Stacking the Shelves (34) – The San Diego Comic Con Books!

Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga’s Reviews, and is a fun way to share our book acquisitions with other bloggers and readers. I can’t believe it’s been a week since I was at Comic Con! It was the most awesome thing I’ve done in a long time, and I had the opportunity to meet some fantastic authors and get some signed books as well.

This week I’m going to show you the books I got at Comic Con, and give you a little background on my very first Comic Con experience, at least regarding the book part of it. I have another post coming soon on the Top Ten Things I Learned at Comic Con, as this was my first time. Here are the books I got at San Diego Comic Con 2013 (SDCC) (and I apologize for the length of this post!):

The signed books:

The Darwin Elevator by Jason Hough. I actually have this from NetGalley, but I was super excited to get a signed paperback copy and meet Jason!

Hounded by Kevin Hearne. I was determined to meet Kevin, since I’ve been following him on Facebook and his blog for some time. I’m actually in the middle of reading Hounded and loving it. He’s the nicest guy and you could tell he loved being at Comic Con and meeting his fans.

My Life as a White Trash Zombie by Diana Rowland. I wasn’t planning on going to this signing, but Diana just happened to be sitting at the Penguin booth with no line when I walked by. So of course I had to purchase her first book in the series (I haven’t read these books yet).

Dead Things by Stephen Blackmore. I keep hearing good things about this book, so I was excited to make it to Stephen’s signing.

The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black. OK, I’ll admit this was one of my “must haves” from Comic Con! I stalked the Little, Brown booth for about an hour before this signing started. (and they were not letting us line up ahead of time! It was maddening. Too much congestion on the exhibit floor and some of the surrounding booths weren’t being very nice about having book signing lines covering their merchandise. I see their point, but hey guys! Come on! Crowds are part of the fun at Comic Con!) Here’s a slightly blurry photo of Holly:

Sorry guys, I am a horrible photographer. Most of the time I was so caught up in the excitement, that I forgot to take photos!!

Tin Star by Cecil Castellucci. I had never heard of Cecil before Comic Con, but I’m so glad I decided to schedule in this book signing and get a copy of Tin Star! It’s a YA science fiction and it comes out in February next year. Cecil has written a bunch of books, mostly contemporary, and she was a doll!

Blood of the Lamb by Sam Cabot. I was not planning on getting this book, since it’s a bit out of my preferred genre (thriller) but I stumbled upon this signing, and I’ve seen the book around and wanted to check it out. I believe “Sam Cabot” is a pseudonym for two authors who wrote it together: S. J. Rozan and Carlos Dews.

Unbreakable by Kami Garcia. I snagged a copy of this book from a big pile that Little, Brown was handing out, then I went back to get a signed copy from Kami later on! They also gave out packs of salt with the book, which relates to the story I guess…

Altered by Gennifer Albin. I was pretty excited to get this ARC, which is the follow-up to Crewel. Plus, the cover hasn’t been revealed yet, so the book is pretty plain. MacMillan was only handing out TWENTY of these ARCs, to the first twenty people in line, and luckily they let us line up early. I got there about thirty minutes before it started and I was fourth in line! Whoopee! Here’s a photo of the lovely Gennifer:

Earthbound by Aprilynne Pike. Even though this book is about to hit shelves next week, they were still handing out ARCs at Comic Con.

Two Serpents Rise by Max Gladstone. When I met Max—who was adorable, by the way!—I told him this was the best book at Comic Con! I don’t think he was expecting that but he seemed happy to meet his absolute Number One Fan (that’s me! I ADORED Three Parts Dead, Book One of his series). I wish I’d taken a photo (bad Tammy!) because Max was so out of place at Comic Con! And let me tell you, it’s hard to be out of place there. Just about anything goes. But Max was wearing a suit and tie! Anyway, when I asked him if my two favorite characters from Three Parts Dead were going to make an appearance in this book, he said no, but they will be back for Book Three:)

Frozen by Melissa de la Cruz and Michael Johnston. I’m super excited to read Frozen, even though I haven’t read de la Cruz’s Blue Bloods series. Michael Johnston is her husband, and they were both there to sign.

Unremembered by Jessica Brody. MacMillan was selling finished copies of this book, and I was eager to buy one and meet Jessica.

Sea Change by S. M. Wheeler. I loved this book and was part of the Sea Change blog tour. I couldn’t wait to meet S. M. and gush about how much I loved her book, plus get my very own hardcover (I read a digital review version). She was adorable and so young! I couldn’t believe this was her first book, it was so masterfully written. She even remembered my review when I told her my name, yay!

Rebel Spring by Morgan Rhodes. This was probably the longest book line I waited in. I think I was number 58 in line (the publishers were very organized and kept track of how many books they had and gave everyone in line sticky notes with numbers on them, so they wouldn’t disappoint anyone). When I got to meet Morgan I asked her if she was having fun at Comic Con, and she seemed pretty excited to tell me that she had gone to a party the night before and bumped into Ian Somerhalder (The Vampire Diaries) (literally—she pointed to the arm that had brushed up against him!) I told her “congratulations!” Here’s a photo of Morgan:

Carniepunk by lots of cool authors!! This is another NetGalley title that I have on my Kindle for review, so I was super excited to get an ARC and also to get it signed, yet again, by the awesome Kevin Hearne! Also signing were Seanan McGuire and Rachel Caine! I can’t wait to get started on these stories…

London Falling by Paul Cornell. I’ve been eyeing this book since it came out in April, and I was thrilled that Tor brought Paul to Comic Con to sign finished copies. Let me just talk about Tor for a moment. They really are an awesome publisher of science fiction and fantasy, and at Comic Con all the author signings books were free. Although there were a limited number of each book, you could line up early and most likely get one. I only went to three of their signings, but I wish I had caught a few others.

