I don’t know if he would remember this, but I first met Eric May, after a Story Week event. We rode down an elevator together and I listened intently as he spoke about a student’s recent work. Later he featured on an early podcast for us.

We run into each other fairly often, at readings and various events. This city is full of my favorite people, and he fits right into the great stuff going on in Chicago.

“How is your new show going?” He asked me at the Printer’s Row Lit festival.

“Awesome, but it’s hard to explain. You should come and see what we are doing. It’s sort of next level. If you liked the community aspect of the Story Luck show, it’s like that times ten.”

He came, and told two off the cuff tales about last month’s theme, “I’ve never met you, but I think you’re great!” That theme and other’s stories sparked for him, “I’ve never met you, but I bet you know where you’re going,” and, “I’ve never met you, but you look like X famous person!”

“It doesn’t matter what I’m dressed like, or how big a scowl I’m wearing, I’ve just got a look that says to people, He’s friendly and knows where he’s going, we should ask him for directions.” (Not a direct quote.)

Now, because I love Natalia Nebel, I knew he was going to be featuring in January 2015 at Sunday Salon Chicago. But that’s way too far away. I wanted to see him do a proper reading. His book, Bedrock Faith, had just been published to rave reviews and great sales.

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