Parajunkee & BookAddict Crash Undead Con!

This weekend was the Vampire Lestat Fan Club's Undead Con at the Hotel Montleone in New Orleans. You say Undead and I say "I'm there". Problem is, the posting was very last minute so I didn't sign up for the conference. But --- I had to go see Jeaniene Frost!

So, Patti from bookaddictpatti.com and I snuck into the hotel and crashed the party. Ok...we did have permission. ;)

Ms. Frost was a lot more talkative than I expected and very friendly. The signing was very small, maybe 20 people at the most. She took the time and talked and took pictures with everyone. Patti and I were kind of disappointed because the bookseller that was hosting the signing didn't have the Night Huntress series! Only the two companions, First Drop and Eternal Kiss. Both good books, but Patti wanted to get the famous Chapter 32 signed of the 2nd book and I wanted to pick up the whole series, because I have them on kindle. Phooey. But, because this was a very unpublicized signing I'm sure they didn't expect a huge turnout.

Jeaniene Frost & Me

 Ms. Frost is the author of the Night Huntress Series & The Night Huntress World series.



Along with meeting the illustrious Ms. Frost, we also got to meet Karen Essex the author of Dracula in Love. I've heard wonderful things about the book - so I was excited to pick up a copy and get it signed. Both authors were wonderful. I have to say, I'm kind of jealous of these ladies and their red hair. Believe it or not before I got pregnant my head was a bit red...now the inner goth wants out.

Me & Karen Essex

Ms. Essex is the author of Dracula in Love & other books, including Stealing Athena & Kleopatra

Sherilyn Kenyon Signing

I have only read a few books by Ms. Kenyon, but as you guys know, I've been really excited about Infinity - and half way through it, I'm enjoying. When I was told about her visit to New Orleans, I thought I would attend. I'm going to make it a point to visit the authors that come near that are within my genre whether read or not because I think it is wonderful that they have come to my little town, low literacy rate or not. :)

I don't think I was prepared for the intensity of this visit. There are some die hard fans out there that drive miles and miles to see SK.  The girls in the line ahead of me were dressed in their corsets and black stockings with stacks upon stacks of their books, getting their boyfriends to get the extra books signed. (pictured below)

The girls behind me were from the fan club and also members of the role playing groups on facebook. I completely looked like I had no clue with them. They were spouting off names and things and I was just like "uh-huh, uh-huh." I really had no clue that role playing these characters was such a big deal, or at least to a few.

SK was very nice and seemed to have the crowd laughing (I wouldn't know the funnies because of stinky B&N - but I'll get into that later). Here entourage was also pretty entertaining and they had tons of giveaways - TShirts, buttons, posters, fake tattoos.

Which leads me to Barnes & Noble and their wonderful management of this event. FAIL. They had SK in the main aisle, shoved all the way to the back with the manga...and half the main aisle clear to accommodate the chairs. They expected a big crowd, the manager had told me so when I went in to ask if I could bring in "old" copies. But, what did they do with that over flow? They stuck us in the side aisles hidden by books. Quite lovely, so my few was shelf on one side, shelf on other side, corsets in front. (They were lovely corsets though) But no view of SK and I could barely hear her. Not to mention the wait for her and then the entire Q&A I stood there - so that was like 2 hours standing there staring at a shelf.  They did bring around tasters of cookies and fraps, which was nice. But I didn't come there to get tasters! I came there to hear a prolific writer speak - and all I heard was "wah wah wah, ha ha, wah wah wah, clap clap." (pictured to left, me peaking around the manga barrier to see if I can catch a glimpse of SK)

When I did get her to sign the books, SK was very nice, she seemed very patient with her overeager fans and would get pictures with them and answer any questions... there were hundreds of people and she took the time to shake your hand say a few words and sign your books. Very impressed with her, not so with B&N.

Stay tune for later this week, I will be giving away the signed copy of Born of Night that I bought - and the swag that I picked up.

Maggie Stiefvater Signing!

I had the pleasure of attending a book signing today that featured the very talented Maggie Stiefvater (Ballad, Lament, Shiver, Linger). I was also pleased to be introduced to two other authors from the YA realm that attended with Maggie, Carrie Ryan (The Dead Tossed Waves)  and Jackson Pearce (As You Wish). The girls were very entertaining, and surprising some parts were almost like stand-up.  Carrie Ryan really impressed me with her brains, Maggie with her wit, and well Jackson seemed to be the youngest of the group so a bit of the, well, comic relief.

Scoop that I picked up. Maggie mentioned that she is toying with a 3rd book to follow up Lament and Ballad. There will not be any ARCs for Fovever! *sob*

The signing was at Octavia books, which was a very cool little bookstore Uptown.  As an added bonus I got to meet Patti from Book Addict my fellow New Orleanian book blogger. Very cool...and I spent a fortune. I'll post In My Mailbox next to "Show-Off" my loot.

Carrie Ryan, author of The Forest of Hands and Teeth & The Dead-Tossed Waves told us that there will be a third book in her series and that she will have a few short stories released this summer, including a piece in a Zombies vs. Unicorns anthology. Sounds interesting.

Maggie, Jackson and Carrie gave us some insight into characters that were hard to write and the characters that were most like themselves. Maggie was actually surprised when the crowd answered that James was the character that was most like herself. She said that rarely happened, most people said a lot of her other characters.  What was the funny thing though, and you can't see it in this picture is that Maggie's left hand was covered in writing, and little notes. Which could be what clued most in to who she related with.

There is Patti getting her book signed by Carrie. Hate to admit this, but I had the guts to do a little promotional business card slipping to Jackson and Carrie, but just didn't have the cojonas to slip one to Maggie, especially after she dropped the Forever ARC bomb. That means that release will be HOT. Hope you enjoyed my share!

Books by the above mentioned authors: