The time there were snacks

I don't know how I found Timeless. I do know that I read it in one sitting [not surprising] and by the time Timekeeper came out, I still remembered the ending [very surprising]. I had met Alexandra previously, so I was quite thrilled to see that she was holding her release party at the Santa Monica BN.

We got up that early and bought books before walking around the promenade.

 

We were back up to the events room around 6pm and the doors were closed. The tubs and boxes that were scattered throughout the events room were still visible through the partially closed blinds. I sat down behind two ladies and started flapping my books. As always, I got looks for being prepared.

They let us in around 6:40. There were snacks and punch and a video projector set up with the book trailers playing.

Alexandra came out around 7:15. She talked about writing the first book and gave a brief overview of the second one.

She really enjoyed writing Michelle and her inner struggle in Timekeeper. She also talked about introducing a villain and the workings of the time society.

Alexandra then read a passage from the ebook Secrets of the Time Society. After that, she also read the scene from Timekeeper that happens right after that cliffhanger ending in Timeless.

 

The Q&A session started after that. Alexandra talked about the music that is in both books [she wrote the lyrics and recorded the songs], the possibility of more to the series [Timekeeper ends with closure, but there's definitely a chance for more], her next book [it's called Suspicion and is an Alfred Hitchcock type suspense novel with a romance at the center], and how she thought of Emma Watson and Ian Somerhalder as Michelle and Phillip.

After that, it was time for the signing. I was the third person up to her.

I congratulated her on the release and we chatted about the other time we had met. She asked if I was me. When I said yes, she pointed to Shane and said that he had told her about me and my drive from San Diego. She thanked me for driving up.

Alexandra asked if I had read Timeless and after saying yes, asked if I had enjoyed it. I told her that I did, but not the horrible cliffhanger ending. She laughed and said that it would all be worth it.

She signed my book and then I motioned to the other books and said those were mine too, that they were for a giveaway. She asked about my blog [squeeeee] and I actually remembered I had a card, so I gave her one.

 

After taking a picture with her, I again congratulated her and with a brief goodbye to Shane, we were off. As we left, we literally ran into Luke Wilson, who didn't seem very nice. At all.

Now. Haven't read Alexandra's books? Never fear. I have a paperback copy of Timeless and a hardcover copy of Timekeeper [both signed] as well as Alexandra's cd and a keychain/mirror up for grabs!

Rules for the giveaway are listed on the "terms and conditions" link on the Rafflecopter widget.

 

Good luck!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The time it was all New Yorkers

Joe Pantoliano was my favorite part of The Sopranos. I only started watching when they introduced Ralphie as a character. So, of course it was inevitable that we were going to attend his signing.

We got up to BN Santa Monica around 6pm. The events manager, Shane, saw us there and we started talking about upcoming events. Shane has always been awesome, but he's sort of offered me some help for future signings so now he's super extra awesome.

The crowd for Joe started to arrive early. And overall, they were a bit odd. Everyone seemed to know Joe and they were all from NY. That is not what made them odd. We ended up with a mouth breather woman behind us who was ridiculously loud and a woman to the left of me who was making a list of some sort while staring. Staring at me, staring at my purse, staring at everything. It was a bit creepy.

Joe got to the bookstore just after 7pm. He was caught in traffic and then had a bit of a problem with parking. He jumped into an introduction about the book and how he struggled with depression before he even knew it was depression.

Joe talked about how after he got involved with the 12 step program, he found that he really liked the structure. Eventually he started becoming a part of all of it: alcoholics, overeaters, betting, shoppers anonymous. One of the best things he said was "Fuck it, let's not be anonymous, call it Association of Alcoholics so we can keep the cards".

He then started to do a reading. He read part of the introduction, reading from his iPad so he could enlarge the words. After that, he also read part of chapter two. The best part is that the book is written as if he were talking.

He said that he wrote the entire book on his iPhone. He was thrilled to see that technology had finally evolved to something that could help with his ADHD and dyslexia. He was so animated while reading that Shane had to adjust the PA system three different times.

