The time it was seven swans-a-swimming

Swans? WITAF is going on with these gifts? Anyways, here we are for day seven of the 12 Days of Christmas giveaway!

Today we have one of my favorite ladies visiting and sharing a lovely Christmas memory.  Everyone welcome Susan Dennard, AKA SOOZ to the blog!

One of my favorite Christmas memories is from when my husband and I first started dating (back in ye olde 2007). We'd been friends for a few months, but he hadn't yet "made a move". And oh, I liked him so much! And I thought it was pretty clear he liked me back...especially after Thanksgiving when he appeared at my house for our regular Friday night hangout. But THIS time, he had a giant gift in tow.

Basically, he'd made me an Advent calendar: 25 individual wrapped presents that were attached to a long bit of string. The string was meant to be hung across my living room wall, and the gifts had numbers penciled onto the wrapping paper. Each morning, I would scramble out of bed, search for that day's gift, and rip it open...From chocolates to Legos (yes, I still love Legos) to TICKETS TO THE NUTCRACKER, the gifts were varied and thoughtful. Honestly, it was SO ROMANTIC. Certainly, the boy liked me, right?

Well, that year's Christmas reached it's epic awesomeness when we finally used those aforementioned tickets to the Nutcracker a few weeks into December. During the "Dance of the Sugarplum Fairy" my not-yet-husband held my hand! Gasp! I thought I would die. And then a few hours later, once we were back at my house, he asked if he could kiss me, and my only response was, "Finally." ;)

So there you have it: one of my favorite Christmas memories of all time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Huge thanks to Sooz for taking the time! Make sure you're following her on Twitter, liking her Facebook page, subscribing to her blog and adding all of her books on your GoodReads shelves.

And now for the giveaway!!

The year is 1876, and there’s something strange and deadly loose in Philadelphia…

Eleanor Fitt has a lot to worry about. Her brother has gone missing, her family has fallen on hard times, and her mother is determined to marry her off to any rich young man who walks by. But this is nothing compared to what she’s just read in the newspaper—

The Dead are rising in Philadelphia.

And then, in a frightening attack, a zombie delivers a letter to Eleanor…from her brother.

Whoever is controlling the Dead army has taken her brother as well. If Eleanor is going to find him, she’ll have to venture into the lab of the notorious Spirit-Hunters, who protect the city from supernatural forces. But as Eleanor spends more time with the Spirit-Hunters, including their maddeningly stubborn yet handsome inventor, Daniel, the situation becomes dire. And now, not only is her reputation on the line, but her very life may hang in the balance.

and

Perfect for readers Libba Bray’s The Diviners and Cassandra Clare’s Clockwork Angel series, this spellbinding sequel to Something Strange and Deadly delivers a mix of intrigue, supernatural forces, intense romance, and revenge, all set against the enchanting backdrop of nineteenth-century Paris.

With her brother dead and her mother insane, Eleanor Fitt is alone. Even the Spirit-Hunters—Joseph, Jie, and the handsome Daniel—have fled to Paris. So when Eleanor hears the vicious barking of hounds and see haunting yellow eyes, she fears that the Dead, and the necromancer Marcus, are after her.

To escape, Eleanor boards a steamer bound for France. There she meets Oliver, a young man who claims to have known her brother. But Oliver harbors a dangerous secret involving necromancy and black magic that entices Eleanor beyond words. If she can resist him, she’ll be fine.

But when she arrives in Paris, she finds that the Dead have taken over, and there’s a whole new evil lurking. And she is forced to make a deadly decision that will go against everything the Spirit-Hunters stand for.
In Paris, there’s a price for this darkness strange and lovely, and it may have Eleanor paying with her life.

That's right.  Up for grabs is a paperback copy of Something Strange and Deadly and a hardcover copy of A Darkness Strange and Lovely. Rules for the giveaway are under "terms and conditions" on the Rafflecopter widget. The books will be coming from The Book Depository and this contest is international!

**Good Luck!!**

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The time it was bookish mail -- 6

Well.  I've found a stash of books that I got signed and never shared, so here's another edition of Check Out What I Got in the Mail!

I was trying to clean up the nightmare that is the stacks of signed books in my bedroom when I knocked some of them over and found this little gem. I vaguely recall that Susan had announced that for a short period of time [it might have been around Christmas] she was going to offer signed copies of Angelfall. I just happened to catch her tweet about it and ordered it right away. 

Now I'm hoping she'll offer the same thing for World After.

