Author Love

Despite my reading and blogging slump, I've been thinking about this post for a while. This fall, I've attended a LOT of author events and developed my author love. So, I'm thinking I should at the very least shout out a giant thanks to the many authors who have recently brightened my reading experience:

First, we have local author James Dashner's visit to one of my local libraries (actually, almost all of these are authors who visited one or the other of my local libraries).

If I was better prepared or just felt like carrying a camera around, I'd have photos of these events, but I don't. All author photos were stolen. Anywho, at the request of my friend Suey of It's All About Books, James came to our library as part of their fantasy author events. He talked about his soon to be released (but has since been released) sequel to The Maze Runner, The Scorch Trials (which I have started but not found the time to finish yet). It's been about a month since the event, so I don't remember many particulars. I do remember he was funny, as usual. He also secretly revealed the title of his next series of books, but told us not to reveal it. Good thing I've forgotten it already (should have written it down). I only wish I hadn't already gotten my copy of The Maze Runner signed, since I didn't have anything for him to sign. I'm hoping he'll do something local again soon, so I can bring my copy of The Scorch Trials.

Next up on my local-author-visits-local-library is Brandon Mull. I've met Mull on several occasions before (I'm one of those who is having him sign the Fablehaven series for me one book at a time - I've still got the last book to go.) Anyway, since he's such a popular author, the place was packed and we had to sit at the very back. Still, he can entertain an audience and definitely has lots of great ideas for more books. I'm especially looking forward to his new series, Beyonders, which he talked about a bit. And, once again, I don't remember much else since it was quite a while ago too. Still, another example of how many excellent local authors we have here. Here's the book I got signed this time:

My next visit to the library was to see author Ally Condie, whose book Matched is coming out later this month. Because of Suey's efforts (again), we decided to have book group meet there after passing our ARCs of Matched around. Jessica was savvy enough to have a phone that takes photos, so you get to see this:

I'd tell you who everyone is, but instead, I'll link you to Suey's post and Jessica of The Bluestocking Society's post, both of which have more info. Ally was very sweet and a lot of fun to listen to. We talked about how there weren't many people in attendance, but thought that by this time next year, the place would be packed to hear her. Matched is getting a lot of publicity and praise already, so I'm betting it will garner her fan base a lot. Ally was also kind enough to drop by a few minutes at our book discussion. We asked her some questions, some of which are noted in Suey's post. I enjoyed talking with and listening to Ally and expect great things for the rest of the series. In good news for you, I got both of my ARCs signed and plan to give one away later this month. Hooray!

This last weekend, I attended a fabulous and fun event at another local library with lots of teen authors. The keynote and main attraction was the exceptional Scott Westerfeld. I've been a fan of his Uglies series for some time now (and have an interesting double feature review of that book in the works). I've also recently enjoyed Leviathan and Behemoth (and now officially know how to pronounce those titles). His address was a lot of laughs. He talked about how a Japanese illustrated edition of Uglies inspired him to seek an illustrator for the Leviathan series. And boy am I glad he did, because I love those illustrations. The images he showed us were just fantastic (or funny). He was really kind when I got my books signed, not even laughing at me when I mentioned I pronounced the titles incorrectly. Suey snapped a photo of my and my savvy author talking skills (be sure to check out her post about the event):

I guess I shouldn't have been that surprised when he asked if I was a student (hello backpack and ripped jeans, can we say professional?). It was fun to meet him. And the fun just continued.

I got another Jessica Day George book signed (Princess of Glass) and she is always lots of fun to watch (very animated). We attended some panels where we listened to Sara Zarr, Ann Dee Ellis, and Carol Lynch Williams, all of whom write excellent contemporary novels and are local, of course. I got my copy of Once Was Lost signed by Sara Zarr, who totally has the snarky, sarcastic, and funny thing going for her.

We also listened to a romance panel with Lisa Mangum, Bree Despain, and Ally Condie. We eyed Bree's ARCs of The Lost Saint with envy, but since they were for actual teens (come on, I could probably pass for one), we ended up with blue nail polish instead. All in all, a really fun event that I hope I get a chance to attend again. Here's my stash:

And last, but certainly not least, is an author I have not met, but still want to say how awesome she is. A few months ago, I won a contest for a signed copy of The Demon's Lexicon from LiyanaLand. I was so excited, since I really enjoyed the book and figured I'd never get a chance to meet the author (you know, since she lives across the ocean and all). When the book never arrived, I was so sad that I emailed Liyana to see if my emails or address had gone astray. Well, after some more emailing, Sarah Rees Brennan was so kind as to send another copy (since the first had gotten lost)! I was so happy to get it this week and so I say thank you to Sarah and Liyana for being so generous and patient!