Tag: Book Events

Cinda Williams Chima and Marlene Perez at Mysterious Galaxy!

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You guys all KNOW that I’m obsessed with the author, information pills Cinda Williams Chima, drug and I basically spend some time each week trying to convince you all to read her books.

One, that will literally not stopping happening. Cinda Chima is an absolutely wonderful author, and I won’t stop until every single one of you have read at least one of her books, because I swear, that’s all it will take to be addicted.

Two, I was finally able to meet her yesterday, and hopefully discover a new author, Marlene Perez!

They both did a presentation/signing at Mysterious Galaxy in Redondo Beach. If you live in the Southern California area, you definitely want to go either locations (Redondo and San Dieg0). They have some of the BEST signings, their stores are awesome, and the bring the best authors to their stores and to events like WonderCon and Comic Con. I wish they were closer to me, because I would shop there ALL the time.

But to the authors!

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When they walked in, Cinda immediately came up to me, and gave me a huge hug, and introduced me to Marlene Perez. I had to admit, I had mini fireworks in my stomach while this was going on because I was SO excited that she knew me from online!

Both of these authors were super fun to meet, and super enthusiastic. The turnout was…less than ideal (which is why I’m STILL pushing) but their enthusiasm was there, and it was super personal, being able to talk and meet with them.

They both really had a lot to say about writing and that was really fantastic for me, as an aspiring writer, especially since I’ve been thinking of taking that dip into science fiction or fantasy, and stepping away from always, always contemporary.

They also talked about balancing writing, and life, since they both have kids, and getting out of those abysses where your writing gets so bad that you think you’re the worst writer ever. They both were really adamant about setting goals, and setting aside time to write, and to make sure you write, because even if its awful, its something that you can fix. Marlene Perez quoted Nora Roberts’, “You can fix anything but a blank page.” That was awesome.

Cinda and Marlene talked a bit about the whole book to movies option thing, which was super enlightening, especially since it seems like everyone’s book nowadays has been optioned by somebody.

Lastly, they really are starting to convince me of using Scrivener. I got to get on board with this thing…

I got a HUGE kick out of the fact that Cinda is a Cassandra Clare fan, and both enjoyed the books and liked the movies. I felt like saying, SEE! Older, educated women liked the movie too! And I just love the Mortal Instruments so much, but you guys all knew that already!

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Myself with author, Marlene Perez. I picked up her first two books of her YA series, Dead is the New Black and Dead is a State of Mind. I can’t wait to dive in and read them, especially since I’ll be seeing Marlene again next week at the Los Angeles Teen Book Fest (more on that later!)

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Me and the wonderful, amazing, hilarious, inspiring, addicting author Cinda Williams Chima, who was gracious enough to sign all the books I brought, and talk to me and just be awesome. I feel SO lucky that I was able to meet her, and under awesome circumstances.

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They also signed by Writing Advice poster. I had this idea a few months ago to have authors signed this poster with writing advice. Once its all filled up, I’m going to frame it and hopefully hang it over where I write so I can feel a little better during the not-so-good writing days :)

October 2013 Book Events

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Check out these October events! If there are events missing that you’d like to share, illness please do so I can add them to this list!

 

October 1st:

Ann Arbor, viagra 100mg MI: Shannon Messenger at Ann Arbor District Library, about it Downtown Branch at 7 pm

El Cerrito, CA: DJ MacHale at Barnes and Noble at 6 pm

Exton, PA: Simon Elkeles at Barnes and Noble at 7 pm

Los Angeles, CA: Kami Garcia at Barnes and Noble The Grove at 7 pm

Menlo Park, CA: Fierce Reads feat. S.A. Bodeen, Alexandra Coutts, Leila Sales, and special guest Marissa Meyer at Kepler’s Books at 7 pm

Naperville, IL: Brandon Sanderson at Anderson’s at 7 pm

Salt Lake City, UT: Cinda Williams Chima at The King’s English Bookshop

Santa Monica, CA: Anthony Horowitz at Barnes and Noble at 7 pm

October 2nd:

Cincinnati, OH: Brandon Sanderson at Joseph-Beth Booksellers at 7 pm

Hurst, TX: Simon Elkeles at Barnes and Noble at 7 pm

Naperville, IL: Joelle Charbonneau at Anderson’s Bookshop at 7 pm 

Provo, UT: Cinda Williams Chima at Provo Public Library at 7 pm

October 3rd:

