Stacey Jay and the Kickstarter brouhaha

There's been a bit of a brouhaha over some drama with YA author Stacey Jay's recent Kickstarter campaign.

After her Princess of Thorns series was dropped by the publisher due to lackluster sales, Jay reasoned that moderate sales could still make the rest of the series feasible as an independently published project. She put together a Kickstarter campaign, asking for $10,500 to fund the next book. That sum included printing costs, cover art and her living expenses.

It looks like she got some backlash from the internets about asking for so much for her living expenses. There's a storify with some reactions from fans.

She wrote a dramatic blogpost, taking down her Kickstarter request, and announcing her decision to retire from YA writing for a while.

What really happened here? I was surprised to see her take the Kickstarter campaign down, simply because a few people questioned it. I agree, wholeheartedly, that artists and writers should be paid for their work, and sadly, it's something that the general public often needs to be educated about. With my own background in theatre, I know too well how common it is to be asked to take on artistic projects for no pay, simply for the "exposure" and I must say how very unreasonable that is. My landlord wouldn't take a round of applause as sole payment for an apartment, you know?

It's been pointed out that Jay's main problem may simply be the way she worded her request. In my opinion, I did think she sounded a bit defensive about asking for living expenses, which may have caused the somewhat feral reaction. As a professional writer, she really should have made sure to craft her request more confidently. If she was already feeling somewhat wounded about being dropped from her publisher, that may explain why she wasn't able to push back to those who questioned her expenses.

All in all, a surprising turn of events - what a shame Jay didn't feel comfortable enough to push back her detractors, let the Kickstarter stay as-is and wait to see if the support for funding would eventually come through or not.

Book With No Pictures reading

I've seen plenty of wordless picture books in my day, but this is a first... The Book with No Pictures by B.J. Novak sure looks like fun.

My Top Ten Authors

This week's topic from The Broke and the Bookish is: Top Ten Authors I Own The Most Books From.

Well, I must admit - if I were to pick out my absolute favorite Top Ten authors, there are a few of these who wouldn't have made the cut. But, they made the list by being prolific, and eminently readable (for the most part) so here is my list of authors that take up the most real estate on my bookshelves.

1 Robert Jordan

I didn't even need to dip into his Conan books for Robert Jordan to come up top on my list. His Wheel of Time series was more than enough to nab him a number one spot on my list.

2  Lemony Snicket

I was a fan of Daniel Handler from the very start. I read an ARC of his first two books in The Series of Unfortunate Events way back when and was immediately hooked.

3 L. Frank Baum

An old childhood favorite! Your bookshelves aren't complete without a complete set of Oz books.

4  Piers Anthony

Eh... maybe not the highest quality literature, but his Xanth novels (of which there are dozens) and other series are quick fun reads.

5 Margaret Peterson Haddix

I'm the biggest Margaret Peterson Haddix fan. I loved her Shadow Children series.

6 Charlaine Harris

Well, good ol' Sookie Stackhouse ended with a whimper, not a bang, I thought. But, it was a fun ride while it lasted, and there were plenty of novels along the way.

7 Jennifer L. Holm

My collection of Babymouse books puts Jennifer L. Holm way over the top, but I love her serious, sensitive middle-grade fiction like Penny From Heaven, too.

8 J.K. Rowling

Well, J.K. Rowling is an auto-purchase for me, obviously.

9 David Eddings

Here's another author I didn't think would end up on my top ten list. I guess all those paperback fantasy novels really start to add up!

10  Brandon Sanderson

One of my new favorite authors. He's on my top ten list right now, but I expect if we checked back in a year, he will probably rise in the rankings, as he's got a lot of books out that I still want to get caught up on!

So, who were your top ten authors? Were you surprised by any of them, the way that I was? Let me know in the comments.

Top Ten Bookish Memories

Top Ten Tuesdays is a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week's topic is: Top Ten Best Bookish Memories.

I've been pretty fortunate - working in bookstores and libraries, I've had the opportunity to attend some pretty awesome author events. Here are a few of my favorite bookish memories.

1. My first ARC bookshelf
I'll never forget my first day working at an independent bookstore, when I was being shown the staff work room. There was a whole shelf of Advanced Reader's Copy books, and I was told that I was allowed to, no, in fact, highly encouraged, to take them home to read. I had never heard of ARCs before, and the idea blew my mind - reading a book before it was published? It was like peeking into the future!

