Apocalypse Tour (London) & Pitch Dark Days (Lansing) -- Event Recaps

I've had the pleasure of attending some pretty awesome book events over the past couple of months. I always have fabulous intentions of posting about them right away, but that just... doesn't happen. (Except, you know, when Kelley Armstrong came to my freaking house. That had to be reported on pronto).

So, these recaps are definitely in the "better late than never" category, but I thought you guys still might want to hear about them.

First up, the YA Apocalypse Tour came to London (Ontario) on May 4...

So, that sign ^^ kind of lied, because while we were expecting a talk it ended up just being a signing.

Before we talk about how awesome the authors are, let's talk about how NOT awesome the store was. You know how usually at a bookstore where an author is there they announce it over the PA system and make a big deal? Yeah... none of that happened. Maybe it was different behind the scenes, but I didn't see any of the employees try and play up the fact that 4 pretty big-name authors were there. The other bloggers and I were super disappointed about how discourteous the store seemed to be toward the authors.

So while there wasn't a big turn out for the authors (which made me super sad), a few of us stayed and chatted with the authors for probably more than an hour. We did talk about their books, but also a lot about books and movies they enjoy, cover changes on books, what's popular right now, etc.

Definitely if you have a chance to meet any of these ladies, do so, because they are all so friendly and kind.

Megan Crewe & Leah Bobet

Maureen McGowan & Cheryl Rainfield

Then on May 10 the HarperCollins Pitch Dark Days Tour came to Lansing, Michigan. Now, this isn't right next door, but it's easily driveable (aka not a lot further from here than Toronto is). This event was featuring Kiera Cass, Elizabeth Norris, Aprilynne Pike, & Amy Tintera.

Schuler Books, where the event took place. Such a nice store!!

All the authors with their publicist in the middle

Snarkles made an appearance!

I was actually able to take some pretty good notes on my phone re: what was talked about, so here are some fun facts, arranged by author:

Kiera Cass

• ‘The Selection’ is often pitched as The Hunger Games meets The Bachelor, but for Kiera it’s really a combination of Esther (yes, the Bible story) and Cinderella... she wondered what would have happened if Esther actually loved the boy next door and Cinderella just wanted a pretty dress and the night off instead of the prince
• She thinks America's sister May would have excelled in the Selection, because she’s boy crazy and enthusiastic about everything
• Kiera writes for herself only and it's just cool that others like it; the stories still feel like hers, personally
• Chapters 28 & 29 of The Elite are her favourite
• Another of her favourite parts is Aspen & his pennies, because it shows what kind of person he is; he’s sacrificing what he really needs for his family. Pennies are the smallest thing but so big for him, and he’s also sacrificing his time
• Belives that the things that define you come out in the words; she doesn’t have any agenda at all, but thinks that her Christianity comes out in some places
• She’s often asked which team she is, in regards to the boys; she said that Aspen is hotter but Maxon is sweeter; she’s “Team All The Boys”
• Re: setting, The Spelling Manor is what she pictured the palace as, but bigger (add 2 stories) and with walls around it
• She named Celeste after a mean girl from her childhood

Elizabeth Norris

• Struz is based on her real life friend in the FBI; he gave her as many details as he could about his job; Liz didn’t tell him that he was basically in the book, but he bought a copy and found out because the character’s last name is almost the same as his; then his whole family came to one of her first book signings
• The books were inspired by the TV show Sliders and by the idea of parallel universes; she wanted to examine how changes in different universes would change individuals (the idea of nature vs nurture and who you are without your experiences)
• She was rejected when she was young at a writing conference; she wrote 27 (!) books before Unraveling; her friends actually pitched the book to an agent for her, because she was so afraid of being rejected again and she was just writing for herself
• Liz suffers from what she calls “idea promiscuity” (love this term, haha), so she'll never finish things unless she plans it all out; she’ll write down scene ideas and then write the ending so that she'll know where she’s working toward
• Re: setting, she took the emotions she felt toward San Diego and included what she missed about it

Aprilynne Pike

• With her latest release, Life After Theft, she wanted to examine the idea of how people talk about others once they’re dead: just because you’ve died, it doesn’t mean you’re a nice person! Kimberlee is mean, she is not the heroine of the story
• When she writes YA, she writes for her 13 year old self
• She always tries for the unexpected ending that still feels right
• Wants to write male characters that are just as interesting as the females
• With Life After Theft she took Santa Monica stereotypes and put a normal boy in a rich, glitzy setting

Amy Tintera

• In Reboot she put a strong female and a less physically strong guy together; she loved the idea of reversing gender roles and having both of them be fine with that
• She writes initially for herself, but feels like it's for others now as well; she doesn't love ‘Reboot’ the best anymore now that she’s working on Book 2; she wants to keep writing books that are her new favourites as she’s writing them
• Amy’s favourite part of the book is just that Wren is kind of crazy and Callum digs it
• She’s not a strict plotter: she makes it up as she goes, but she has to work toward the end or else she gets bored with it and abandons it
• She was a huge Sweet Valley High fan, so one of her first books featured characters named Elizabeth and Todd
• She’s always wanted to write happy endings because of a book she read when she was younger where at the end the character fell down stairs and died; felt like it was a horrible, traumatic ending!
• Random geek fact: her engagement ring is Battlestar Galactica themed, with a cylon on the side (um, how cool is that?!)

The books I got signed (Kiera was excited that I had the UK editions)

Swag I picked up!

Overall, clearly a lot of fun, and I was so glad I was able to attend both. Next recap? Rochester Teen Book Festival 2013. Hopefully that will be up next week.