Why it is Awesome to be Married to Peter David (5th in the 10th aniversary series)
Posted By Kathleen David on May 25, 2011
One of the phrases I have heard from fans a lot over the year is, “You’re married to Peter David? That must be so awesome (or neat or fun or cool)! To which I reply, “Yes, yes it is.”
There are the obvious perks like free travel to interesting places and meeting interesting people. Not having to pay for conventions. Free things that drop into our laps from various projects. The behind the scenes look at things that the public won’t see for 6 months to a year. Props from shows he has worked on. Art work from comic books he has written. Gifts from fellow professionals of things that mean a lot to us. For example, we have the cover to the first But I Digress anthology which was drawn by Neil Gaiman in silver pen (sharpie) on black paper. A number of the recreated props in the Spiderman vault are from our collection. Many interesting people to share a meal with.
Then there are the less obvious perks. I have heard Peter read a lot of his work out loud. There is a novel that he wrote with Caroline’s help and we spent many a pleasant evening with Caroline curled up next to Peter and me sitting on the other couch listen to Peter reading the manuscript. He reads his columns to me, which I love. Yeah, I could read them on my own but I like hearing his voice reading his words. I get to read everything he writes, many times before even his own editor gets to read it. I get to bounce story ideas around with him. My eclectic knowledge is useful to him when he is working out stuff. And there are the times that he and I act out what he wants to write like He came up behind me and asked me to get out of a hold which I did and then describe how I did it.
There is meeting his fans all over the world. They tell us stories about how what Peter has done with his career has been important to them on a personal level. I remember at one convention a man brought up a very battered copy of a Star Trek YA Peter had done. He told Peter how the man had such problems reading and was in special classes and the like but nothing clicked. Then his dad, knowing that his son liked Star Trek, got him the book that he held in his hands and something clicked. He worked his way through that book and became an avid reader of all things after that. He wanted Peter to know how much this book that Peter had written had meant to him. People still use the wedding vows in Imzadi. Comic Book fans come up and say how Peter’s writing encouraged them to do various things in their lives. After I had a miscarriage, which we talked very frankly about, we had a lot of people coming to us and thanking us for giving them a way to be able to talk about what had happened to them or members of their families or friends. Peter had heard about more back problems and surgery stories after we talked about it. What he does means something to a lot of people for many different reasons.
He also cleans out the cat boxes so I don’t have to.
I am grateful for all of Peter’s fans.
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