 

I'm not even sure how or where I heard about signed copies of Easy, all I know is that I'm super happy to have one.  I do know that I got it from Tammara herself, before it was republished.  And isn't it pretty?

 

 

Underneath that book, I found my copies of Obsidian, Onyx and Opal that were signed by Jennifer L. Armentrout and Pepe Toth.  Once upon a time, a group of blogger friends and I tried to get Jennifer to Redondo Beach as part of the Daemon Invasion.  Alas, we didn't win.  However, the lovely Kassiah was going to attend the event in the winning city of Houston and she was awesome enough to get me some things signed.  Annnnnnd send me some super hot photos of Pepe. *cough*

 

Speaking of Jennifer, I read Wait for You right away when it was released as an e-book.  I read Jennifer's blog post about it getting printed and how the first 10k of pre-orders would get a signed copy.  Of course, I immediately went to pre-order, but there was no way of knowing if I was one of the people who would be getting a copy until I opened it.  And here it is....

When Leaky Con was announced, there were so many authors I wanted to go see.  Not to mention, Colleen and Jennifer.  We didn't get a chance to go, but Jennifer was awesome enough to take some things to get signed for me.   She even broke the only-one-book-per-person rule to get both of Lev's books signed for me!

 

 
Last but, never, ever least.  I pre-ordered my copy of A Darkness Strange and Lovely from the bookstore that Susan Dennard had listed on her website.  And as the release date got closer, I was eager to have the pretty finished copy in my hands.  The inner squeeing got worse after Susan DM'd me to let me know that she had signed my book and couldn't wait for me to see it.

Flash forward a couple of days after the release date.  I got a voice mail from the events manager telling me that she had sent my package out via media mail even though I had paid for UPS and she wanted to know how to get the refund back to me.  Now this isn't a problem for normal people, but for me it is: I don't get mail at my apartment.

I called her back and explained my situation.  Since I have a PO box, my apartment is listed as "vacant" and any mail I get will be refused and sent back to the sender.  It doesn't happen often, but it has happened.  She had tried to catch the postman, but wasn't able to, and with the book having a special inscription, there wasn't a way to replace it.  I just had to wait.

Thankfully, it only took a couple of weeks instead of the almost month I was expecting.  But the inscription? It was definitely worth the wait. 

I would like to think I've gotten a little better at paying attention to the pretties I order.  Have you recently found any books that you had forgotten about?

The time it was bookish mail -- 5

Here we are again for another episode of Look What I Got in the Mail! Onward, yes?

We all know of my undying love for Sarah J Maas, yes? Well, once upon a time, she went on tour with Susan Dennard, Erin Bowman and Kat Zhang as part of the YA Authors Give Back tour.  Unfortunately, they weren't coming anywhere near me.  However, Jaime & Erin were going to one of the stops and awesomely let me send them some stuff.

 Now, there is a serious back story.  Once upon a time on Twitter, Sarah tweeted this article to Susan about the mantis shrimp and how it was her new favorite animal.  After reading it, I jumped into the conversation [seriously, sometimes it's soooo hard not to jump in] and said that I liked any animal that had "murder sticks".  Sarah came back and said that she liked anything that is referred to as an "undersea nightmare". 

And that leads us to an even later conversation on Twitter about me telling Sarah that at some point, I was going to ask her to sign my book as an undersea nightmare.

Which brings us to what could be the greatest inscription ever.  Not only did Sarah sign the book as my undersea nightmare, but Susan and Sarah both drew pictures of a mantis shrimp.

I don't have an amazing story for Erin Bowman, I wish I did.  But, like I said above, Jaime & Erin were awesome to take my copy of Taken to get signed. Even Erin knows they're awesome, she mentions it in the inscription!  I can't wait to meet Erin for myself one day.

I borrowed Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea from Michelle. I instantly fell in love with River and asked April for him before I got to page 50 the story and how lyrical April's writing is. I was flailing all about it to Colleen, who told me that she had just gone to an author's dinner with April.  Not only that, but she had an extra arc... and it was signed.

I read the Goddess trilogy in a day.  I loved the story [and Henry] and Kate [and Henry] and definitely wanted to include Aimee's books to the collection.  Luckily, Aimee was just about to go on tour, so I called an indie bookstore that she would be appearing at and ordered all three books.

