Meeting Authors: American Library Association (ALA) 2010

Contest is over.

As much as I wanted to go to ALA both Saturday and Sunday, I had promised to baby-sit. But she cancelled last minute. So even though I got there late and missed Malinda Lo, Kami Garcia, Margaret Stohl, and the BEAUTIFUL DARKNESS ARC signing, I got there in time to meet some other fabulous authors and grab some other ARCs.

Laurie Halse Anderson was the first author I met. She was number one on my list to meet on Saturday. I love SPEAK and CATAYST, and I’m currently enjoying TWISTED. I got all three of those signed, as well as WINTERGIRLS and a second copy of SPEAK. She was super friendly. And she used to live in my area, so we chatted about that some. It’s always nice to meet authors who are so down-to-earth.

After getting those signed, I ran over to Melissa Marr’s line, which had gotten smaller. I’ve met her a few times already. She is absolutely fabulous, and very focused on her readers. She recognized me, which was a “Woot!” moment. Though I shouldn’t be surprised. Just a few months ago we had breakfast and spent a few hours hanging out at RT (with Jennifer Lynn Barnes, Em from http://twistedfates.livejournal.com/ and Sandy from http://scribing-shadows.blogspot.com/). I finally got my copy of RADIANT SHADOWS signed and a spoiler (Shhh) from DARKEST MERCY which I am not allowed to share.

Diana Peterfreund was there. I took my copy of RAMPANT. But genius that I am, forgot that I bought a signed stock copy from a Borders that she did a signing at. She’s a local author. But I did pick up a copy of ASCENDANT, as well as an extra for my friend Sam from http://loonyreads.blogspot.com/

Holly Black was signing also. I’ve met her more than any other author. Probably 10 times… and this was the third this year. She does a lot of signings in the DC area. Anyway, they were selling paperbacks of her graphic novel, KIN, the first in The Good Neighbors series for $2. So I bought five, and if you follow me on twitter, you may remember the twitter only giveaway. She was great as always. And, of course, very funny.

I spent the rest of the day exploring the YA publishing booths. I picked up several good ones: THE REPLACEMENT by Brenna Yovanoff (one for me and one for Em from http://twistedfates.livejournal.com/), THE PAINTED BOY by the fantastic Charles de Lint, and DARK SONG by author Gail Giles.

Sunday was an even bigger day. I got in line for Simone Elkeles, Jessica Day George, and Carrie Jones, but then I saw the line for Andrea Cremer and Ally Condie. So I jumped over there to make sure I could pick up an ARC of NIGHTSHADE and MATCHED. I got to see Susan from http://www.wastepaperprose.com/ while waiting in line. I picked those up and got them signed. Andrea Cremer told me my name was fantastic, her favorite. For those who don’t know, my real name is Andrea. Friends (and fellow book bloggers) asked me to pick up an extra copy for them. So when I asked if I could get back in line and get a second copy, I was laughed at for thinking there’d be any left.

While waiting in line I met Vordak the Incomprehensible. Scott Seegert, the author of VORDAK THE INCOMPREHENSIBLE, was dressed up as his MC. He was very funny. He walked around handing out ARCs of his books asking if you “want to grow up and rule the world”. Of course, everyone said "yes". The kids loved him.

So… sad that I couldn’t get extra copies, I ran over to meet Simone Elkeles, Jessica Day George, and Carrie Jones and get books signed. The woman in front of me wouldn’t move on so I didn’t really get to chat with any of them. She wanted to have long convos with each of them and the lady that ran the booth had to move her down. FYI, it’s not polite to hog author time. You only get to talk while they are signing your books when there is a long line. The worst part… the lady didn’t even have their books. She just picked up their swag and got that signed.

After that, the Andrea/Ally line was small, so I got in line again. I picked up NIGHTSHADE for Catie from http://meow-mix85.blogspot.com/ and MATCHED for Kim from http://twistedfates.livejournal.com/ Woot, there were some left! Also, they told me the cover on the hardback on NIGHTSHADE, is even more amazing.

Other authors I wanted to see were John Green and David Levithan, authors of WILL GRAYSON, WILL GRAYSON, that I won from Melissa Marr. But their line was crazy long, and they cut it so I wasn’t able to get it signed. But I did meet David Levithan the previous day while getting books signed by Holly Black.

Speaking of Holly Black... she was signing again. Met some nice people in line. She also had a crazy long line that they had to cut. Simon and Schuster had a kinda uncool rule for passing out ARCs. You had to buy a book first. While I understand that rule, it stinks when you already own everything by the author. Which I do, and it's all signed. So I got another copy of VALIANT (this time for a co-workers daughter that I gave TITHE to a while back) and for buying that I got an ARC of ZOMBIES VS UNICORNS. She also had some cool swag. Buttons for zombies, unicorns, and The Curse Workers. And the best swag of the day… black Curse Workers gloves. And chapter two of RED GLOVE.

And for those interested... here is the entire scene from the ZOMBIES VS UNICORNS book.