2. Ray Bradbury
I worked a book signing with Ray Bradbury. It was so amazing getting to meet him. He was rather irascible in person - the kind of guy who loves a "good argument." We had a great conversation about theatre and he was very passionate about hating when playwrights lean on using swear words to create controversy. I agreed with him wholeheartedly, and I think he was a little disappointed that I didn't disagree. He was pretty hungry and we got him a grilled cheese sandwich - when he was signing my books at the end of the night he got greasy crumbs all over my copy of The Martian Chronicles! I was cringing inside, but didn't dare say anything!

3. J.K. Rowling
I was working in a bookstore before Harry Potter had come out - it was a whole different world then. Fantasy was not popular. Only "nerds" enjoyed books about wizardry. Kids books did not make money, not big money, anyway. Rowling agreed to a book tour, before her book had come out - her books were just catching on in England, and there was some question if they'd be popular in the States or not. Her publisher booked her on a grueling tour of the U.S. to promote the book. By the time the date of her book signing rolled around, her books were already climbing the bestseller charts and things had really spiraled out of control. It was crazy! We limited the signing to "only" 400 people and it was still a complete mob. Jo was such a trouper. Even though she was exhausted, she still had a smile for every fan, and signed the whole time while chatting with everyone. Obviously, she'll never do a "small scale" event like that again. Getting to meet her was so awesome!

4. Lemony Snicket
This was another author I got to meet before he was really famous. I'd read The Bad Beginning from The Series of Unfortunate Events and loved it. I was so excited to work a book signing with Daniel Handler. He came dressed in a 1920's seersucker suit, complete with boater and spats! A lot of the parents were completely taken aback. They had no idea what to make of this guy, who cheerfully played the accordion and sang songs about orphans and death. It was so much fun. We gave him a "thank you" gift of an Edward Gorey book which turned out to be absolutely perfect.

5. Avi
I got to meet Avi! I was invited to dinner with Avi and a couple of book industry people. It was so nervewracking, because he was one of my favorite authors as a kid, and I was sure that I'd be completely tongue-tied. He ended up telling us all about cold winters in Colorado which really "broke the ice" so to speak.

6. Brandon Sanderson
Another of my favorite authors, I had the opportunity to go to dinner with him and work at one of his book signings. It was an awesome experience. Apparently, he has a legendary love of salty food - and I can confirm that was absolutely true. He put a ton of salt on everything! I think he ordered a steak, and pretty much salted every bite! It was great talking to him about his books - he is so intelligent and inventive when it comes to manipulating magic systems. The man has a sharp, sharp eye for business as well. He was very focused and involved in creating his "brand" - his online blog, promoting his books, running a podcast and teaching new writers. At his book signing I got to meet a lot of his fans, many of whom had traveled from several states away just to see them. Everybody there had an interesting story and we had a really good time.

7. Susan Patron

I was working at Los Angeles Public Library when Susan Patron, who was then working in Collection Development won the Newbery award for her book The Higher Power of Lucky. It was a thrilling time! While Susan Patron wasn't my direct boss, she had done quite a bit of my training when I first started as a professional librarian and she'd always been someone I really looked up to. I was so excited for her and her book which was a complete dark horse. Plus, I got to hear a "sneak preview" of her acceptance speech before she spoke at the awards ceremony.

8. Carmen Agra Deedy
While I've been lucky to host lots of authors for storytimes at various libraries I've worked at, I think Carmen Agra Deedy must be one of the most entertaining storytellers I've ever met. Lots of authors are actually quite sensitive and shy - but Carmen was absolutely vivacious. We actually had a lot more teens come to the program than we'd expected, and she instantly adjusted her story, Martina the Beautiful Cockroach turning it into a sassy, hilarious, Cuban "dating game" that the teens could really relate to. She did different voices for all the characters and was absolutely a hoot!

9. ALA Teen Coffee Klatch
Last year, I finally got to attend the American Library Association Teen Coffee Klatch. It was an incredible event. Basically, it's musical chairs in a room full of YA authors. They'll come and sit at your table and talk with a group of 5 or 6 librarians for about 10 minutes. Then, a bell rings, and they get up to go to the next table, and you get to meet someone else. There was a great blend of debut authors and "big names." I wrote more about it here.