Arlington, VA: Diana Peterfreund at Arlington Central Library at 7 pm

Beavercreek, OH: Brandon Sanderson at Books and Co. at 7 pm

Houston, TX: Simon Elkeles at Blue Willow Bookshop at 7 pm

Redondo Beach, CA: Cinda Williams Chima at Mysterious Galaxy at 7 pm

Santa Rosa, CA: Kami Garcia, Marie Lu, Ransom Riggs, Tahereh Mafi and Josephine Angelini at Copperfield’s Books

October 4th:

Alpharetta, GA: Simone Elkeles at Barnes and Noble at 7 pm

Menlo Park, CA: Kami Garcia, Ransom Riggs, Tahereh Mafi and Marie Lu at Kepler’s Books at 7 pm

Milwaukee, WI: Brandon Sanderson at Boswell Book Company at 7 pm

Wichita, KS: Shannon Messenger at Watermark Books and Cafe at 7 pm

October 5th:

Coral Gables, FL: Simone Elkeles at Books and Books at 7 pm

Naperville, IL: Lauren Myracle at Anderson’s Bookshop at 2 pm

Portland, OR: Cinda Williams Chima, Stephanie Perkins, Gayle Forman and more at Wordstock at Oregon Convention Center. See website for more info.

Ventura, CA: Kate DiCamillo at Barnes and Noble at 1 pm

Lake Forest, IL: Brandon Sanderson at Lake Forest Book Store at 2 pm

October 6th:

Naperville, IL: Simone Elkeles at Anderson’s Bookshop at 1 pm

October 7th:

Happy Valley, OR: Brandon Sanderson at Fred Meyer: Johnson Creek at 6 pm

Laurelwood, Memphis, TN: Kami Garcia, Kimberly Derting and Victoria Schwab at Booksellers at 6 pm

Seattle, WA: Cinda Williams Chima at Third Place Books at 7 pm

October 8th:

Beaverton, OR: Brandon Sanderson at Powell’s Cedar Hills Crossing at 7 pm

Bellingham, WA: Cinda Williams Chima at Village Books at 7 pm

Berkeley, CA: Tamara Ireland Stone and Gayle Forman at Books, Inc at 7 pm

Edina, MN: Simone Elkeles at Barnes and Noble at 7 pm

Oxford, MS: Kami Garcia and Holly Black at Square Books Jr at 4 pm

Salt Lake City, UT: James Dashner at The King’s English at 6 pm

October 9th:

Forest Park, WA: Lish McBride, Brent Hartinger, Malinda Lo and Gennifer Albin at Third Place Books at 7 pm

Highlands Ranch, CO: James Dashner at Tattered Cover Bookstore at 7 pm

Los Angeles, CA: Brandon Sanderson at Barnes and Noble The Grove at 7 pm

Minneapolis, MN: Cinda Williams Chima at The Red Balloon Bookstore at 6:30 pm

St. Paul, MN: Shannon Messenger at Addendum Books at 7 pm

October 10th:

Boulder, CO: James Dashner at Boulder Bookstore at 6:30 pm

Oak Creek, WI: Shannon Messenger at Oak Creek Public Library at 6:30 pm

October 11th:

Menlo Park, CA: Simone Elkeles at Kepler’s Books at 7 pm

Mountain View, CA: Brandon Sanderson at Books, Inc: Mountain View at 7 pm

Roseville, MN: James Dashner at Roseville Public Library at 7 pm

October 12th:

Cincinnati, OH: Cinda Williams Chima at Books by the Banks at 10 am

El Cerrito, CA: Brandon Sanderson at Barnes and Noble at 5 pm

Los Angeles, CA: Los Angeles Teen Book Fest at Los Angeles Downtown Central Library at 11 am

Menlo Park, CA: Suzanne Lazear at Kepler’s Books at 6:30 pm

Minneapolis, MN: James Dashner at Wild Rumpus at 1 pm

New York, NY: New York Comic Con: check website for more details

St. Cloud, MN: James Dashner at Barnes and Noble at 7 pm

October 13th:

New York, NY: Kami Garcia, Lauren Oliver and Tonya Hurley at Books of Wonder at 6pm

October 14th:

Beaverton, OR: Simone Elkeles at Powell’s Books at 7 pm

Brookfield, WI: Kami Garcia, Cinda Williams Chima, Rachel Caine, and Margaret Stohl at Barnes and Noble at 6:30 pm

Houston, TX: Rick Riordan at Blue Willow Bookshop at 5 pm

Seattle, WA: Brandon Sanderson at University Bookstore at 7 pm

October 15th:

