Thursday Thirteen - 247 - 13 Things About My Fan Expo Author Event

1 - Nine months into being published, this August saw my third official author event, which took place at Fan Expo in Toronto Aug. 23 - 26.

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank my friend Tara for helping me to navigate the hoops and hurdles involved in being an exhibitor.

2 - After flying into Toronto, I made a quick dash downtown to snag gift certificates for my Fan Expo contest--one for Bakka-Phoenix Books and one for Silver Snail. Here I am with Chris, my good friend and the manager of Bakka-Phoenix.

3 - Day 2 in Toronto became Day 1 of Fan Expo. My brother-in-law Jeff drove us first to UPS Store 421 on Front St. to pick up my boxes of books, and then a few blocks further for the load-in at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. Dino, the manager of the UPS store, had them all ready for me right by the counter. More strategic brilliance from Tara--thanks!

4 - It took awhile, but I finally got to the Artist Alley counter to pick up my exhibitor badge. Excitement was building...

5 - Once we trundled our way through the enormous convention centre and found my booth, we set up my books, along with a looped DVD showcasing my book trailers, my mom's watercolor ink prints (including her dragon print featured on the back cover of my Dragonsfyre series) and my contest for the book store gift certificates.

6 - My neighbor for Fan Expo was Alan Draven, horror and urban fantasy author.

The saying "when the student is willing, the teacher appears" pretty much sums up the cosmic placing of Alan next to me at my first convention. He sold out of his books by the last day with a few hours to spare. My husband could quote verbatim Alan's disarming pitches that stopped strolling convention goers in their tracks and ended up with a sale nine times out of ten.

He was on fiyah.

7 - The costumes of convention goers were phenomenal. I had to stop Jack Skellington for a picture.

8 - Day 2! Look at the hordes!

Look at my clear-sailing exhibitor entry. Sweet.

9 - Saw the Batman villains having lunch as I stood in the Pizza Pizza line-up. Hats off to Pizza Pizza for getting me through a 30-customer line-up in 15 minutes. And for somehow having pizza that wasn't dried-out or under-cooked.

10 - Since my blog readers voted Spike the Ultimate Vampire last October during the Take it to the Mat Ultimate Vampire Smackdown, I figured I should tell James Marsters about it, since he was at Fan Expo as well.

Okay, so he was headlining at his own panel and I was in the Indie Artist Alley, but whatever.

When I mentioned that he'd won "over the two True Blood guys," he said. "Well, that's because we had the better writers."

Spike = Ultimate Vampire

James = generous co-creator with writing team of the Ultimate Vampire

11 - My thanks to my brother-in-law Jeff, at left, for all the help with picking up the boxes of books on both Day 1 and Day 4 of Fan Expo.

To my sister-in-law Karen, second from left, for doing some early Christmas shopping!

And to my niece Pamela, at right, for getting my Dragonsfyre banner and author logo t-shirts ready for me.

Also enjoying a delicious Thai dinner out are my sister-in-law Violetta and her niece Natalia.

12 - Now that I'm back from my post-Fan Expo vacation, I held the draw for my contest last night.

13 - Whose name did I pick?

Check your email for a notice from me...

Book Meme

Akelamalu opened this meme up to all takers, so I grabbed it.

Here are the rules:
1. Grab the nearest book of 123 pages or more.
2. Open it to page 123.
3. Find the first 5 sentences and write them down.
4. Then invite 5 friends to do the same.






I'm currently reading Sergei Lukyanenko's book The Night Watch, translated into English by Andrew Bromfield.







My husband bought three of this series for me while he was in Toronto at Bakka-Phoenix Books, a marvellous independent sci-fi / fantasy bookstore on Queen Street West. The lovely and talented manager of the bookstore is none other than Chris Szego, my sister's former roommate when we all lived in Toronto once upon a time.

Whenever I'm in Toronto I head over to the store to see Chris. As in this picture from last October, when my sister was sworn to secrecy so Brad and I could just walk into the store like any old customers and - surprise!


And luckily she often visits my sister once a year, so we get to enjoy her down east, too. Here's a picture from an afternoon spent at Clam Harbour Beach a few years ago - that's me, Chris and my sister Michelle.

Anyhoo, she loaded my husband's arms with the first three of Lukyanenko's series, which includes a fourth book, Final Watch that I don't have...yet...

I couldn't wait to sink my teeth into this book. I first saw the Russian film Night Watch, based on Lukyanenko's book, in 2006 at the theatre here in Halifax, though its Russian domestic release was in 2004. I absolutely adored this film. A blurb on the book cover says 'Brace yourself for Harry Potter in Gorky Park.' (Washington Post) I'd say it's also safe to call it The Matrix meets Anton the Vampire Slayer in Putin's Moscow.

Here's the back cover blurb to get you up to speed for the mini-excerpt:

"Walking the streets of Moscow, indistinguishable from the rest of its population, are the Others. Each owes allegiance to either the Dark or the Light, two powerful forces that long ago forged an uneasy truce in order to avert chaos and disaster. They watch each other closely, carefully maintaining the world's precarious balance between good and evil.

Anton, a young Other of the Light, is a Night Watch agent who patrols the streets and subways of the city, protecting ordinary people from the agents - including vampires - of the Dark. On his rounds, Anton comes across a young woman, Svetlana, who is under a powerful curse that threatens to destroy the city, and a boy, Egor, an Other still unaware of his powers, whom Anton narrowly saves from the vampires of the Dark.

Anton and his partner, Olga, a powerful female Other who has been turned into an owl as punishment, work frantically with their Night Watch colleagues - each gifted with their own particular powers - to deflect Svetlana's curse and to protect Egor from the creatures that pursue him."

Now here's the meme excerpt:

Page 123

"You're linked to her."

"What?"

The boss sighed and took the hookah tube from his mouth. The cold opium smoke streamed out onto the floor.

"You, Anton Gorodetsky, a programmer, unmarried, of average abilities, are linked to the girl with that vile black filth hanging over her head."

- Sergei Lukyanenko, 1998

And now...a-tagging I will go, a-tagging I will go...

Amy Ruttan, Apprentice Writer, Kelly Boyce, Red Garnier, Thomma Lyn

Showcasing Bakka Phoenix

Last night while I was watching the late night edition of news on CBC, a segment started about a new release of posthumous work by J.R.R. Tolkien called CHILDREN OF HURIN. After one shot I recognized a favorite bookstore of my husband's in his hometown of Toronto, the sci-fi/fantasy bookstore Bakka Phoenix. Not only is Bakka a sentimental spot for him, but it's also the store where my sister's former roommate is the manager. She's a very good friend of mine, too, in fact of our whole family, and I last saw her a month ago when she flew here to attend my father's funeral.

So I got rather excited to see that the segment had been taped in the store, and before too many heartbeats went by, there she was in glorious close-up, giving her store-manager opinion on an historic book release.

You can catch it on the link below. It's viewable in the box you'll see on the right under 'video clip.' Chris is the woman with the fantastic array of curls.

Ron Charles reports for CBC

Go, Chris, go!