As God Is My Witness....I will never do this

  • This message board permanently closed on June 30th, 2020 at 4PM EDT and is no longer accepting new members.

prufrock21

Well-Known Member
Jun 2, 2011
2,956
12,657
The Caribbean
I saw this and it just made me sad. I will never ask Mr. King for his autograph. I mean really what is that anyway. It's just his name...over and over. Like a horse putting his hoof down. Of all the things you could wish Stephen King to write for you---and all the tremendous, glorious stories he has written for you and you want his hoof print. He was great about it though--just working away, sign sign, sign. Am I off base here?

I might be wrong, but did you just compare Stephen King to a horse? o_O
 

Christine62

Well-Known Member
Nov 7, 2013
493
3,127
62
Oklahoma City
I personally, and we here on the board personally don't see Mr. King as a horse. But look at these people! He's a means to an end to them. There's no eye contact. No intimacy. They just want that scribble. He is just a object to them. A means to an end. He may as well be a horse for all they care. That's all I'm saying.
 

Neesy

#1 fan (Annie Wilkes cousin) 1st cousin Mom's side
May 24, 2012
61,289
239,271
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
I saw this and it just made me sad. I will never ask Mr. King for his autograph. I mean really what is that anyway. It's just his name...over and over. Like a horse putting his hoof down. Of all the things you could wish Stephen King to write for you---and all the tremendous, glorious stories he has written for you and you want his hoof print. He was great about it though--just working away, sign sign, sign. Am I off base here?

This looks pretty hectic - standing up, signing autographs on the street!
 

fljoe0

Cantre Member
Apr 5, 2008
15,859
71,642
62
120 miles S of the Pancake/Waffle line
I saw this and it just made me sad. I will never ask Mr. King for his autograph. I mean really what is that anyway. It's just his name...over and over. Like a horse putting his hoof down. Of all the things you could wish Stephen King to write for you---and all the tremendous, glorious stories he has written for you and you want his hoof print. He was great about it though--just working away, sign sign, sign. Am I off base here?


I don't really get the celebrity autograph thing. If he was going to do a book tour, I would rather go to a venue and hear him speak than wrestle with the autograph crowd. If I get a signed book, it's cool but it's not the end of the world if I don't. I always feel sorry for him when he's doing these things because it seems like such a gigantic hassle but he handles it very well (a lot better than I would - I would be like Sean Penn if I was a celeb ;-D).
 

Shasta

On his shell he holds the earth.
I don't really get the celebrity autograph thing.
I can only speak for me and I have only cared about two celebrity autographs in my entire life (and gotten them) so I may not be the best qualified to speak to this but I'm going to.

Stephen King has been my favorite author since I was a child. His books have been there for me through cancer, through the abandonment of both my father and mother, through struggling through poverty, as well as every single great, wonderful, fantastic time in my life. I've always had his books to turn to, to share, to treasure.

When he has signed a book for me, it puts a piece of him into that thing that means so much to me. He wrote that thing I love so much, and the fact that he has signed it indicates that he and that beautiful thing that I own have shared the same space, even for an instant.

That probably sounds corny and sentimental but that's what it is. So I'm not ashamed of standing in line for an entire day to get that moment. And to be able to look back on that signature and know that this man who has given me so much shared the same space with me.

So. There. Enough emotion!
 

skimom2

Just moseyin' through...
Oct 9, 2013
15,683
92,168
USA
That was beautiful, Shasta. I feel the same way, & if he came my way I'd gladly stand in a line to get his signature on my Different Seasons. That book has seen me through many, many years, distracted me in difficult times, and completed my joy in better times.
 

Shasta

On his shell he holds the earth.
That was beautiful, Shasta. I feel the same way, & if he came my way I'd gladly stand in a line to get his signature on my Different Seasons. That book has seen me through many, many years, distracted me in difficult times, and completed my joy in better times.
I have been so lucky that my three favorites have been signed. They mean so, so much to me. I truly, truly hope you get a chance to get your DS signed as well.
 

Christine62

Well-Known Member
Nov 7, 2013
493
3,127
62
Oklahoma City
I can only speak for me and I have only cared about two celebrity autographs in my entire life (and gotten them) so I may not be the best qualified to speak to this but I'm going to.

Stephen King has been my favorite author since I was a child. His books have been there for me through cancer, through the abandonment of both my father and mother, through struggling through poverty, as well as every single great, wonderful, fantastic time in my life. I've always had his books to turn to, to share, to treasure.

