The Decatur Book Festival 2012 Recap

Holy tittlepops, Batman!

Friday Night Indie Author Event

I met some rocksauce Indies at an event on Friday night. I was only familiar with JEFFREY FRAKKIN BRYAN! What a treat to meet and talk with the creator of the Jenny Pox and Songs of Magic series. He told me that there will be a new “opposite” pair in the 4th Jenny Pox, AND that Jenny was supposed to be a standalone. Fans adored it hardcore and he caved. Ha! SEE! Use your voice to make change, ppl! Anywho, conversing with Jeff was like talking with an old friend. He was that awesome. And he drew me another owl. He rules the school, people.

I also met S.R. Johannes, who lives nearby, Ella James, Heather Self, C.A. Kunz (mother-son team), and Nichole Chase. I learned about their books and they all sound really interesting. I definitely plan on reading Johannes’ The Nature of Grace and The Breathless series! I’m wicked interested in C.A. Kunz’s The Childe series. I LOVE those covers!

Day One

    

• Mandee from Books & Bling and her husband David accompanied me both days. They are wicked fun and I’m thankful that they put up with me. Adore them both! ♥
• Kendare Blake was hilarious during her panel. She talked about her affinity for cheese and saving turtles that cross busy roads. Not to sound like I want to be Kendare or anything, but I’ve actually saved a few turtles from busy roads back in Tampa. I mean, seriously! No one sticks up for the poor turtles! I think my favorite moment was when she busted out with…”If there’s something strange, in your neighborhood. Who ya gonna call?…” HA! We didn’t say GHOSTBUSTERS loud enough for her, so she tried again. “If there’s something weird, and it don’t look good…Who ya gonna call?…” She mentioned that this was the end of the road for Anna and Cas. *sniffs* She talked about her new series, which is a Greek Mythology trilogy. The first book is titled Anti-Goddess and it’s “very terminator” like and features the awesome Athena!  ANNNNNNNNNNND. She knew me! When she saw the note for signing said “Smash” she looked at me and said “Attack Reads?” LOL. Epic moment.
• Erin Morgenstern packed the massive frakkin church! Even the 2nd floor! I was SO surprised that more than half the crowd had not yet read The Night Circus. If you have not, seriously. SERIOUSLY? o_O What the tittlepops is wrong with you????? Heh. Just Kidding. Kinda.  Erin said that NanoWriMo got her out of her writing funk, she recommends not sending plotless books to agents and that strangley, Celia was not in her first draft. O_o
• David Levithan was very entertaining. I loved hearing him discuss Every Day, which sounds SO fascinating. He read a passage and I definitely need to move it up the list. He talked a lot about gender & identity and social constructions of such things. One of the Qs that led to the writing of Every Day was “If you fell in love with someone who changed every day, could you still love them?” Heavy stuff, people. He also mentioned he’s writing a book with Andrea Cremer titled Invisibility. It’s out next May.
• Somewhere in there I met KENDALL GREY! Squee! Rockstar to the core. Fantastic woman. We have plans for lunch next week!
• I met Lori @ Pure Imagination! She was sitting behind me and asked if I was Smash. Heh. Happy she introduced herself. I love meeting new bloggers, even if I’m kinda shy and don’t always know what to say…
• I saw a panel with authors Carley Moore, Madeleine George and Kristen-Paige Madonia. Moore’s The Stalker Chronicles looks really fun!. I loved hearing how the author’s have used their less-than-popular status growing up as catalysts for their books. The host made a comment that “no one on the A-list ever grows up to write a YA novel.”

Day Two

I think Barry Lyga was my favorite presentation. I think he is wicked adorable (look at that smile!), funny and engaging. Plus, he writes about serial killers and makes comments like “It’s nice to know that killers have standards, too.” I pretty much think he’s my soul mate in another life. Or something. Ha. He read a great scene from the book that really got the crowd interested. He told the story of how he came to write the series, the research he did and that if all goes well, I HUNT KILLERS will be on TV!!!!!!! *does a somersault* One young teenager asked how gory the book was, and he said “Well, on a scale of The Little Mermaid to Saw…?” Then he laughed and said that was a terrible, terrible scale. LOL. Of course I had to ask him what he learned about the psychopathology of serial killers, and he said that he learned that we have no frakkin clue what breeds a serial killer. On a side note, a total creeper walked in front of the stage during the presentation with a long window-washing pole and a bucket, sat in a chair, asked 2 very detailed questions about serial killers, then left. We all looked around like what the tittlepops was that all about! However, I am warning you now: should you ever come in close contact with a window washer, RUN! You do not want to be the next victim of The Window Washer.

    

• Sarah J. Maas, Dan Krokos, Jessica Khoury, C.J. Redwine and Heather Brewer were on a panel regarding strong females in fiction. WARRIOR GRRRRRRRLS, yo. This was the last panel of Day 2 and honestly, I could not pay attention. I do remember Jessica Khoury saying her heroine has a pet jaguar. Win!  I did get in line early for the signings, though. See?

Courtesy of Vania @ VLC Productions!

  

• Maureen Johnson is a hoot! Strange bird, that lady, but uber entertaining. I say all of this in the highest regards, of course. With comments like “I am your spirit animal” and keeping us in jars on her shelves, and ensuring us they have air holes so we can breathe, well…she’s hard not to like. She discussed The Name of the Star, which I have not read. In fact, I have not read anything by her. That needs to change. Hearing her talk about the Shades of London series was awesome. Writing about Jack the Ripper came about when she went on a historical tour in London, and the guides would mention a haunted venue and give lame reasons. She thought to herself “Who would you definitely not want to come back as a ghost” and Jack the Ripper’s ghost “would definitely be a problem.”
• Mandee walked by Suzin Carr’s tent and noticed that it said “teachers and therapists, stop here!” I’m glad we did. I Choose is a great book that can be used to raise self-esteem, self-respect and teach children that they have choices and are responsible for them.
• Jessie Harrell was really nice. Her book is about the Eros and Psyche myth, and she was surprised I’d heard of them. I mean, it’s Cupid, yo!
• I met Autumn @ Autumn’s Reviews! I was happy she introduced herself because again, I’m kinda clueless when it comes to knowing who other people are. Heh.
• Mandee, David & I went to The Brick Store in the square for lunch. They had a snacky appetizer called TITTLEPOP! It’s “bourbon caramel popped corn, roasted pecans & peanuts,” and I could not stop eating it!!!! Anywho, the three of us were DYING over the word tittlepop and I can’t stop saying it now. It is now my new curse word replacement. Win.

3 for $10 booth!

  

 And um, that’s it, peeps! A really, REALLY hot and muggy two days, but well worth it. Lots of great fun and memories.

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