10. Book festivals - Texas, Los Angeles, West Hollywood, Suwanee, Decatur
This has got to be a 5-way tie! I always love a book festival, and I've been lucky to get to go to some pretty big ones - the Texas Book Festival in Austin, Texas, the Los Angeles Festival of Books, the West Hollywood Book Fair, the Decatur Book Festival right outside Atlanta where I got to be a featured storyteller and even minor festivals like the Book Festival in Suwanee, GA. It's so great when the weather is nice, and you're among fellow book lovers, and you never know which book celebrity you're going to meet or what book you're going to discover. I love book festivals!

Lemony Snicket... what's he up to these days?

Are you asking the right questions? Or all the wrong ones? Go to Lemony Snicket's website to find out.

Merry Christmas 2011

Merry Christmas! Here's another awesome Mother Goose rebus that I received from author/illustrator Will Hillenbrand. Enjoy!

Top Ten Authors I'd Like to Meet

Who are the top ten authors that you'd DIE to meet?

Wow, what a tough question. In part, this question is tough for me, because I've been lucky enough to meet so very many of my favorite authors already. Working in a bookstore, and now in libraries, plus attending book-related conferences every chance I get, the list of famous authors I've met briefly, or had dinner with, or heard speak is ridiculously long. I worked a book signing with J.K. Rowling - a total madhouse, that she handled with complete class. I hosted a book signing and accordion sing-a-long with Daniel Handler, a.k.a. Lemony Snicket, before he was well-known, that had parents angrily storming out when they completely didn't get his awesomely twisted sense of humor. I have been delighted and charmed at book talks by Brian Jacques, Ray Bradbury, and Jeff Kinney.  That having been said, I'm sure there are more authors that I'd love the chance to hang out with.

The only other quibble I have with this question, is that honestly, authors ARE my rockstars, but I value my life pretty darn highly. I can't think of a single one that I'd literally die for. No, not even her. Not him, either. Nope. No way. Sorry. Can't have one of my kidneys, either. I'm keeping those for myself.

So, if I assume the dying question is merely a figure of speech, who'd make the top ten? I wasn't going to go with authors who are dead - but there are a few I guess I have to mention.

Isaac Asimov! The undisputed king of science-fiction, raconteur and all-around charmer. This is the guy who invented The Laws of Robotics. He died while I was in high school and I felt like I "just missed him" - if I'd been just a bit older, or had my own car, I'm sure I could have managed to run into him at a sci-fi convention of some sort.

James Oliver Rigney, Jr., better known as Robert Jordan. Never met him! I love his Wheel of Time books so much, but at the time I was reading them, I was working putting together some author events and book signings and met some other authors of my favorite books - and sad to say, I had a few pretty negative experiences with authors who shall remain nameless. It's not always a good thing to meet your heroes. I had several opportunities to see Robert Jordan at various book events, but I always passed it up, because I loved his books so much - what if our meeting didn't go well? It would totally take the shine off of those books for me. And then, very suddenly it seemed, he was diagnosed with a rare disease, and he was gone. Darn it. Now I really wish I had met him and I'll never get the chance.

Okay, if we're talking dead authors, I'll have to throw this one in there: William Shakespeare. I actually kind of don't want to meet him. I'm picturing him, in genuine Renaissance-period wear, this filthy, flea-bitten, harried poet. I don't know why I think of Shakespeare as being an incredibly grumpy person, but I feel certain that he was. He was a genius beyond compare, he worked insanely long hours in the theatre, he was separated from his family for long periods of time so he could work in London. All of those things must add up to a foul temperament, right? Plus, as I mentioned earlier, the smell. I'm sure that would not be good. But, if time traveling was magically possible and I could meet him, I would, because I've spent so many years working onstage and backstage at Shakespearean theatres, it would be great bragging rights to meet The Bard himself.


All right, enough of that! Let's move on to living authors.
The next two are easy. Technically, I suppose you could say that I've "met" them already - if you count being within arm's reach in the same room. Last June at the American Library Association Annual Conference in New Orleans, I attended the YA Authors Coffee Klatch, an awesome event where you get to sit down for coffee and spend 10 minutes or so with a random, rotating set of authors. Every 10 minutes a bell is rung, and your author gets up and heads to a new table. Just as the event was ending, both Cassandra Clare and Cheryl Rainfield were heading towards my table. Aaargh! So close! Yet so far away.

I want to meet Cassandra Clare because I hate her books so much! I want to understand the person who wrote them a bit better. I'm sorry Team Jace, I just don't understand you. Incest isn't romantic - it's yucky!

I want to meet Cheryl Rainfield because she seems like such a survivor - a strong, amazing woman. I don't think she looks like her photo at all, but I still recognized her right away. Is that weird?

One author who I'd like to meet is Maggie Stiefvater. I loved her Wolves of Mercy Falls books. She did a local book signing recently, but I didn't find out about it until the date had already passed. I can't believe I haven't met her yet!

I would love to meet Brenna Yovanoff. I really liked The Replacement even if it was just a hair too scary for me, and I have some kind of vague idea that she has a great sense of style.

I'd love to meet Paranormalcy author Kiersten White. At least from her Twitter feed, she seems as bubbly and funny as her characters.

Wouldn't it be great to meet Stephenie Meyer? I am not a Twi-hard, by any stretch of the imagination, but I did really enjoy Twilight. Let's just pretend Breaking Dawn never happened. And I loved, loved, loved The Host. I can't believe that The Host hasn't gotten more attention - that was a great book.

I have a terrible confession to make. I do not particularly care for Neil Gaiman's books. I don't hate them, I just kind of feel "meh" about most everything of his that I've tried to read. But, I love his blog. Reading it is like reading a letter from a friend. And he seems like such an interesting person. He keeps bees! He owns a Narnia lamp out in the middle of the woods! I like his accent. Even though I'm not his superfan #1, I'd still like to meet Neil Gaiman.










Wow, that's 10 already. I'm sure I could think of more. Who would you like to meet?

2011 Debut Authors Challenge complete

I challenged myself to read 12 debut authors in 2011 and I'm simultaneously surprised to be finished so soon, and shocked that I didn't finish earlier, since there were more than 12 interesting debut authors that I wanted to read in January alone.

Here's my list.

1 Unearthly - Cynthia Hand
2 Wither - Lauren deStefano
3 Angelfire - Courtney Allison Moulton
4 Across the Universe - Beth Revis
5 XVI - Julia Karr
6 The False Princess - Eilis O'Neal
7 Lost Voices - Sarah Porter
8 The Goddess Test - Aimee Carter
9 How I Stole Johnny Depp's Alien Girlfriend - Gary Ghislain
10 The Latte Rebellion - Sarah Jamila Stevenson
11 The Great Wall of Lucy Wu - Wendy Wan Long
12 The Demon Trapper's Daughter - Jana Oliver

I'm pleased I gave this challenge a try... I had thought that it might be the sort of thing I'd be accomplishing already without even realizing it, but going back and looking at my reading logs, that wasn't the case. So, it did take a bit of effort to seek out new authors, but it was definitely worthwhile. I'll post again at the end of the year, and see how many more debuts I read.

Authors: It Gets Better

How cool is this? Plenty of authors and illustrators getting together to remind gay teens (or anyone who is being bullied) that "it gets better."

Alex Flinn report

I've been meaning to post about how the Alex Flinn signing I went to went for about a week now! She came to speak at The Little Shop of Stories in Decatur in February. In short, it was fantastic. It was a smaller crowd than I anticipated. I guess not a lot of people wanted to make it out on a chilly February evening. Still, it was really nice to be able to hear her talk in an intimate setting, she's a great public speaker... and the teens who attended all had such thoughtful and interesting questions for her. She read a chapter from her newest book, Cloaked.

As I expected, sales of Beastly were quite high... the shelves were wiped out of the original cover version. The new movie cover didn't seem to sell as much. One of the main things that she talked about was how she had read several different versions of Beauty and the Beast, and one of the things that struck her, was in the original, Beauty's father steals a rose from the Beast's garden. When he's confronted by the Beast, he gladly offers to send his daughter to stay in the Beast's castle in his place. Flinn said, that as a parent, this seemed like a fairly horrible thing to do. And the other thing that made her curious was if the Beast is supposed to be the former prince of the land, why is he off in this castle all by himself? Where is his family? Did they just ship him off to a remote castle somewhere to get him out of the way? That seems pretty cold, too. So, she decided Beastly should be about two teens with horrible parents finding each other. What an interesting way to look at it. 