Unfortunately, when I got the books, I didn't get the entire trilogy.  I got The Goddess Test [book 1], The Goddess Inheritance [book 3] and The Goddess Legacy [a book of novellas set in the Goddess world].  I called the store I ordered them from and they weren't open to fixing the situation.  Thankfully, I was able to find Goddess Interrupted at a different store that held a tour stop. Now I just have to meet Aimee to get it personalized.

 

Have we all determined by now that I'm the most spoiled brat in the bunch? Wheeeeeeeee!!

What books have you gotten recently?

The time it was quick and dirty -- 3

We all know that I'm a serious fangirl for Susan Dennard, right? You can imagine the squeals and jumps for joy when I got an email from Susan asking me if I wanted some of her signed books to do a giveaway with.

So. Here we are again for another quick & dirty just because giveaway.  Up for grabs?

The year is 1876, and there’s something strange and deadly loose in Philadelphia…

Eleanor Fitt has a lot to worry about. Her brother has gone missing, her family has fallen on hard times, and her mother is determined to marry her off to any rich young man who walks by. But this is nothing compared to what she’s just read in the newspaper—

The Dead are rising in Philadelphia.

And then, in a frightening attack, a zombie delivers a letter to Eleanor…from her brother.

Whoever is controlling the Dead army has taken her brother as well. If Eleanor is going to find him, she’ll have to venture into the lab of the notorious Spirit-Hunters, who protect the city from supernatural forces. But as Eleanor spends more time with the Spirit-Hunters, including their maddeningly stubborn yet handsome inventor, Daniel, the situation becomes dire. And now, not only is her reputation on the line, but her very life may hang in the balance.

And....

Perfect for readers Libba Bray’s The Diviners and Cassandra Clare’s Clockwork Angel series, this

spellbinding sequel to Something Strange and Deadly delivers a mix of intrigue, supernatural forces, intense romance, and revenge, all set against the enchanting backdrop of nineteenth-century Paris.
With her brother dead and her mother insane, Eleanor Fitt is alone. Even the Spirit-Hunters—Joseph, Jie, and the handsome Daniel—have fled to Paris. So when Eleanor hears the vicious barking of hounds and see haunting yellow eyes, she fears that the Dead, and the necromancer Marcus, are after her.

To escape, Eleanor boards a steamer bound for France. There she meets Oliver, a young man who claims to have known her brother. But Oliver harbors a dangerous secret involving necromancy and black magic that entices Eleanor beyond words. If she can resist him, she’ll be fine. But when she arrives in Paris, she finds that the Dead have taken over, and there’s a whole new evil lurking. And she is forced to make a deadly decision that will go against everything the Spirit-Hunters stand for.
In Paris, there’s a price for this darkness strange and lovely, and it may have Eleanor paying with her life.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Huge thanks to Susan for not filing a restraining order offering the books!!

Go find her on her website, Twitter and Facebook.  And be sure to add her books on GoodReads!

And now for the good stuff... Giveaway is international. Additional rules are under "terms and conditions" on the Rafflecopter widget.

**Good Luck!!**

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The time it was about Daniel Sheridan

I had the delight of meeting Susan Dennard at Comic-con last year.  It was before Something Strange and Deadly was released and I was so so so happy that it was for sale before her signing.  I got my book signed, got a picture, made an ass out of myself in front of her [and Sarah J. Maas, who happens to be Susan's BFF].  You know, normal things.

So, when I saw that she didn't file a restraining order there was going to be a novella, I knew I wanted to help promote it.  I emailed Susan and asked if she would do an interview. She said yes [hooray!!] and as far as I know, still hasn't filed anything with the cops. That may change as I keep entering her arc giveaways.

Now, before we get to Susan, check out Daniel's story in A Dawn Most Wicked.

Daniel Sheridan is an engineer’s apprentice on a haunted Mississippi steamer known as the Sadie Queen. His best friend–the apprentice pilot, Cassidy Cochran–also happens to be the girl he’s pining for…and the captain’s daughter. But when it looks like the Sadie Queen might get taken off the river, Daniel and Cassidy have to do whatever they can to stop the ghosts that plague the ship.

Fortunately, there happens to be a Creole gentleman on board by the name of Joseph Boyer-–and he just might be able to help them…







Sounds good, right?