Fort Lewis, WA: Brandon Sanderson at Fort Lewis AAFES at 4 pm

Hudson, OH: Cinda Williams Chima at The Learned Owl Bookshop at 6 pm

Naperville, IL: Kami Garcia, Margaret Stohl and Rachel Caine at Anderson’s Bookshop at 7 pm

New York, NY: Kate Brian, Alexandra Bracken, Cristin Terrill, Tamara Ireland Stone, and Neal Shusterman at Books of Wonder at 6 pm

Omaha, NE: Lisa McMann at Omaha Public Library: Benson Branch at 6:30 pm

Salt Lake City, UT: Shannon Hale at The King’s English Bookshop at 7 pm

October 16th:

San Diego, CA: Brandon Sanderson at Mysterious Galaxy at 7 pm

October 17th:

No Events

October 18th:

St. Peters, MO: Simone Elkeles at St. Charles City-County Library: Spencer Road Branch at 7 pm

October 19th:

Carlisle, PA: Celebrate the Book Event: check website for authors and panel times

St. Louis, MO: Less than Three Anti-Bullying Conference (check website for authors and panel times)

West Jordan, UT: Brandon Sanderson at Barnes and Noble at 6 pm

October 20th:

San Francisco, CA: Rainbow Rowell and David Levithan at Books, Inc at 7 pm

Staten Island, NY: Kate DiCamillo at Barnes and Noble at 11 am

October 21st:

Denver, CO: Jennifer L. Armentrout, Cora Carmack, Sophie Jordan, and Lisa Desrochers at Tattered Cover Bookstore

Highlands Ranch, CO: Cora Cormack and J. Lynn at Tattered Cover Bookstore at 7:30 pm

Naperville, IL: James Dashner at Anderson’s at 7 pm

October 22nd:

Pembroke Pines, FL: Lauren Kate at Barnes and Noble at 7 pm

Skokie, IL: James Dashner at Barnes and Noble at 7 pm

St. Louis, MO: Shannon Messenger at St. Louis Public Library-Central Branch at 7 pm

October 23rd:

Dallas, TX: Veronica Roth at Barnes and Noble at 7 pm

Lansing, MI: James Dashner at Schuler Books Inc at 6 pm

Omaha, NE: Stephanie Perkins, Gayle Forman, and Rainbow Rowell at Omaha Public Library at 7 pm

Tucson, AZ: Lisa McMann at Mostly Books at 4:30 pm

October 24th:

Ann Arbor, MI: James Dashner at Nicola’s Books at 6:30 pm

Highlands Ranch, CO: Gayle Forman at Tattered Cover Bookstore at 7 pm

Metairie, LA: Lauren Kate at Barnes and Noble at 7 pm

San Diego, CA: Shannon Messenger at Mysterious Galaxy at 7 pm

October 25th:

Brentwood, TN: James Dashner at Barnes and Noble at 6:30 pm

October 26th:

Jackson, MS: Lauren Kate at Lemuria Books at 4 pm

Nashville, TN: James Dashner at Parnassus Books at 2 pm

Tempe, AZ: Lisa McMann at Changing Hands Book Signing

October 27th:

Fairless Hills, PA: Lauren Kate at Barnes and Noble at 4 pm

Knoxville, TN: James Dashner at Books-A-Million at 2 pm

October 28th:

No Events-Please Leave a Comment if You know of One!

October 29th:

New York, NY: Emmy Laybourne at Books of Wonder

San Diego, CA: Fierce Reads Tour feat. Ann Aguirre and Gennifer Albin with special guests Jessica Brody and Leigh Bardugo at Mysterious Galaxy Bookstore at 7 pm

Skokie, IL: Lauren Kate at Barnes and Noble at 7 pm

October 30th:

Albuquerque, NM: Fierce Reads Tour feat.  Ann Aguirre and Gennifer Albin with special guests Jessica Brody and Leigh Bardugo at Alamosa Books at 4 pm

October 31st:

No Known Events

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Gretchen McNeil and Kendare Blake at Mysterious Galaxy!

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Today I was able to meet both Kendare Blake and Gretchen McNeil at the Mysterious Galaxy Bookstore in Redondo Beach, more about celebrating the release of their two new books.

I was fortunate enough to meet and “discover” Gretchen McNeil a few months back when she was a guest at the Ontario Teen Book Fest (which you can read allll about here). She made me laugh a lot during the panels and I really was impressed at the way she made a point to reflect all of our differences in her characters, i.e. her main character in Possess is half-Asian. I thought that was really interesting and I decided to make a point to read her books.

That was in May, and it is now September and I’m sad to say that I’ve only read one of her books. Its okay though, because now I am about to be on track, as today I bought her second novel, Ten, and her brand new novel, 3:59!