Of course, plenty of people wanted to hear behind the scenes info from the movie, and she shared plenty of those stories as well. Flinn confessed that she was worried about the film when it was initially put together because she didn't have a lot of creative control with it. But, she was very pleased with what they came up with. The producers had initially cast Zac Efron as the Beast... and Efron had suggested that they change the script so that the Beast is closer to his father, which made Flinn roll her eyes, as the whole point of the book is that they don't get along. But, then, Efron dropped the project, and Alex Pettyfer was brought on board, and they reverted back to the original script. Flinn was also surprised when they cast Mary-Kate Olsen (a famous anorexic) to play the part of the witch, Kendra, who inspires the Beast's scorn in the book because she's overweight. Flinn even wondered if they were going to get a fat suit for Olsen, something which the producers nixed. But, she said Olsen did a great acting job and she was pleased with the results. 

Someone asked why the Beast in the movie was all scarred instead of furry, and Flinn kind of dodged the question, saying that she understood that Pettyfer was in the makeup chair for hours just to get the scar makeup done, and putting on fur would have taken even longer, so it might have been impractical to do. Privately, I thought the producers must have been going for an "ugly beautiful" look - scary looking, but still with a hint of attractiveness, something which might have been impossible with a hairy Beast. 

Afterwards, Flinn signed some books, mine is inscribed with, "To Madigan, Have a beastly time reading this! -Alex Flinn" It was a great talk, I'm glad that I went.

Dr. Seuss's Birthday

In celebration of Dr. Seuss's birthday today, I thought I'd share this Wordle. It's the full text of Green Eggs and Ham.

Author names

I've been on a Meg Cabot kick recently, when one of my colleagues overheard me saying this, she corrected my pronunciation of the author's name. I had been saying it with a "silent T," Meg Cabot, to rhyme with... Bordeaux, I guess.  It turns out that it's actually Meg Cabot, to rhyme with habit. I confirmed the pronunciation by double-checking with one of my favorite sites ever, The Author Name Pronunciation Guide put together by TeachingBooks.net.  I must get in the "habit" of saying, "Meg CaboT"

Checkout the site, if you haven't already... it's a fantastic collection of audio clips of authors explaining how to pronounce their own names.  Now you'll never have to stumble over the names of Louis Sachar, Jon Scieszka or  Susan Patron (hint: it's not like library patron) again.

Debut Authors Challenge 2011

I'm excited to try The Story Siren's Debut Authors Challenge. I figured I'd like to mix it up, and make sure I'm reading plenty of new authors in the upcoming year.  I've already read a couple of 2011 titles that I thought were debuts, but after some digging around, turns out they are not! One is from an author who has published in other genres, another is from an author who's been long absent from the publishing scene and is just now returning. (I know, that under the "official rules" being published in other genres still counts, but I am trying to read true debuts, here.)

I'd expected to kind of float along, and tally-up how many debuts I read this year, but then I figured, why not take a look at the official list and make sure I'm getting to authors who are truly new, not just new to me.  Happily, I'm finding that completing this challenge should be absurdly easy, as there are so many novels that have caught my interest which I am eager to read and review this year.  Good gosh, I could probably fill the requirements of this challenge with books released in January alone!

I know all of the following titles are high on my list of items "To Be Read":

1 Unearthly by Cynthia Hand Harper Teen January 2011
2 The Latte Rebellion by Sarah Jamila Stevenson January 2011
3 XVI by Julia Karr Speak January 2011
4 The False Princess by Eilis O'Neal Egmont USA January 2011
5 Across the Universe by Beth Revis Razorbill January 2011
6 The Great Wall of Lucy Wu by Wendy Wang-Long Shang Scholastic January 2011
7 Angelfire by Courtney Allison Moulton Katherine Tegan Books February 2011
8 The Iron Witch by Karen Mahoney Flux February 2011 
9 Wither by Lauren deStefano Greenwillow March 2011
10 The Lipstick Laws by Amy Holder Graphia April 2011
11 Awaken by Katie Kacvinsky Houghton Mifflin Books for Children May 2011
12 Lost Voices by Sarah Porter Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Childrens July 2011

The Gathering Storm signing

As if I wasn't busy enough with opening a new library, last week I also had the opportunity to volunteer at a book signing for The Gathering Storm by Brandon Sanderson and Robert Jordan, so even though my plate is pretty full these days, I jumped at the chance.

Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series was very close to completion on his death, just over two years ago. When he passed on, his widow, Harriet McDougal selected fantasy author Brandon Sanderson to complete the series. Sanderson is the author of the Mistborn Chronicles, Elantris, Warbreaker and the Alcatraz and the Evil Librarians middle-grade fiction series. Sanderson has now completed the third to last book of the Wheel of Time and was just finishing his four week tour as he came to the Los Angeles.

