Since I was lucky enough to get some amazing books at San Diego Comic Con this past weekend, I thought it would be fun to do a Comic Con wrap up post! Unfortunately, I’m terrible at taking photos at Comic Con because it’s just so crazy I forget. But I did have some awesome author encounters that I wanted to tell you about, and I went to a couple of panels that were also a lot of fun. And of course, the books.
Anyone who tells you that San Diego Comic Con is all about comics, movies, TV shows, seeing lots of awesome cosplay and meeting celebrities, well they’d be right! But it’s also got a very strong publishing presence, and as I’ve mentioned before in previous SDCC wrap up posts, you can literally spend the entire four days doing nothing but “book stuff.” For me, SDCC is like BookExpo for speculative fiction fans, and since I don’t get to attend BookExpo/BookCon, that’s OK because I have my own version right here in my neighborhood.
So what did I do during SDCC? I spent a bunch of time doing research and strategizing so that I could meet the authors I most wanted to meet and score some books:-) Here’s what happened:
The signed books.
Meeting Daryl Gregory was at the very top of my list of things to do, and because his signing was at the Penguin Random House booth, I had to stop by first thing Saturday morning to get a ticket. Believe me, I was waiting at the entrance door by 8:30 that morning (the convention center doesn’t open until 9:30) so that I could rush to the booth for a ticket! Score. He was signing the beautiful new paperback edition of Spoonbenders, one of my favorite books last year, and I was able chat with him for a few seconds. My big question was “What are you working on and what’s coming out next?” He said he’s finished book #2 of his Harrison Squared series (!!) but there isn’t a release date yet. He was so nice!!
I stumbled upon a notice for the book signing of The Mere Wife by Maria Dahvana Headley and immediately added it to my calendar. I’ve read rave reviews for this book, and I didn’t realize until just now that she also wrote the YA book Magonia🙂
I’ve seen Bad Man around Goodreads and several of my blogger buds are excited about it, so it was a no brainer when I saw that Dathan Auerbach was going to be signing galleys. This book releases in a couple of weeks and I’d love to add it to my August plate if I can..
Oh you guys! I had no idea that Tomi Adeyemi was going to be at Comic Con, but it turns out she was signing her book Children of Blood and Bone at the Fierce Reads booth. I got a ticket to the signing without any problems and she was super nice. And so young! I swear she looks about twelve, lol:-) I noticed when I bought my copy of the book that it was a 7th printing, which is good for authors because it means they’ve earned back their advance and the book has gone into multiple printings. When I got to the front of the line I congratulated her on the 7th printing, and she was surprised! She said she thought it was only up to the third printing, so I think I made her pretty happy.
I was lucky enough to get an ARC of Foundryside a few months ago, but I couldn’t resist meeting Robert Jackson Bennett and getting another copy, which has the cover art on in. I also got a Foundryside pin!
And I was so excited to meet Daniel H. Wilson, whose The Clockwork Dynasty I LOVED. He was signing copies of his new short story collection, Guardian Angels & Other Monsters!
I believe Sara Hanover is a debut author, and she was signing copies of her September release, The Late Great Wizard. It looks pretty good!
Black Wings Beating is another new-to-me book, but I guess Alex London has a bunch of books under his belt. I cracked this open after the book signing and read the first two chapters, and I was hooked! The story deals with falconry which I find fascinating! I can’t wait to get back to it.
OK, Christina Lauren isn’t my usual go-to author, but the authors (Christina Lauren is actually two women) were signing Beautiful Stranger as I was walking by so I hopped in line. Hey, why not?
Another book I’d never heard of is W.L. Goodwater‘s upcoming Breach, which comes out from Ace this November. It sounds so good, and I’m glad I got to meet the author:-)
I was super excited to meet Jason Denzel, because I just got a surprise copy of the second book in his series, Mystic Dragon, a couple of weeks ago. Tor was giving out copies of the first book Mystic, along with a prequel short story!
The unsigned books.
And no less exciting are the unsigned books I nabbed! Publishers do something similar to the “book drops” of BookExpo/BookCon, where they announce which books they are handing out at various times during the con. I met plenty of readers like me who hovered around the publishers’ tables, waiting for the “drop” and trying not to be too obvious, lol! At SDCC it’s so crowded that lines are very strictly regulated, so that they don’t block other vendor’s tables and block traffic. So a lot of times the publishers would tell us we couldn’t form a line. Hence the hovering! Anyway, I’m super excited about all of these: Phoenix Unbound by Grace Draven, Priest of Bones by Peter McLean, Rabbit & Robot by Andrew Smith, Sawkill Girls by Claire Legrand (!!), Temper by Nicky Drayden and Slayer by Kiersten White!
And more surprises: The Good Demon by Jimmy Cajoleas (looks really creepy!), The Ruin of Kings by Jenn Lyons (the start of a new fantasy series from Tor Books, dropping next February), Sadie by Courtney Summers (super buzzed about thriller coming in September, I just happened to be in the right place at the right time to get this), The Devil’s Thief by Lisa Maxwell, the second book in her series (ugh I need to catch up!), Four Dead Queens by Astrid Scholte, and Give the Dark my Love by Beth Revis.
Comics Will Break Your Heart by Faith Erin Hicks is new to me, it’s a YA that sounds SO CUTE. I was ECSTATIC to get a copy of The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy by Mackenzi Lee! Everyone I know who’s reading this series RAVES about it! The Philosopher’s Flight by Tom Miller is another book I’ve heard really good things about. When I saw that the Ace booth was offering an ARC of Ravencry by Ed McDonald if you purchased Blackwing, I didn’t hesitate at all. I’ve heard really great things about this series! And Grace and Fury by Tracy Banghart has been getting some mixed reviews, but I’m really curious to read it.