There wasn't really time to do a Q&A session because Joe had talked for so long. When we got up to him, I asked him to sign my Nook, he asked if I liked it. I said I loved my iPad more. As he handed me the Nook back, he started laughing because he noticed that he wrote "20012" for the year.

Hubs had the book to be signed. Joe was teasing us about being married, said we looked like we were related. O_o We both got pictures with him before thanking him.

Joe broke out of the Hollywood stereotype and announced his mental illness. And he does it in typical Joe fashion: loudly and in a humorous manner. I haven't read the book yet, but I can't wait.

The time it was short, but sweet.

I feel like it's common knowledge that my love for Pride and Prejudice and zombies [as separate entities] is vast. Imagine my delight when Seth Grahame-Smith combined them in the book so cleverly titled Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. I read it in one sitting and when Barnes & Noble came out with the special edition ["with 30% more zombies!!"], I was all over it.

So. When I saw that Seth was going to be doing a signing to promote his new book Unholy Night, I was prepared to rearrange my entire schedule to attend. I kept watching the event page to see if it was going to change into a wristband event. Alas, it did not.

On the night of the event, we got there around 6pm. I was expecting a lot of people, so I left Hubs at Starbucks and headed upstairs. And since I was the first person to show up, I quickly claimed our seats.

Shane, the events director, remembered me [I don't know if that's a good thing or not...] and said hi. He went on to tell me that he didn't think he had any teen events planned. We briefly talked about the event and how I was expecting a crowd. He reminded me that it was still early. That just cemented my resolve to not join Hubs in Starbucks.

Seth came out around 7:15. He stated right off the bat that he didn't like to come out to and "preach", but liked to have some interaction with the audience. He did a reading from Unholy Night and then gave a brief monologue about his writing and how it all came about.

He talked about how he got the idea for Unholy Night [sitting in the parking lot of a Blockbuster Video and his friends alluded there's definitely more to this story], his upcoming movies to be released this year [Dark Shadows and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter] and tried to comment on upcoming works in progress [Beetlejuice and P+P+Z].

When it appeared that we were going to be done within 30 minutes of starting, Seth said that we had to give him 2 more questions before he'd start signing.

I asked what made him think of putting zombies in Pride and Prejudice. He said that it was his editor's idea. That they were looking at pairing something from the classics [because the original authors are dead, so their works are public domain and royalties don't have to be paid] with a genre specific thing. They had a list of both and after looking at Charlotte Brontë and Shakespeare, the idea of P+P with zombies just clicked.

After answering a few more questions, he said he'd start signing.

We had 4 books to get signed, so I gave my husband 2 and I took 2. We went up to the table together and my husband said he wanted to ask the last question, that he was going to ask Seth's favorite color. Seth said it was black. I said that the last question should have been if we were really going to go streaking in the promenade [Seth had posted on Twitter that it was happening after the signing]. He started laughing and said that it should.

We thanked him for coming out and he thanked us for showing up. When I mentioned that we drove from San Diego, he asked if we were going to CC, I said yes and that we'd be at FOB as well. Seth said he hoped to have some fun things happening at both.

Seth Grahame-Smith might be a big time Hollywood guy now, but he's certainly a lot of fun. I can't wait to see what sort of stuff he comes up with next.

The time I won a rubber bracelet.

I had Beautiful Chaos on pre-order as soon as I got the alert in my email.  Knowing there was going to be a book tour for it, I started watching the events page on Kami and Margaret's website.  The Santa Monica date was posted immediately, but I was sort of holding out for an appearance at Mysterious Galaxy.  Nothing against B&N, of course, I just didn't particularly want to drive back up to LA after being there 2 days prior. 

However, nothing was ever announced at MG, so back up to the Santa Monica Barnes and Noble we went. It worked out for the best because on this fateful trip, I met LeAnna when I stopped at MGRB to pick up my signed copy of Daughter of Smoke and Bone. And we already know how that went.

We rushed up to Santa Monica and were the first ones there. 

There was a good sized group of people who showed up.  Kami and Margie arrived and after Kami made the comment about her being sick [and apparently always getting sick when they did a book tour], the discussion began.  They asked if everyone had read the first two books and when almost everyone said yes, they explained that it made it easier to not have to explain the back story.