Myself and the other volunteers met Brandon Sanderson for dinner at a Roy's Hawaiian fusion restaurant across the street from Vroman's Bookstore. It was a pleasant evening, with temperatures in the mid to high 60's. As soon as our food arrived, Brandon requested a salt shaker. (He is notoriously fond of salt.) Someone asked if now that he was a father, if Brandon would ever end up writing things inspired by his son. He said, "No," because he'd heard that M. Night Shyamalan had written Lady in the Water based on a story for his children. We ended up talking about Shamalayan for a while. And Brandon said he felt that because his first few twist endings had gone so well, it seemed like Shyamalan was putting in a twist to everything, whether it needed one or not. He said he hoped that The Last Airbender, Shyamalan's current project would be successful for him. We didn't spend the whole night talking about Shyamalan, however.

Several of us asked Brandon what the status was on Robert Jordan's prequel novels, or Outrigger novels, and if those would ever be completed. Brandon responded by telling us that Harriet has said, "You've got to know when to hold 'em. Know when to fold 'em. And know when to walk away." And as to what that means, is anyone's guess. I asked Sanderson if there was any news on his Alcatraz series, and he said he'd completed the fourth book in the series and that a lot of major plotlines have been resolved. There's still plenty of questions left unanswered. It's possible he might return to it. But, for now, he has completed his contract on the Alcatraz books. He was much more excited about his upcoming projects. He said he might do a second trilogy set in the Mistborn world, taking place at least a hundred years after the events of the first trilogy. It would be urban fantasy, with magic and guns. He didn't use the word "steampunk" but that's how it sounded to me. He told us a little bit about his new Way of Kings series, which sounds like truly mega-epic fantasy, in a magic-rich environment with characters who wear powerful magic-imbued plate armor.

After dinner, we reconvened at the bookstore where we met with the store representative, who along with Brandon, outlined what everyone's roles would be for the evening. The store seemed a little underprepared -- they clearly weren't expecting the crowd of over 150 fans who gathered, and they sold out of nearly everything. Then again, Brandon wasn't number one on the New York Times bestseller list when he first booked the signing, either! Our store liaison explained that the store closed at 9 pm, and when Brandon told her that he'd never completed a signing before 10:30, she looked a little crestfallen, but quickly went about getting clearance for the store to stay open a little later.

The waiting crowd

The Storm Leaders handed out bumper stickers along with a Wheel of Time quiz and word search game to the crowd. A big shout-out to super-fan Bryan who'd snagged a front row seat and started the celebratory mood by saying, "On behalf of everyone, can I just say... Whoooo!" and let out an earth-shaking roar of appreciation, which was roundly applauded. Brandon said, "Can I get you to do that at every signing? That was awesome!"

Sanderson started out by explaining that he was nearing the end of a massive four-week tour, and apologized if he sounded a little "loopy". He then proceeded to give a wonderfully engaging talk, and answered a brief Q and A. A number of fans have probably heard the story of how he wanted to work with Tor publishing, because that was where Robert Jordan was published, and he shared that with the audience. He read from the prologue of The Gathering Storm, a passage that he said was nearly pure Jordan. During the Q and A session, he gave a couple of RAFOs.* Moraine? RAFO. Asmodean? RAFO. Someone in the audience asked "If a channeler opened a gateway, would it be possible for them to balefire themselves? What would happen?" Brandon said that he had heard Robert Jordan give a more ribald answer to that same question once, (RJ had responded something to the effect of, "You need to get laid.") but for Sanderson's part, all he could say was RAFO, as there's certain to be plenty of balefire at the Last Battle in the upcoming finale.

Before the signing, a signed poster and several Wheel of Time comic books were raffled off.

During the signing, I noticed that Brandon took a moment to chat with each and every person who stood in line. By the end of the night, his signature resembled a stylized loop more than anything else, but his energy and attention for the attendees never wavered.

With one of his youngest fans, an Alcatraz reader.

I spent nearly three hours canvassing the crowd of over 150 of the people who turned out for the signing. What struck me the most was the diversity of the group. There were fans who'd been reading Wheel of Time for over 15 years. There were a number of people who'd started the series about 6 months ago, and raced through the whole set to get caught up. There were even a few people who had just started reading WoT that night! I talked to a lot of Mistborn and Elantris fans who were new to the Wheel of Time, and a lot of Wheel of Time fans who were going back and enjoying Sanderson's epic fantasy novels. There were Alcatraz fans both young and old. People came from all over the Southland, but the person who traveled the longest flew down from Sacramento. Another person in line was from Houston. Parents really appreciated Brandon's announcement that people with young children, and those in wheelchairs, should feel free to come up to the start of the line. The way Brandon announced this reminded me of pre-flight boarding -- no doubt it something he has a lot of experience with, considering all the traveling he's been doing this month!