1. Where did the idea for the series come from and what prompted you to combine all of the elements you did?

 

So, as lame as it is, the idea for the series came from a dream. I dreamt my brother was missing and I would have done anything to get him back. Yet he'd been taken by supernatural forces, and I was totally NOT equipped to deal with that. For help, I turned to a ragtag team of supernatural-fighting outcasts (who had a super cool lab and skills). My dream was vague on setting, though, so I actually spent weeks and weeks just scouring history for a time period that jumped out at me as The Time and The Location for this story idea. :) As I wrote, the necromancy, ghosts, Dead, and electricity-inventions just sort poured out. It was as if the world and all its components had always been in my brain, I just had to tap into them and discover it as Eleanor did. In books 2 and 3, we get to see more of that supernatural world--other creatures, spells, and a lot more darkness. And of course, the novella shows a different side of this ghost-filled alternate 1876 too.

 

2. Let's talk Eleanor. I'm a sucker for a smart girl who gets things done and I adore her. Did writing her come easily?

 

At first, I made Eleanor way too fluffy. I always do this! I can't help it--when I sit down to write a first draft, my heroines are always too nice, too good at everything, and too happy. Usually I have to start the book a few times before I finally hit on the right balance of darkness, flaws, and likability. But once I have the voice, I have it. ;)
 

3. Daniel. He's swoony in a gruff sort of way and it absolutely works. Did he evolve on his own or in response to Eleanor?

Daniel definitely evolves throughout the series in response to Eleanor. A big part of his character is that he's volatile--he knows he's short-tempered and sometimes cruel--but he can't seem to control it. Yet he so desperately wants to be a better person, and as the series progresses... Well, I'll let you see how he does at improving his character. ;) I knew who Daniel was from the get-go. He was in my dream, actually--an angry inventor with a super shady past--so I had his character worked out from the start.

4. When you wrote the ending for Something Strange and Deadly, did you sit back and laugh, knowing all of the people you were going to drive crazy?

 

Ha! NO! Not at all! It was just the natural, appropriate ending based on who Daniel is and how the time period works. Heck, had I known how many people would be furious, I might've changed it. But I'm so glad I didn't--more often than not, people like that the ending is just so...up in the air. That said, there will be a ton of closure once readers have the novella in their hands. They'll at least understand Daniel's character a lot more.

 

5. You're killing me with the relationship between Eleanor and Daniel [Empress? *swoooon*]. Is there anything you can tell us about what happens between them in A Darkness Strange and Lovely?
 

Um....Hmmmmm. All I'll say is that it takes a bit of time for Daniel to appear (he doesn't show up until about halfway through), but once he's on the page, the sparks are FLYING. Like I said, the novella explains so much about his character, but Eleanor doesn't know all that info. So though the chemistry is high, so is her frustration. ;) I think readers will like it, though.

 

Speed [ish] Round:
 

1. What is your go-to guilty pleasure thing to eat?

 

Cookies. Any shape, flavor, size--I don't discriminate.

 

2. If you could wake up one day, just knowing how to do something, what would it be?

 

How to draw! Oh goodness, that is the one thing I wish I could do!!

 

3. What are you reading right now?
 

I'm reading (admittedly slowly thanks to deadlines) Archangel by Sharon Shinn. I adore her books.

 

4. Are there any authors that you fangirl over?

 

Omg, I made a HUGE fool of myself in front of Robin Hobb. Twice. I first met her at Comic Con and started crying. So. So. SO EMBARRASSING. Then I met her again at the Decatur book festival and flailed like an idiot. I was mortified. Fortunately, she didn't seem to hold it against me, since she invited me (and the less flail-y Sarah J. Maas) to dinner. It was amazing and insightful. Turns out my idols are just normal people too. ;) If I ever met Garth Nix or Sherwood Smith, I would probably have the same ridiculous meltdown reaction.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Huge thanks to Susan for dealing with my fangirling answering my questions!

Find her on her website, blog, and Twitter pages.  And go add all of her books on GoodReads.

Now.

Haven't read any of Susan's books? Wellllll, that's where I come in. 

To celebrate the release of A Dawn Most Wicked, I'm giving away stuff! There will be three winners. The grand prize winner will win a hardcover copy of Something Strange and Deadly, an e-book of A Dawn Most Wicked and a hardcover copy of A Darkness Strange and Lovely [when it is released on 7/23/13]. Two winners will get an e-book of A Dawn Most Wicked.

The grand prize winner will get books from The Book Depository [so make sure it ships for free to you before entering!]. Winners of the e-book copies will choose between Barnes & Noble or Amazon for delivery.