When he has signed a book for me, it puts a piece of him into that thing that means so much to me. He wrote that thing I love so much, and the fact that he has signed it indicates that he and that beautiful thing that I own have shared the same space, even for an instant.

That probably sounds corny and sentimental but that's what it is. So I'm not ashamed of standing in line for an entire day to get that moment. And to be able to look back on that signature and know that this man who has given me so much shared the same space with me.

So. There. Enough emotion!

See that's what I'm talking about...connection, meaning, intimacy. Very beautifully said.
 

Shasta

On his shell he holds the earth.
See that's what I'm talking about...connection, meaning, intimacy. Very beautifully said.
But that's the intimacy I put into it. I promise you that when he signed for me I was just a face in the crowd, a part of the job he had to do before he went home. And that's totally okay. Because it is a job. And a hard one, I can only imagine. So I'm glad I had the chance to be in that space, but he was almost more jovial to the crowd in the video than he was to me!!

I hope that's not coming across wrong because it still meant a lot to me. I'm just trying to say (and probably not well!) that I promise to at least some of those people that they could be in the same space as someone who's given them the same chance and they took it. They just didn't have a chance in the best environment.

I'm sure some people don't care. At the signing I was at a woman told me she was just there to get her 1st ed. Gunslinger signed so she could sell it. I could have killed her. You couldn't pry my signed 1st ed. Gunslinger out of my cold, dead hands. But I do think that most of those people I'm that video had good intentions.

I feel like I'm not saying any of this eloquently at all, for which I apologize!
 

Grandpa

Well-Known Member
Mar 2, 2014
9,724
53,642
Colorado
But that's the intimacy I put into it. I promise you that when he signed for me I was just a face in the crowd, a part of the job he had to do before he went home. And that's totally okay. Because it is a job. And a hard one, I can only imagine. So I'm glad I had the chance to be in that space, but he was almost more jovial to the crowd in the video than he was to me!!

I hope that's not coming across wrong because it still meant a lot to me. I'm just trying to say (and probably not well!) that I promise to at least some of those people that they could be in the same space as someone who's given them the same chance and they took it. They just didn't have a chance in the best environment.

I'm sure some people don't care. At the signing I was at a woman told me she was just there to get her 1st ed. Gunslinger signed so she could sell it. I could have killed her. You couldn't pry my signed 1st ed. Gunslinger out of my cold, dead hands. But I do think that most of those people I'm that video had good intentions.

I feel like I'm not saying any of this eloquently at all, for which I apologize!

Shasta, you're causing me to back off my prior statement about not understanding the whole autograph thing. You said it in a wonderful, relatable way. I can see quite well how and why you'd feel that way, and it is perfectly valid. Thank you for taking the time and eloquence to express it.
 

Christine62

Well-Known Member
Nov 7, 2013
493
3,127
62
Oklahoma City
But that's the intimacy I put into it. I promise you that when he signed for me I was just a face in the crowd, a part of the job he had to do before he went home. And that's totally okay. Because it is a job. And a hard one, I can only imagine. So I'm glad I had the chance to be in that space, but he was almost more jovial to the crowd in the video than he was to me!!

I hope that's not coming across wrong because it still meant a lot to me. I'm just trying to say (and probably not well!) that I promise to at least some of those people that they could be in the same space as someone who's given them the same chance and they took it. They just didn't have a chance in the best environment.

I'm sure some people don't care. At the signing I was at a woman told me she was just there to get her 1st ed. Gunslinger signed so she could sell it. I could have killed her. You couldn't pry my signed 1st ed. Gunslinger out of my cold, dead hands. But I do think that most of those people I'm that video had good intentions.

I feel like I'm not saying any of this eloquently at all, for which I apologize!
No, I get it. I think standing patiently in line is a different thing that sticking a book in his face like a 2 year old and saying, "Sign, Sign, Sign"
 
Aug 2, 2014
18
86
37
Disturbing and surreal video, fame with fangs.

What bothers me most is that the fans should have the mental acuity to realize the stories they hold in their hands don't need signatures to be special.

Don't get me wrong, I understand the sentimental value of an author with a pen taking the time, it's just that if you truly appreciate the works with or without the signature you should be able to understand the intrinsic power of what you possess and find the personal strength to leave a creator of countless worlds in peace.