Last night, after catching a reading that’s related to a piece I’m working on, I headed to the Barnes & Noble at The Grove — not my regular stomping grounds, but that’s where Richard Castle was signing his new mystery novel. Castle, as some TV watchers know, is a fictional character who writes detective fiction; despite his non-existence, he’s managed to write a real-life book, Heat Wave. The Amazon page is fiction itself:
Mystery sensation Richard Castle, blockbuster author of the wildly best-selling Derrick Storm novels, introduces his newest character, NYPD Homicide Detective Nikki Heat. Tough, sexy, professional, Nikki Heat carries a passion for justice as she leads one of New York City’s top homicide squads… Richard Castle is the author of numerous bestsellers, including the critically acclaimed Derrick Storm series. His first novel, In a Hail of Bullets, published while he was still in college, received the Nom DePlume Society’s prestigious Tom Straw Award for Mystery Literature.
Because of course there is no Richard Castle, so he couldn’t have written anything. Why, then were there close to 400 people lined up to get his books signed, many clutching two or more copies?
I have to guess it’s because Castle is played by Nathan Fillion. That would be the same Nathan Fillion that Joss Whedon has cast in Serenity/Firefly, in Dr. Horrible, even in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Whedon creates super-fans, and Fillion — funny, hunky — seems to be irresistible. He has more than 190,000 fans following him on Twitter, and when he tweets about grammar — well, it’s enough to make a bookish chick like me swoon.
Anyway, the Castle book is a mystery. Who exactly penned Heat Wave? It couldn’t be Castle, because there is no Castle. It probably isn’t Fillion, because, despite his grammar skills, he’s busy acting. It might be one of the show’s writing staff, which would be cool, because many of the TV writers I’ve met want to write books. Or maybe it was just a ghost-for-hire who’s taken their pay and walked away.
But keeping the signings as they are makes sense: Castle may be charming, but people are queued up for a few minutes with Nathan Fillion. Who, from what I could see, is gracious, friendly, chats with kids and doesn’t mind posing for photos. Just like Captain Hammer would…