Chatting up the crowd

We gifted Brandon with a care basket, including cough drops, salty snacks and a set of blue foil Magic cards. At just after 10 pm, we gathered outside of the bookstore, for a picture, before Brandon headed back to his hotel and on to Seattle the next day.

*Read and Find Out

Children's Literature Council Fall Gala 2009

The crowd at this year's Children's Literature Council Fall Gala seemed a little smaller than it has in years past, and just a little more casual too, which was nice.

I was pleased that the event was hosted at the Skirball Cultural Center this year. The Bowers museum, where it's been hosted in the past, was lovely but a verry long drive for me.

The keynote speaker was Jennifer Holm of Babymouse fame, and she was delightfully entertaining. She gave a wonderful talk about some of the things that inspired her. I was introduced to her, briefly, and when she heard my name is Madigan, she asked, "Oh, do you go by Maddy?" To which I replied, (perhaps a little too sternly?) "No, I prefer Madigan." She answered that by saying, "Oh my gosh! I was just asking!" She said it in such a chirpy and funny way for a brief moment it was almost like talking to Babymouse herself. How awesome!

Most exciting, was that my old friend Hope Anita Smith had won the Myra Cohn Livingston award for poetry for her book, Keeping the Night Watch. I'm embarrassed to admit it, but for just a teensy-tiny second, I was afraid that since I haven't seen her in a few years, and she's won so many awards, maybe there would be some distance between us? Happily, that wasn't the case. She asked me if I wouldn't mind taking her photograph when she got her award, even though there was already an official photographer set up. I guess, when she got her Coretta Scott King award, there was some kind of photo mishap, and she wanted to make certain to catch a photo of this one. So, I gladly obliged. That meant, of course, that I don't have any photos of the event, because I was using Hope's camera. I did snap this photo afterward, as the authors signed books in the courtyard. Jennifer Holm is sitting up front, looking a little weary (I'm not sure how many books she must have signed at this point, but I'm sure it was a lot) Hope is sitting just behind her, steadily signing away.

I wish I'd been able to stay a little longer... the Skirball gave everyone at the event free passes to see their Noah's Ark exhibit, but I had other plans for the afternoon. You can read other attendees accounts of the Gala here, and here.

On Vacation

I am on vacation, breathing in the mercifully less smoky air of Atlanta, GA. There's lots on my agenda for the long weekend. I'm geeking out at Dragon*Con (for those unfamiliar, they describe themselves as "the largest multi-media, popular culture convention focusing on science fiction and fantasy, gaming, comics, literature, art, music, and film in the US") Plenty of fantasy and science-fiction authors here... Kevin J. Anderson, Rebecca Moesta, Timothy Zahn, Charlaine Harris (of True Blood fame), Janny Wurts and Peter S. Beagle to name a few.

As if that weren't enough, this is also the same weekend as the Decatur Book Festival. About a 30 minute train ride east of Atlanta, they claim to be the country's largest independent book festival. I don't know about that! They are expecting a respectable 60,000 attendees, but that's still nothing compared to the L.A. Festival of Books 130,000. Their author line-up looks like a dream for adult librarians: Sara Gruen, Diana Gabaldon, Kathryn Stockett and Lee Child will all be there. But, just like the L.A. Festival, there is a Target-sponsored Children's Stage featuring Jon Scieszka, Kate DiCamillo, David Lubar, Ally Carter and Lauren Myracle among others. If I get a chance, I may try to spend half a day there.

Good times!

Betsy-Tacy Convention

Well, if this isn't the most unique thing I've seen in a while!  It's a convention, July 17-20 in Mankato, Minnesota, completely devoted to the Betsy-Tacy books by Maud Hart Lovelace.  They're hosting games, tours, some discussion panels and Meg Cabot will be guest-speaking.

