When he finally strutted into view how all great musicians do--fashionably late--the room fell silent. He rambled on for a while about how he hates wireless microphones, and how he was proud of Skylight Books for doing it right by choosing quality over convenience. From that moment on I knew he was a mirror image of the John Darnielle that's cooped up in my imagination, playing songs on a wonky old acoustic guitar, blinds closed, voice angrily crackling.

Sadly, I’m not huge on reading. I’m much more of an audiophile. But, when John Darnielle began to read from Universal Harvester, I knew that this book would be worth my time. Universal Harvester's obscure imagery, haunting dialogue, and fantastical themes completely captivated me and left me begging for more after he snapped his book shut and started the Q&A. They were clearly on a strict schedule.

The first thing I noticed during Q&A was how important each question seemed to be to him. He answered each person eloquently with a heavy dash of humor and included countless stories that enthralled everyone in the room. I’m sure if it weren’t for the bookstore staff keeping him on track, he would have had a meaningful conversation with everyone in the room; something I was certainly not expecting. It meant a lot to me that he seemed to be just another average person who happened to have the spotlight turned on him.

After the Q&A, the dreaded signing began. I clenched my book and a vinyl copy of Beat The Champ close to my chest and patiently waited. Elise and I checked and double-checked our numbers… 98 & 99. Okay, so there are a few people ahead of us, I thought. No trouble! More time to rehearse what I'm going to say.

I’m mostly joking.

The line moved surprisingly fast, and in the meantime we were able to connect with some really rad Mountain Goats' fans. Most everyone we spoke to had met John Darnielle several times before (his band harbors a pretty tight-knit cult following), and many of them had great stories about their road to discovering The Mountain Goats. One woman we met had even been friends with John in high school. I was fascinating to get some juicy details as to what he was like back in the good old days.