China Mieville + Japanther at Upstairs at the Square

So on Tuesday I went and saw China Mieville at Barnes & Noble in Union Square. Mieville is one of my favorite writers currently working and also one of the most compelling public speakers I’ve ever seen. I first saw him at ICFA (International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts) years ago, and I immediately went out and bought Perdido Street Station, which had just come out. He’s on tour promoting his new novel The City & The City, a surreal police procedural set in a pair of fictional Eastern European cities. Here’s my signed copy:

A year or so ago I started asking authors to use my full name when personalizing books. “David” is such a relentlessly common name that a book signed “For David” could have been signed to — literally — almost anyone, and feels about as personalized as if the author wrote “Dear Sir,” “Occupant,” or “To Whom It May Concern.” (I also harbor a secret hope that someday some author’s going to be like, “Wait, not the David Barr Kirtley?” This never happens though.)

This was the first I’d heard of it, but Union Square Barnes & Noble is doing a series called Upstairs at the Square, where they pair authors such as William Gibson, Tom Wolfe, and Eoin Colfer with musicians I’ve never heard of. The authors read, the musicians play, and then both answer questions. China Mieville was paired with a local band called Japanther. (Their song “The Dirge” is actually starting to grow on me.) You could pretty much tell who in the audience was there to see who. For example, I’m pretty sure that the girl in front of me who was headbanging and constantly giving the band the finger (apparently in an approving way) was there for Japanther.