First things first: the randomly-selected winner of LOLA AND THE BOY NEXT DOOR giveaway was Ruthie! Thanks everyone for commenting and coming by, I know I speak for both of us when I say that it was a ton of fun re-reading the Anna & the French Kiss swoon. We have another giveaway coming up Wednesday – of DAUGHTER OF SMOKE AND BONE by Laini Taylor.
We are so overdue for this post, but Holy Hot Cricket this last week was nuts. Priorities: here’s some swoon:
Anyway, recovering from Comic Con requires at least a week, and of course it was a bananas work week (Lo) and/or everyone in the family got sick (Christina), so I think this week is the one for actual recovery.
The usual SDCC awesome?
So, other highlights? Game of Thrones panel (Jason Momoa as Drogo yelling in Dothraki in person? Yes.Please.) Also, the Psych and Chuck panels were hilarious. Torchwood! Big Bang Theory! Spielberg and Jackson together in one place for Tin Tin! I’m woman enough to admit that I snuck into crazy Hall H for the Best Destruction of a Headboard Ever Breaking Dawn panel. And although Rob Pattinson’s hair was a disaster (did anyone else see it and think Gary Oldman in Fifth Element?), the cast seemed super excited for the Uterine!Chomp! scene, so that’s… great!
In addition to all the book panels (yay for book programming!), we also attended the Penguin publishing panel. Alas, we did not win any of the giveaways, but we did get to go to the Penguin party afterward where we met and chatted up the funny non-Penguin-but-awesome-fellow Ryan Ferrier. Also, we hugged Andrea Cremer who is so adorable and huggable it should be illegal. AND, she is a history professor at my Alma Mater, Macalester. CRAZY, RIGHT?
Also at the party was Penguin author Marie Lu. I am SUPER excited to read her upcoming novel, LEGEND. *does the braggy ARC dance* But don’t worry, Swoonies, we’ll share it soon, I PROMISE.
The author panels were my favorite. There’s something really wonderful about meeting one’s favorite writers in the flesh (that sounds creepy), and being able to grab them by the shoulders and shake them like the wild fangirl you are and yell, “YOU ARE AMAZING I WANT TO BE KAROU AND IS AKIVA REAL?” (from DoS&B, review coming soon). Or, you know, do that on the inside while on the outside you extend your hand and shake theirs gently and say, “It’s really wonderful to meet you, Laini Taylor.”
I had the honor of organizing one of the author panels this year, and so I chased down politely asked several amazing YA & crossover authors if they would like to come to Comic Con and participate. By May, we had my dream panel: Andrea Cremer, Amanda Hocking, Tahereh Mafi, Stephanie Perkins, Laini Taylor, and Kiersten White. On top of THAT Most Awesome Panel Ever, Nathan Bransford agreed to moderate.
I KNOW, RIGHT? *happy claps*
It went perfectly. No surprise here that Nathan is insanely poised and articulate and the entire panel was funny, humble, thoughtful, and just all around lovely. Everything from what drives a huge demographic into the YA section, to what’s too dark for YA, to what they would say to aspiring writers was covered in the fantastic discussion. I’m smitten with all seven of them. I want to bake each of them a cake and draw mustaches on their adorable faces.
If you weren’t there, you were missed. Promise to come next year?
Up Wednesday: Daughter of Smoke and Bone review and epic giveaway. SERIOUSLY YOU DO NOT WANT TO MISS THIS.
Jessirae says
Doesn't totally suck that I live in SD and I was not able to go to Comic-Con this year!? Major suck. But thanks for this comic-con roundup post! It looked like so much fun!
Oh, and congrats to Ruthie! Happy reading!
Ryan Ferrier says
Thank you so much for the mention, that is an honor! The pleasure was all mine, the Penguin party was a great time and it was truly great meeting you. I'm already planning for San Diego next year!
arfalcon says
Reading about and seeing the picture of your panel was the real highlight of CC for me. You picked amazing authors, and having Nathan moderate was a brilliant idea. Wonder if Nathan realizes how many fans his blog has spawned. I'd read about Amanda's remarkable trajectory in The New York Times Magazine, and of course I'm already a hard core Stephanie junkie. Now I'm dying to read Lani's book and some of the other authors. San Diego's a long way from NY, but if you keep organizing panels like this, I'm going to have to crawl out of my hole and attend.
Lauren says
Girlfriend, if we can get you to SDCC I will to a special tap dance. And yes, I hope to be able to put together another author panel next year. FINGERS CROSSED. Thanks for coming by!
Lauren says
Clearly I will "do" a special tap dance. IT IS PRE-COFFEE FORGIVE MY TYPOS.
ThisCityGirl says
I had such an amazing time at Comic Con this year. Added bonus was getting to see my Lo almost everyday.
The YA panel couldn't have been better (well, maybe a two hour talk?)!
Hope to be able to do it again next year. I mean, how could I miss out on this epicness?
Lauren says
I do feel sort of sad that I couldn't go on and on in this post about how much I loved seeing all my friends and how much I missed the ones that weren't able to make it. And yes, Jamie/Lo time was fabulous. lalalalagagagaga
christina says
We love nathan here. He even gets his own tag: we heart nathan bransford.
Debra Anastasia says
I had no idea you guys were behind the YA panel! How fun.
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