Fall for the Book: "In Your Face Mrs. Zaganhagen!"

Fourth Estate follows events of the Fifteenth Annual Fall for the Book Festival through Fall for the Blog.

Novelist Benjamin Percy shared with an audience full of students his love of werewolves and all things adventurous at the Johnson Center Cinema on Sept. 25.

Savannah Norton (Photo by John Irwin)

Percy was a very deep voiced man; at first I thought he was joking using a voice that sounded as deep as Elvis’ but in fact, it was his natural tone.

He shared two excerpts from his popular book titled “Red Moon.”The first chapter he shared was about Patrick Gamble, who was on a plane full of infected people and was the only one left alive by the end of the flight.  The other chapter shared was about Claire Forrester, who was spending a normal night with her parents when the government invades her house and kills her parents.  Having never read the book, this made me want to pick up a copy right after I left.  I wanted to know what was going to happen next!

Although he read from his book, what really stuck with people were the hilarious stories he shared about becoming the author he is today.

Percy wrote a school research paper titled “Werewolves” during grade school, and ended up getting a B- on the paper.  “In your face Mrs. Zeganhagen!” he joked, holding his book in the air as he reflected on how far he has come with his science fiction fantasy novel.

Percy shared that it was actually his wife who inspired him to become a writer.  He used to send her love notes during college and one day she suggested he become a writer and he said, “Okay!”