I've got to admit, I never the read the books when I was a child, but these days they are my very first recommendation to parents who come to me looking for something challenging yet wholesome for their precocious seven or eight year old girls who are strong readers.  I also recommend them for girls who are intrigued by Anne of Green Gables or Little Women but not quite at that reading level yet.  For those voracious readers who have finished all of the Little House books (and the seemingly dozens of Little House spin-off series by other authors) and are looking for more, Betsy-Tacy would be a pretty safe bet.

I can't imagine ever getting out that way anytime soon, but still, it certainly sounds interesting!

L.A. Festival of Books 2009

Well, here is my report on the Festival of Books from this weekend. It was tremendous. Very interesting, very overwhelming, fortunately not too hot, but my goodness extremely crowded. I hear that the attendance was 130,000 for the whole weekend and I can believe it. It was the kind of crowd where you are simply pushed along in a sea of people being jostled and elbowed about as you attempt to rubberneck everything in the display booths. I took a picture from the top of the steps looking west, but I still don't think it does it justice.

The great mass of humanity at the book fair this weekend.

As always there are simply too many awesome things going on all scheduled at the same time. I really wanted to see Susan Patron, but sadly, the half-hour I'd allotted myself to walk across campus was not enough time to push past the crowds and get to the hall where she and other children's authors were speaking. Happily, I did get to a panel where Katherine Krull, Candace Fleming and Kadir Nelson were speaking about the educational value of picture books. Elizabeth Partridge was the moderator. It was a quiet panel... Nelson turned out to be much, much shyer than I would have thought.


Heading back to the main square, I came across this cool piece of wall art. Festival participants were invited to write with markers what they were reading right now.

A really neat display.

A close-up of the graffiti wall. Notice the large "Twilight" at the bottom of the book graphic? It was probably the most often written on the wall and always in the biggest font.

There were dozens of neat booths to check out. Brave New Voices, a new poetry show hosted by Queen Latifah on HBO had a booth with a rotating group of teens who stood on the nearby sidewalk, chanting urban rhymes.

I really wanted to see Kevin J. Anderson, who was discussing his newest book, Enemies and Allies, about Superman and Batman's first meeting in the 1950's. I just finished reading an advance review copy of it, and so I was very curious to hear his comments on it. (I'll post a review of it soon.) However! I also really wanted to see, speaking at the same time on the opposite side of the festival, Jon Scieszka of Stinky Cheese Man fame, so I wended my way over to the Target Children's Stage. Scieszka (say it, "SHESH-ka") was very entertaining. He read aloud a few things from The Stinky Cheese Man, as well as a short story or two from his autobiographical book Knucklehead. Mainly, his stories were about growing up among five brothers in Michigan and were pretty scatological, which all the kids in the audience seemed to enjoy.

There were a number of costumed characters there for kids to get their pictures taken with: Clifford, the Target Dog, some kind of dancing hip-hop character that bore a striking resemblance to Winnie-the-Pooh. My friends and I took advantage of this "lull" in the programming to check out more booths, and grab some lunch. I went over to see my colleagues at the LAPL booth. It was hopping! I didn't know any of the folks at the LAPL booth, but that didn't surprise me, as our system is so large, I'm sure I don't know even a third of all the people who work there.

Even though I was only there for a few minutes, most of the questions people asked at the LAPL booth were exactly the sort of things I thought people would ask:

Are you hiring right now? No.

Wow, can I really download e-books and e-books on tape for free? Yes.

Do you guys need degrees to be librarians? Yes.

Will there be a summer reading club for kids this summer? Yes.

If I come in can you teach me to use a computer? Yes.

Seriously, I don't know anything about computers, I'm a total beginner, can you help? Yes.

Right around the corner, the County Library of Los Angeles had a booth of "Library Scientists" dressed in white lab coats, surrounded by bubbling lava lamps, beakers, and books. It looked so cool! I wish I had snapped a picture of it.

That afternoon, I went to see Melissa de la Cruz, author of the Blue Bloods books, and several other teen series, back at the Children's Stage. Honestly, I felt so bad for her! I didn't think it was the best venue for her talk. The children's area was firmly dominated by the 5 and under set. Suddenly throwing a teen-vampire-romance author into the mix didn't seem to make much sense at all. Kids played in the aisles and parents stared at her glumly, as if to say, "Hey, bring that Winnie-the-Pooh guy back!" I guessed that she must have modified her talk a bit; she told everyone to follow their dreams, and then read the first chapter from her new book, The Van Alen Legacy, coming out next October.

By that point I was footsore and running low on sunscreen so that was about as much as could be packed into a single day!