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

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The time I reviewed a book -- 2

Okay.  Another book has captured my brain and held it hostage. I know that I said I wouldn't do reviews all the time, but I refuse to take the blame for this.  I'm holding Susan Dennard completely responsible for creating such an phenomenal world and characters.  It's her fault that I can't get Something Strange and Deadly out of my head. 

First of all, look at that cover.  It's gorgeous.  The colors.  The model.  The gears behind her.  The font.  Everything about this cover makes me happy. 

I had heard the buzz about Something Strange and Deadly right from the beginning.  I put it on my "to buy" list and figured I'd buy it eventually.  And then I saw Susan tweet something about how it was going to be on sale at CC before it was officially released.  Annnnnd, I'm not one to skip that sort of opportunity.

But, let's get down to business.  Here are the reasons I'm horribly in love with this book.

1. Eleanor

I'm a sucker for a smart girl.  I love love love when authors write their heroines as witty and charming instead of needing to rely on a boy.  And my ideal heroine is one who delivers snarky retorts and proves how awesome she is without changing a damn thing about herself. 

Eleanor is all of those things.  And more.

She fights the Dead with a parasol.  She gets into the thick of things right from the beginning and never wants to leave. She's the younger sister to an older brother who can't come home for some reason.  The family is almost out of money and the responsibility to marry quickly falls on Eleanor's shoulders.  And does she falter? Nope.  Not at all.

2. Daniel

Daniel is swoony without even knowing it.  He's smart and gruff and so delicious in his not acting properly around a society lady.  Even better, he knows how he's supposed to act and does the exact opposite.  He calls Eleanor "Empress".  He buys her a parasol when she loses hers. 

At the same time, you can tell he doesn't know what to do with Eleanor. And it's absolutely amazing to watch it all unfold and see the interactions between them. 

3. The promise of more in Book 2

Eleanor. Daniel. Paris.  The end.

Something Strange and Deadly takes place in Philadelphia.  There are zombies.  Smart zombies who are being controlled by a necromancer.  And some pretty awesome steampunk-like science experiments that help destroy the zombies. 

Go buy it. 

As I said in my epic Comic-Con recap, I briefly met Susan.  She's adorable and charming and I absolutely want to meet her again so I can fangirl on her the way she properly deserves.

The time we went to Comic-Con 2012

Last year, we got up at 3am and waited in line for 6 hours to buy our 2012 CC passes when they were still doing onsite ticketing. I can't complain because we ended up meeting Matt Smith in the middle of the road and he was super nice and took pictures with us.

Anyhoo.

We weren't super excited about it right away. We've been every year for 16 years or so and while it's been interesting watching the growth and popularity, it's also been a downer at how commercial and assholey it's gotten.  For the first time, I actually looked through the schedule and made a note of the panels I wanted to see.

Thursday

I knew Heather Brewer was going to be signing on Thursday. We went to Penguin YR right away to ask about when Heather would be there and just happened to get there right before Marie Lu was signing the special edition copy of Legend. I also *finally* met Christine and Caitlin who were both in line for Marie Lu as well.

From Marie, we headed to the BBC America booth to get the CC edition Doctor Who shirt. The line ran all across the wall and they had to walk people over 20 at a time. It took us about 20 minutes to get up to the booth, but I was able to get my hands on a couple of shirts. And the best lanyard ever.

From there, we had nothing but time. The panel I wanted to go to was at 1:15, but due to the Walking Dead being right after it, the hall it was being held in was already full.

We walked around a bit and then went to scope out where the after-panel-autograph area would be.  There was still a panel signing going on [the topic was "Books in Hollywood"] and Margaret Stohl was there.  I was given a Beautiful Creatures shirt that she signed.

I bought a copy of When You Were Mine by Rebecca Serle.  I'm a total sucker for anything Romeo and Juliet related.  She was adorable.  And just so so so nice.  Her marker started to run out when she went to sign my book, so I asked her if she wanted a new one.  She said yes, because she didn't want to "sign it in Fifty Shades of Grey." She started laughing and remarked that she knew it was a bad joke, but couldn't resist. 

We chatted about how the author of Fifty Shades was going to be signing later and how we were all just amazed by it.  Rebecca was lovely enough to take a picture with me... And then asked Hubs to take another one with her camera.

I was handed a few other free books as I walked down the panel line, but only one other one was signed.  The author, Mark Frost, was really friendly.  The Paladin Prophecy sounds amazing too.  Apparently, there's going to be a movie coming out in 2014 based on the book...