Kendare Blake is an author I had not heard of before, but I picked up her brand new book, AntiGoddess tonight, and am excited to start it.

Gretchen McNeil

As said before, Gretchen McNeil is the author of Possess, Ten and the brand new 3:59, which was just released this past Tuesday. Here is the GoodReads synopsis:

Josie Byrne’s life is spiraling out of control. Her parents are divorcing, her boyfriend Nick has grown distant, and her physics teacher has it in for her. When she’s betrayed by the two people she trusts most, Josie thinks things can’t get worse.

Until she starts having dreams about a girl named Jo. Every night at the same time—3:59 a.m.

Jo’s life is everything Josie wants: she’s popular, her parents are happily married, and Nick adores her. It all seems real, but they’re just dreams, right? Josie thinks so, until she wakes one night to a shadowy image of herself in the bedroom mirror – Jo.  Josie and Jo realize that they are doppelgängers living in parallel universes that overlap every twelve hours at exactly 3:59. Fascinated by Jo’s perfect world, Josie jumps at the chance to jump through the portal and switch places for a day.

But Jo’s world is far from perfect. Not only is Nick not Jo’s boyfriend, he hates her. Jo’s mom is missing, possibly insane. And at night, shadowy creatures feed on human flesh. By the end of the day, Josie is desperate to return to her own life. But there’s a problem: Jo has sealed the portal, trapping Josie in this dangerous world. Can she figure out a way home before it’s too late?

Kendare Blake

Kendare Blake is the author of Anna Dressed in Blood and its sequel, Girl of Nightmares. Her brand new novel, AntiGoddess, is the first of a planned trilogy. Here is the synopsis:

Old Gods never die…

Or so Athena thought. But then the feathers started sprouting beneath her skin, invading her lungs like a strange cancer, and Hermes showed up with a fever eating away his flesh. So much for living a quiet eternity in perpetual health. Desperately seeking the cause of their slow, miserable deaths, Athena and Hermes travel the world, gathering allies and discovering enemies both new and old. Their search leads them to Cassandra—an ordinary girl who was once an extraordinary prophetess, protected and loved by a god. 

These days, Cassandra doesn’t involve herself in the business of gods—in fact, she doesn’t even know they exist. But she could be the key in a war that is only just beginning. 

Because Hera, the queen of the gods, has aligned herself with other of the ancient Olympians, who are killing off rivals in an attempt to prolong their own lives. But these anti-gods have become corrupted in their desperation to survive, horrific caricatures of their former glory. Athena will need every advantage she can get, because immortals don’t just flicker out. 
 Every one of them dies in their own way. Some choke on feathers. Others become monsters. All of them rage against their last breath.

The Goddess War is about to begin.

Okay, please tell me you think those sound as absolutely amazing as I do! I canNOT wait to dive into them. They are now in my pile ‘o books, and I am eagerly anticipating reading them soon!

Mysterous_Galaxy_updated_pic-1Photo Credit: Mysterious Galaxy Website

The event was SO much fun. I had never had a chance to go to Mysterious Galaxy, either locations in San Diego or Redondo Beach, and I definitely will be returning. I’m trying more and more to support bookstores as much as possible, especially the independent ones, and this was a really nice one! They put on a very awesome event, and they had a crazy beautiful store. I can’t wait to come back to this store in a couple weeks for the Cinda Williams Chima event.

Each author talked a little bit about their books, the synopsis of them and how they sort of got the inspiration for each of them. They talked a lot about writing, which was SUPER awesome for an aspiring writer like me. They talked about handling new ideas, especially when you get new ideas while working on something already. They both seemed to agree about writing their ideas down, but remaining focused on the story at hand, even though sometimes that can be very hard, especially if a book is getting hard to write.

They told stories about their book covers; Kendare has had some issues with her girls in blood looking like they’re having some serious menstruation issues, and Gretchen had an issue with her Asian character NOT looking Asian on the cover. T

hey shared some books that they are obsessed with. Gretchen swears by the book The Twenty Nine Steps by John Buchan, and Kendare is a HUGE fan of The Odyssey and the Iliad, just recently getting a quote from the Iliad tattooed on her! As you all know, I applaud book tattoos, definitely!

It was super fun meeting both of them. They had a lot of quality advice, they made me laugh, and I can’t wait to dive into their books. Watch out soon for some book reviews, and maybe a few extras as well ;)

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Signed 359 Signed Ten

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Signed Antigoddess

Okay, can I just say the fact that Kendare signed my book with a Terminator quote was just TOO cool for life? LOVE it.