive for me to make. During his Q&A he spoke about his influences and the process of writing The Bright Sword. I felt a bit of kinship with him because it took him 10 years to write the book. My current WIP novel has taken about 7 years (I think) of active writing and development. So this book has been a long time coming and I can relate to dedicating yourself to a single novel for such a long time.
When at last it was my turn in line we chatted a little and took some pictures. He signed my copy of The Bright Sword as well as my copies of The Magicians trilogy. And, of course, he signed my copy of Unfettered and wrote “At last”
Be sure to check out The Bright Sword, available now everywhere in print, ebook, and audio formats. Also consider following him here on Substack where he offers insightful posts about writing and the research he did on King Arthur.
What a fun story! I also love hearing about slow burn book writing. Sometimes it seems like writing advice is geared toward how to write fast and be profitable rather than how to take your time writing the story you want to tell. I hadn’t heard about this book somehow, so thanks for sharing.
This is so charming! I'm 20% of the way through Sword and really enjoying it.