While I was there I bought THE MONSTRUMOLOGIST and got it signed by Rick Yancey. Aside from author signings and ARCs, the next coolest thing was the cheap books. $2-$5 for paperbacks and $5-$10 for hardbacks. So I picked up the hardback. I’ve looked at this book numerous times, and I thought now was the perfect time to buy it. Too bad the paperback cover is much awesomer. *grin*

Next on the schedule (and, yes, I had a printed schedule for the day) was Elizabeth Scott and Nancy Werlin. For whatever reason, that made no sense, they had a line for each of them. Andrea and Ally were at the same booth and they had one line for both. So, basically, everyone had to wait in line twice. And we were in a small space which means confusion. Also, the lines criss-crossed each other. Not cool, but I got ARCs of GRACE by Elizabeth Scott and EXTRAORDINARY by Nancy Werlin. Also, I got IMPOSSIBLE signed.

I met Amy Brecount White months back when she invited me to her book release party. I also saw her at the Virginia Festival of the Book. So I swung by just to say “hi”. She really is a sweet lady, so if you get the chance to meet her, go…

I ran into Melissa Marr, so we hung out a bit. Picked up an ARC of THE GRIMM LEGACY by Polly Shulman. We got separated on our way to Libba Bray’s line. So, unfortunately, not much Melissa time, but any time is great.

Libba Bray was sweet. In line I met a lovely girl from PA and her aunt. The girl and I chatted a lot about fabulous books. While we were waiting, a lady came up and started chatting with the girls aunt who is a librarian in Montgomery County, MD. The other lady worked with her. And then after she left, her aunt told us that was Annette Curtis Klause. Too bad we didn’t know it was her while she was standing there so we could gush. But she's local, so I hold out hope to meet her again.

Ivy Devlin was next on my list. Ivy is a pen name for an author who is popular for YA fiction. She swore everyone to secrecy to not reveal who she really is. Sorry. But she’s a great author, as I’ve read several of her books and met her previously. I got an ARC of LOW RED MOON, her first YA paranormal. I’ve heard mixed reviews, but I am excited.

While in line for Jeri Smith-Ready, I saw James from http://bookchicclub.blogspot.com/ He was chatting with Stacey Kade, author of THE GHOST AND THE GOTH. Hyperion practically tossed a stack of books to me earlier when one of the women working there and I chatted about the Percy Jackson books. So Stacey Kade signed my ARC. Hanging out with her was Stephanie Kuehnert. I won one of her books from Free Book Friday Teen, and bought the other, but have read none. So I had no idea what to say. “I have your books, and one is signed, but, no… I haven’t read them yet” seemed not so fantastic. Jeri Smith-Ready is another local author. I got my copy of SHADE signed. She was very sweet and kinda quiet.

Throughout the day I picked up I AM J by Cris Beam, PEGASUS by Robin McKinley, and CLOCKWORK ANGEL by Cassandra Clare. I thought for sure by the end of Sunday CLOCKWORK ANGEL would be gone, but they were sneaky and hid them, passing them out only to those that asked. They thought it would ensure they go to good homes where people really wanted them.

And I sadly didn’t get BEAUTIFUL DARKNESS by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl, JANE by April Lindner, PARANORMALCY by Kiersten White, and IMMORTAL BELOVED by Cate Tiernan, but the publishers are supposed to be sending me copies. *fingers crossed*

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And now to the most exciting part of my post...

I ended up with about 24 ARCs, and while all of them seem interesting, I just don't have enough reading time to get to them all. So... if you are a blog reviewer you can enter to win.

There will be four winners. Each will get three ARCs. I've put them in lists, because some are YA and some are MG and some are already out. So... to even it out, I've made ARC Lists. First winner gets preference.

To enter:

1) You must be a follower.

2) Answer the following question: What book are you most excited about coming out this fall?

3) Leave a link to your blog, so that I can see you do review books.

4) You can receive one extra point per Tweet, up to five. Please leave a link to each, and no they don't all need to be in the same reply.

5) Leave me your email, so that I can contact you.

Winners will be chosen on Saturday, July 31, 2010 at 10:00PM EST.

ARC List 1: SOMETHING LIKE FATE by Susane Colasanti (YA), YOU KILLED WESLEY PAIN by Sean Beaudoin (YA), THE CLOCKWORK THREE by Matthew Kirby (MG)

ARC List 2: RADIANT DARKNESS by Emily Whitman (YA), THE ENEMY by Charlie Higson (YA), CLARA LEE AND THE APPLE PIE DREAM by Jenny Han (MG)

ARC List 3: THE HALF-LIFE OF PLANETS by Emily Franklin (YA), GHOUL STRIKE by Andrew Newbound (MG), THE EXTRAORDINARY SECRETS OF APRIL, MAY, AND JUNE by Robin Benway (YA)

ARC List 4: THE GRIMM LEGACY by Polly Shulman (MG), THE CANDYMAKERS by Wendy Mass (MG), DARK SONG by Gail Giles (YA)