"Your Anonymity has Served You Well, Banzai, but Now You Must Face the Eldritch Doom!"

Okay, it didn't happen that way but it would have been interesting if that was what happened when I accidentally met another of the online denizens, horror connosieuer and rocker andrew eldritch.

It was a payday last Tuesday so I had a chance to pick-up a couple of books I had reserved at Booktopia. While I was talking to shop proprietor Robert, I noticed that there were a couple of customers in the shop but I really didn't give them no mind. (Unless, of course, it's to see what book the next guy is planning to buy. Hey, I can't help it; I have to know my competitors.)

At first, I was surprised to see that the guy who had come up to the counter had Lucius Shepard's The Jaguar Hunter (the latest edition done by Four Walls, Eight Windows) and Fritz Leiber's The Dealings of Daniel Kesserich. In fact, he even had the counter-girl open up the plastic cover on the Leiber. However, my quick glance at the guy turned into a double-take when I recognized his face as the one all over his livejournal. *smirk*

me: Hey, Andrew! (happy to recognize another book-freak)

andrew: *looks up, puzzled*

me: You're Andrew, right?

andrew: Yeah...? (probably wondering who the hell this psycho was, I can hear the wariness all the way from here)

me: My name's __ but you actually know me as banzai cat.

andrew: Oh yeah. *finally smiles* (hah! the trap has sprung!)

Seriously, it was fun getting to meet another online voice. Unfortunately, we didn't get to talk much since I was still talking to Robert and then I had to leave early to pick-up [identity-protected]. However, we did get around to my championing the Shepard book and to debate on the right pronunciation of 'Leiber'.

As for me, I had my own share of books in hand so it was all good: the classic Fata Morgana by William Kotzwinkle (the same guy who wrote E.T. The Extra-Terrestial) and the seemingly-unknown yet quite interesting Celestial Matters by Richard Garfinkle.

(And just in case someone is wondering if I'm making this all up, here's andrew's version of events. Either that or it's another case of a consensual hallucination!)