The unsigned books:

Some publishers were handing out books willy-nilly, and I took every opportunity to snag these! Plus, a few publishers were very sneaky and would give you ARCs if you asked.

The Elfstones of Shannara by Terry Brooks. OK, Random House was just handing out books and I picked this up even though I don’t think I’ll read it. Hey giveaway! Let me know if you’re a Terry Brooks fan.

A Kiss Before the Apocalypse by Thomas E. Sniegoski. Here’s another author I’m not familiar with, but this was another case of the publisher (Penguin) handing out copies. This one looks pretty good!

“When Did You See Her Last?” (All The Wrong Questions 2) by Lemony Snicket. Little, Brown had a few ARC drops that I managed to get, and this was one of them.

Red Rising by Pierce Brown. Random House was handing these out like candy! And Pierce did do a signing at some point, but I missed it. Darn! I’m so excited to read this adult fantasy. You can’t tell from the photo, but I love the fact that they printed these ARCs with the spine title upside-down. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that before.

New Adult Sampler, includes excerpts by Tammara Webber and M. Leighton, among others.

Ace/Roc Sampler. Includes SF and fantasy excerpts, including Ilona Andrew and Anne Bishop.

Teardrop by Lauren Kate. I missed Lauren’s signing, but I went back to the Random House booth the next day and asked if they had any left, and they did! OK, I lied. I sent my daughter to the booth to ask. She was awesome and had no fear going up to publishers and asking for books that weren’t even in sight. (More on that later.)

The 100 by Kass Morgan. This was another book drop at the Little, Brown booth that I was thrilled to get! I think I sent my daughter to snag a copy of this one also.

Of Beast and Beauty by Stacey Jay. This book was hidden in a cupboard at the Random House booth, but I saw someone else go up and ask for a copy, so I did too. And yes, I got this one on my own!

Twinmaker by Sean Williams. I got this book by accident. Here’s the story: on Saturday night I just happened to be going through the Comic Con event guide that you get when you register, and I found a bunch of ads from publishers telling you that they were giving away certain books. I wish I’d seen these ads earlier! Anyway, the one that caught my attention was a giveaway for The Burning Sky by Sherry Thomas. Unfortunately they were out by the time I asked about it, but the nice woman at Harper Collins asked me if I’d like Twinmaker instead. Hell yeah I told her! (Well, no I actually didn’t say that. I think I said “I’d love a copy, thank you!”)

Ghostman by Roger Hobbs. This was a finished copy I snagged from a pile. Again, it’s a thriller/mystery, but I have read some good reviews.

Aftershock by Andrew Vachss. This book was literally shoved in my hands! I wouldn’t have picked it up (because it’s a hardcover and therefore heavy!) but I didn’t want to be rude.

You can also see the lovely Precious Blood bookmark I got, as well as the bag of salt that refers to Unbreakable.

Other swag:

I got lots of buttons, a few lanyards, a cool nail polish from Siege and Storm, a couple of Diary of a Whimpy Kid pencils (the 8th book is coming out soon, notice the pencil shaped like an “8”?) and of course, the finger monster that they always hand out at the Joss Whedon sing-along panels. Grrr, Arrgh. I am going to have to give away those “I heart Christian Grey” buttons, LOL! Anyone?

I wrote down a quick schedule each day that I tried to follow. As you can see from Saturday’s schedule, there were lots of overlapping book signings, so it was nearly impossible to get to all of them:

And just to show you the huge amount of authors and publishers at Comic Con, these are the books/authors I wasn’t able to get to:

Cress by Marissa Meyer (I wish now I’d tried to get one of the 20 copies!), The Eye of Minds by James Dashner, Tandem by Anna Jarzab, Boy Nobody by Allen Zadoff, Fearless by Cornelia Funke, Icons by Margaret Stohl, Ally Condie (Matched), SYLO by D. J. MacHale, Bronze Gods by A. A. Aguirre, The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey, Marie Lu (Legend series), Kill City Blues by Richard Kadrey, Chimera by David Wellington, A Conspiracy of Alchemists by Liesel Schwarz, Horde by Ann Aguirre, Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo, Pirate Cinema by Cory Doctorow, Antigoddess by Kendare Blake, Shannon Messenger…and these are just the booth signings! There were also signings after each book panel in the autograph area, with tons more authors. I’d be here all day if I had to list them all.

And this is just the tip of the Comic Con iceburg! Since I was mostly interested in the book stuff, I didn’t do much in the way of movies, TV or comics. You could literally pick one thing and spend all four days doing nothing but. There were so many panels I didn’t get to, mostly because, I hate to admit, they interfered with author signings that I didn’t want to miss! You have to have priorities when you go. I hope I get to go next year, because it really was awesome:) Thanks for reading through this looonnnggg post! Link me up to your Stacking the Shelves!