After getting through that panel, we sat around for a while and just watched people.  Eventually, I noticed that people were getting in line for the signing from the "Not With a Bang, but a Bite" panel, so I went to get in line. 

And then this happened.

Yes.  You're looking at that right.  The Disney Princesses had an impromptu photo shoot right where the signing was going to take place.  And apparently, I was the photographer, using Rapunzel's camera, and the phones of Ariel and Merida.

At 2:30, the authors from the panel came over. 

Max Brooks was first for me.  Basically, just a hi, nice to see you, thank you, bye type of situation. He was smiley and nice, though.

Stephen Blackmoore is a riot on Twitter.  We've been having an ongoing conversation about CC involving tasers, matching Sailor Moon costumes and our mutual awkwardness in real life.  He made me promise that I would identify myself when I got to him... And I sort of did, in the form of my name on a post-it note in the book.

We chatted for a few minutes before he signed my book and took a picture with me.  Seriously, go follow him now.  Now.  Now.  NOW.

Last, but certainly not least, was Susan Dennard.  I just happened to see that she was going to be on the panel as well and I almost died when I saw that Something Strange and Deadly was going to be available to buy before the signing [and before the release date].

Susan is super friendly on Twitter and in person.  She had a bunch of trading cards of the characters in front of her, along with a sticker that said "aim for the knees".  When I commented on it, Susan said that one of her characters uses her parasol to knock down zombies.  LOVE IT.  She was also more than willing to take pictures!

As I was walking out of the signature line, Sarah J Maas was there. [squee!!] Because I've repeatedly flailed over her, I was going to try and play it cool. Again. Well, that didn't work out.

She said hi to me and I actually did the I'm-shielding-myself-from-you-because-if-I-can't-see-you-then-you-can't-see-me-and-I-won't-make-an-ass-of-myself. Did that work?

No.

I had some ridiculous word vomit about how I wasn't really stalking her, it was just a coincidence and not to be afraid. She said words back, but I have no fucking clue what they were. It could have been any combination of:

"Nice to see you" to "Okay, I'm scared now" to "Get the fuck away from me" to "I'm calling the cops"

After making a complete ass of myself with Sarah, we decided to call it a day.  And what a first day it was...

Friday

I had been bugging Heather Brewer on Twitter about her CC schedule for about a week before.  She was signing ARCs of Second Chance at Penguin on Thursday at 5 and having gotten First Kill last year, I really really really wanted it.  However, Hubs couldn't miss school, so I was unable to go.

Thankfully, Caitlin and Michelle were available to get to Penguin for me.  And apparently, Heather recognized my name and told them I was a liar since I didn't show up.  After Michelle text me to tell me about it, I tweeted Heather again and thanked her for signing the book for me, even though I wasn't there.  I also said that I'd be seeing her on Friday. Her answer? "You better be".

So. That brings us to Friday morning.

The line across from Hall H, for Hall H

We were walking down the sidewalk in front of the convention center, trying to get down to the section that we wanted to enter at.  As we were walking in, Heather Brewer and her son were walking out.  Hubs noticed her and we spun around to talk to her.  Hubs told her who I was [namely, that I was the one who didn't show up Thursday].  She started laughing, telling me the story of what happened and how she called me a liar. 

Afterwards, she was awesome and took a picture, but not before jumping up and down with me. I promised her that I would see her at the Penguin booth at 10.

We got right into the convention center and headed to Penguin.  I wanted to confirm that they didn't mind that I had my own books for Heather to sign.  The ladies they had working were so nice.  I told them I wasn't going to take the copy of Legacy of Tril they were giving away and they had no problem with my request.

Heather got there just after 10.  When we got up to her, she said "YAY!!!" I was able to get my ARC of Legacy of Tril signed as well as my Dear Bully and four of the Vlad Tod books.  Heather was thrilled to see that I had Dear Bully and we had a discussion about how I was trying to get everyone to sign their entries.

We thanked Heather for taking the time to sign all of the books and Penguin for letting me do it and went on our way down the aisles, just to wander around...

And then we ran into the some of the cast members of season 2 of The Glee Project.  Aylin, Charlie, Blake and Abraham were walking around with Samuel [who was one of the winners from season 1] and Robert [the mentor/Glee casting director].  They were all super friendly and willing to take pictures with me. 

After walking around for a couple of hours, we headed upstairs to where Heather's panel was being held.  It was scheduled to start at 3:30 and by 2pm, they had already cut off the line and we were unable to get into the room.