Margie read the Before and part of Chapter 1...

while Kami watched.

A Q&A session started after the reading.  Everyone who asked a question got a bracelet.  I asked who their favorite character was to write, besides Ethan and Lena.  Kami answered Amma and my girl, Ridley.  Margie answered Ethan.  Even though I said excluding Ethan.  :D

For my question, a bracelet was thrown at me.  [They quickly had someone start handing them out instead!]

 

There were a lot of good questions.  I can't remember them all.  Or any others, for that matter.  I guess I need to either start recording the talking portion or maybe write it down.  I don't know.... So, we'll just pretend that I had the only question and then we went straight to signing books. *facepalm*

While in line, Kami was telling some very adorable kids [I'm guessing they were hers] that they needed to move out of the pictures because she didn't want them to end up on the internet. 

I handed her my book and she asked me why I looked so familiar. 

I told her that we had met at their other signing at MG and she remembered me [squee!!].  That led us to a brief conversation about MG in general and how I was hoping they were going to sign there again.  Kami said they had just been asked to do something at the RB location, and thanked me for driving up to LA for them.

Margie started asking about the store and somehow I started talking about the different signings we had been going to that week.

As always, both women were friendly and fun.  They are doing a signing at the MGRB and I'm trying to convince my husband that I need to go to that too. 

The time I got all fangirly over Lauren Kate

 I found Lauren Kate's book Fallen on accident.  I was walking around Target, waiting for my husband to come back from Starbucks and passed the book section.  Always one to go look at books, I just started perusing the covers and stopped when I saw this...

I still think it's one of the prettiest covers I've ever seen.

I read the back and was vaguely interested.  They had 2 of the 3 books that had been released on the shelf, but the first book [and the only copy they had] was horribly ripped.  I only buy pristine, untouched books.  I am ridiculously anal about the handling of my books and I don't like to loan my books out because most people aren't crazy like I am.

I ended up ordering the three books online.  All 3 of them have gorgeous covers.  As does the newly unveiled 4th one.  But, I digress...

After reading all three in a few days, I went to hunt down Lauren Kate on the internet and see when the fourth [and final] book in the series was going to be released as well as see if she was signing.  Of course, she was finished with her book tour.

Except for one date.

Turns out Lauren had contributed to a fantastic compilation called Dear Bully.  70 authors tell their stories about bullying, either as the victim or the bully. 

There were five authors there: Nancy Holder, Amy Goldman Koss, Jessica Brody, Melodye Shore and Lauren Kate.  Each woman stood up and read their submission to the book and briefly talked about the background of the story, as well as how it shaped their future.  A more generalized Q&A session followed.  And after that, the signing started.

There was one girl who clearly knew her way around a signing.  She had each author's chapter marked with a post-it note that had her name [Nicole!] written on it. She also had a bag filled with Lauren Kate's books, blank post-it notes and Sharpees in various colors.  It was pretty impressive.  I now know what to bring to future signings.   :]

I quickly stepped up to Lauren and gave her Passion while I looked for her chapter in Dear Bully.  Before the event, I had contacted her to make sure she would sign her Fallen books even though the signing was for a different book.  Of course she said yes.

At the time, I had only brought Passion with me. However, as I looked around the room, I saw a pretty, untouched stack in the corner.  I quickly grabbed the other two books and got to the end of the line. 

As I was standing in line, I told the events guy for Barnes & Noble, Shane, that I was going to have the books signed and pay for them on the way out.  Shane said it wasn't a problem, as long as I paid for them.  I jokingly said that I wasn't going to pay for them, that I was going to have them signed and then run out the front door.  Lauren then said something along the lines of being able to say she had some bad ass fans if I did.

While signing Fallen,

Lauren commented on my chest tattoo:

and then she wrote the most magnificent inscription ever.  Ever.  EVER.

The fourth book isn't being released until June. I'll definitely be watching for any event Lauren Kate will be doing for it.  Meanwhile, I'll be busy packing my post-it notes and Sharpee markers in my bag of tricks.