A while back, we asked our Chicago readers to write a short essay about why they would like Patton Oswalt to come to their home for pie, conversation, and a private reading from Oswalt’s book Zombie Spaceship Wasteland, which has just been released in paperback with new material. Because who wouldn’t want to spend time with Patton Oswalt? Or eat pie? Only someone who hates things that are great, that’s who.
Oswalt read through the submissions and chose an essay from librarian Nicole Steeves. Feeling “discombobulated” about the possibility of losing her job as cuts to Chicago’s library system loom, Steeves expressed a desire for “something to offset the despair,” and promised “a delicious, non-vegetarian dinner” to boot. On October 22nd, Oswalt visited the home Steeves shares with her husband, daughter, and son to tape the pilot episode of a new video feature we’re calling Reader Meets Author. Oswalt entertained a house packed with friends of the Steeves family and various A.V. Club staffers.