Walking through the autograph area, we saw Kiersten White interviewing Rae Carson for Epic Reads.  I told her the secret phrase she posted on her blog ["So, how are you preparing for the unicorn apocalypse?"] and was given some signed bookmarks.

Bookmarks and bumper stickers

As we walked out, I saw Stephanie Perkins on her panel, but I didn't have my Nook for her to sign and didn't want to buy more books [or wait in line], so we decided to call it a day.

Saturday

Saturday morning had us sleeping in.  On the drive home Friday, we had discussed attending at all on Saturday.  The conclusion we came to was no.  After waking up late and having breakfast, we decided to head down to the convention center.  We got there around 1 [after having to make a stop at my work to print the parking pass because I forgot it] and just headed into the exhibit hall.

Earlier, Lish McBride had tweeted that she was going to be signing at 3:00.  After telling her that I would try to come by, she said she would save me a shirt... We went to find the booth and Leigh Bardugo was there signing!

I stopped to say hi and finally get a bottle of the super cool Shadow and Bone nail polish she has.  She said that I needed to paint everything in the house.  I said I would paint the dog and Hubs' nails. Leigh signed my badge and ever so nicely signed some bookmarks for Jennifer.

Now.  As I said at the beginning of the post, we met Matt Smith and Karen Gillan last year.  The two of them and Arthur Darvill were going to be on panels over the weekend, so we were hoping to run into them again.  Knowing that Matt was on a specific panel that was about to be over, we took a chance and ran over to the side of the Hilton to see if we could catch any of them.

After about 20 minutes, Matt came out of the hotel without security and signed.

 And I even got him to sign my Tardis bag...

After being out for about 5 minutes, security told Matt he had to leave and escorted him to the limo across the street.  Security got really thick and then all of a sudden, Karen and Arthur were whisked by us right into the limo.

We hung out by the side of the Hilton for a little longer and ended up seeing Joel McHale, Will Ferrell, Zach Galifianakis, Naya Rivera, Darren Criss, Jenna Ushkowitz, Kevin McHale, Lea Michelle, Cory Monteith, William H. Macy, Emmy Rossum, Don Cheadle, Robert Downey Jr, Ian McKellen, Peter Jackson, Martin Freeman, Sean Hayes, Nina Dobrev, Ian Somerhalder, Paul Wesley and Robert Downey Jr [again!!].  There were tons of other people, but I had no idea who they were. 

We left just around 3 [much to Hubs' dismay, he was happy to stay there] and headed to Lish.  I introduced myself to her [per our Twitter conversation] as the person who would avenge her if she didn't show up after going with the crazy cab/shuttle drivers. 

Lish signed my badge and I told her that I would have her books on Sunday.  We took a picture and she gave me an awesome shirt. We also all compared our Doctor Who phone cases...

Hubs wanted to go back to the hotel to see who else would be walking out, but once we saw the crowd, we decided to leave.

Sunday

We got to the convention center around 6:30 because Hubs wanted to try and get a wristband for the Sons of Anarchy autograph panel.  When we got to where the line was, it really wasn't bad.  Hubs got in line, I went to a table across the way and contemplated if the table top was clean enough for me to sleep on.

After about 2 hours of waiting and snacking, the line started moving.  We had thought that it was just a let's-go-up-to-the-table-and-tell-them-what-we-want sort of thing, but it was a drawing.  Hubs went first, they only allowed one person at the table at a time.  He pulled a ticket out and while it was a white one that didn't count for the signing, there were also several other white ones and one green one stuck to the palm of his hand.  According to him, the girl told him to take it.

I was at the door and started teasing him, saying he was a cheater.  Then I went to pull a ticket.  I had one in between my fingers and shook off the others.  Or so I thought.  I had a white one between my fingers and a green one stuck to my palm.  The girl told me to take it.  I think they were all just so tired of being there and dealing with it...

After we had our tickets, we went to the room where the YA panel was going to be held.  It started filling up quickly and I debated whether or not I was going to even stay for it.  After my girl, Ava, got there, Hubs left to go wander around the exhibition floor.  I started getting pictures of the cast of  Criminal Minds. They were doing a signing and security let him stand there and take pictures.

Love love love Matthew Gray Gubler

After the first panel was finished, Ava and I got up to the front row.  And with about 20 minutes before the YA panel started, Ava left to go to the restroom.  She came back into the room all giddy, happily whispering to me how all of the authors were outside and she met Myra McEntire and hugged her eleventy billion times.  She encouraged me to go out into the hallway as well.

I left to also use the restroom before the panel and as I walked back to the room, I wasn't going to say anything.  I had no intention to jump into any conversations... And then Lauren spotted me.  After some of the best hugs from her and Christina, Lauren brought over Myra.  I'm pretty sure she said, "I hope you're a hugger" before she latched on.  It was perfection.

Now.  Of course there's a backstory.  Lauren had confirmed that Myra was coming to Comic-Con when I saw her in April at the Spring Into the Future event.  Since it was super secret news, I couldn't say anything, but I did take to bugging Myra on Twitter about it.  It started out as a general question and then became a game.  Her answer every time was to use shouty caps and say "DAVID TENNANT".  Sometimes, it was "MATT SMITH".  And on one very rare occasion, I got a "DAVID TENNANT. MATT SMITH. EXTERMINATE. AMYRIVERRORY"

When the panel started and the authors were introduced, Ava and I shouted "DAVID TENNANT", to which Myra leaned forward and into the microphone answered with a "Matt Smith".

The panel was phenomenal.  Of course I didn't take any sort of notes, so I won't even attempt to recap.  Just know that all of the authors were amazing and thoughtful with their answers.  They had excellent rapport with each other and all were equal in their awesome.

I ended up leaving the panel after about 30 minutes.  The room was filled with people and I wanted to be sure I was going to be able to get into the signing line.  Turns out, Hubs was already there. And at the front of the line.

Luckily, the authors got there early, so Hubs was able to stay with me to help me juggling the backpack full of books before going to the SoA autograph panel that was starting at the same time.

Scott Westerfeld and Melina Marchetta were first.  Unfortunately, because we were trying to hurry, there wasn't a lot of time with either author.  We both said hi and thank you to both Melina and Scott, but not much more.

From there, Lish McBride was next.  She laughed when I handed her the books, saying that she had already signed everything for me.  I reminded her that I didn't have the books with me and she started laughing. 

And finally... Myra.

I had brought her a David Tennant action figure. For that I got more hugs and a fantastic picture with her, where she's holding it.  She was the only one I chatted with for a brief minute.  I wanted to make sure she knew just how happy I was that she came out here. 

Pictures courtesy of my girl, Ava.

She told me where she was going to put the DT figure [near her computer!!] and while she was signing my books, her marker ran out.  I had pulled a gold one out [thank you, Michelle] for her to sign my Nook with and told her she could keep it.  Myra said that she would send it back to me with some prizes... I'm probably going to hold her to that.

After saying a quick hi and bye to Tahereh Mafi, Veronica Rossi and Kami Garcia, we ran off to the Fox booth to get in line for the SoA signing. 

Apparently, word had spread that the booth was allowing people to "stand by" for the signing in case there was extra time after the ticketed people went through the line.  Due to that rumor, there was a shitload of people just hovering around.  When security and the Fox booth people finally convinced those people the rumor wasn't true, everyone cleared out.

Hubs had ended up giving away one of our tickets.  I asked the two girls working the line if I would be able to just walk through the line with him if I agreed not to take anything.  They both said yes.  When the ticket was exchanged for a laminated number, we were led 10 at a time over to the booth.  Security initially told me that I wasn't allowed to go through, but once I assured everyone I wasn't going to get anything signed, they all said it wasn't a problem.

We got up to the Fox booth girl who was handing out the posters.  She tried to give me one.  I told her that I promised not to take anything.  She said I could take it if I wanted and I still said no.  Kurt Sutter, the creator of Sons of Anarchy was sitting at the first position and I got a little nod [of respect? agreement?]. 

Hubs went through the line and every one of the 11 cast members was engaging and so so so friendly.  Lots of handshakes, eye contact and smiles.  It was a lot of fun and definitely not what I was expecting.  Somehow, when we got to the end of the line, there was an extra poster and one of the actors handed it to me and said since it was just sitting there, I should take it.

After the autograph panel, we tried getting into Hall H to see if there was room to see the SoA panel.  There was.  We sat through The Cleaveland Show panel [where Seth MacFarlane was eerily quiet] before we were shown 7 minutes of the first episode of Sons and a 45 minute panel. 

The last panel of CC became the last thing we did as well.  We left as the last question was being asked and headed off to the Karen Thompson Walker signing at Warwick's. 

Every year we say it's going to be our last and after 16 years, it hasn't happened yet.  2012 was definitely the best CC I can remember. And I definitely plan on going in 2013.