And finally, I purchased the first two Murderbot books by Martha Wells at the Tor booth (and got the ARC of The Ruin of Kings), I feel like the last blogger on planet Earth to start this series. Astounding by Alec Nevala-Lee is an anthology coming out from Harper Voyager, which looks interesting. Blood Communion by Anne Rice is a slim book (novella maybe?) about Lestat, so I’ll definitely have to check it out. This Cruel Design by Emily Suvada is book two in her series (This Mortal Coil) and I’m excited to start this series. And last but not least, Phantom Wheel by Tracy Deebs is a futuristic teen thriller that sounds fantastic.
The books that got away.
Obviously I can’t complain about the incredible bounty that I was lucky enough to get. But you just can’t do everything at SDCC and I had my daughter along and she wanted to do other stuff sometimes. So there were a few book drops I just couldn’t get to.
Muse of Nightmares by Laini Taylor. Ouch, this one hurts the most. I wandered by the publisher’s booth one day and they had an ARC on display. Of course I asked if they were giving it away. The publicist said “no,” but she did tell me that Laini would be signing books for purchase up in the signing tables area later that day, and if I purchased a book I could get an ARC of Muse of Nightmares. I still can’t believe I passed that up, but it just didn’t fit in my schedule.
Another big regret, Polaris Rising by Jessie Mihalik was being given away at the Harper Voyager booth on Sunday at 3:00 p.m. Since I just couldn’t stay that long, I had to let it go. So hard! I just featured this book on a WoW post and I’m so excited to read it.
And I don’t usually read middle grade, but I’m a huge fan of Greg van Eekhout so I tried to get a copy of his new MG book Voyage of the Dogs. I was late getting to the book drop by five minutes and they were ALL GONE. Weep.
I didn’t go to a lot of panels, but I did go to one that was so much fun, and had the best line-up of cool authors who were all SO FUNNY. “What’s New from Del Rey Books” wasn’t your typical publicist-run panel. There were actually Del Rey authors at this one. Check it out: Sylvain Neuvel (Themis Files series), Katherine Arden (The Winternight trilogy), Pierce Brown (Red Rising), Delilah S. Dawson and Kevin Hearne (Kill the Farm Boy), Christie Golden (World of Warcraft) and Naomi Novik (Spinning Silver). There was a bit of serious question-and-answer going on, but for the most part all the authors were cracking jokes and generally making the audience laugh our asses off.
And San Diego now has these public scooters that you can grab and ride any time (you just have to pay with a phone ap). I let my daughter try it even though she isn’t 18 yet (oops) but oh well. Does anyone out there have these in their town? It seems like a cool alternate to public transportation. Also, check out the long line of people waiting for…something.
SDCC looks awesome! And sweet haul! I love the look of Slayer by Kiersten White! The Ruins of Kings and Sadie too. Polaris rising looks awesome, and that Del Rey panel- wow that’s some star author power there. 🙂 Looks like an amazing time.
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It was fun, I’m really excited to read Slayer as well, because it’s about the Buffyverse and you know I have to read it because of my blog name:-)
Wow, looks like you and your daughter had an awesome time! So much swag! I’m so excited for all the amazing books you managed to snag. Especially The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy! Great haul overall though.
We have a comic con here in Baltimore that is fairly large and sometimes a few authors go but I never generally go because it’s almost always the same weekend aS the Baltimore Book Festival which has a SFWA tent run by Sara Pinsker full of great authors and panels, just like a mini convention and it’s all free to attend!
This year we’re lucky enough to have the World Fantasy Convention in Baltimore so I think I’m going to that because there should be a ton of great authors attending. 😀
World Fantasy Con sounds awesome! Is that the same as Worldcon? Baltimore Book Festival sounds like fun too:-)
Wow! You guys picked up so many fantastic looking books! I’ve added so many to my tbr. I’m so pleased to hear that there’s going to be more Harrison Squared, more Andrew Smith, and a I’m definitely interested in the book set in the world of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I hadn’t heard of those Bird scooters before a couple weeks ago when they showed up in areas of Columbus, OH. I haven’t seen them yet but according to the news then they were against the law in Bexley or something, they needed special permits or whatever. I think they were said the police were holding them until the right permits were filled….
The Bird scooters seem really cool, but they also seem a little dangerous. I actually tried one and nearly ran into a light pole! But I think it’s a great idea if you don’t want to pay for a car but don’t want to get on a bus either.
Sounds too crowded to me! I would like to go to a multimedia con one day just to check it out. Maybe DragonCon.
There are definitely more manageable cons out there, SDCC is crazy crowded. I hear Emerald City Con in Seattle is a lot of fun:-)
You’re Killimg me with every post! Agh I’ve GOT to go one of these years. I may tell the fam they have to send me for my birthday. Awesome book haul. I’m not jealous one little bit. Nope. You enjoy your books from SDCC AND I’ll just be over here doing whatever I’m doing today.
Ha ha, I really hope you can go sometime!
Daaaaannnggggg you might have missed some things but you got hella loot. lol Looks like you had a ton of fun though and you’ve got so many great looking books to read now. 😀 Happy reading!
I feel pretty lucky to get some of these. Some of these are from publishers I don’t work with so, yeah, excited about those:-)
You got an Amazing Assortment of Books at the Comic Con. I hope you love all of them.
Grace @ Books of Love
Thanks Grace:-)
Beautiful haul! Sounds like a wonderful experience. Martha Wells is currently my favourite author, and I hope you enjoy reading Murderbot.
My STS post.
Thanks! I can’t wait to start Murderbot, and since the books are short I plan on squeezing them in soon:-)
Looks like you two had a fabulous time. And the books! me wants them. LOL I have to go check out some of these authors. Love finding new ones.
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A lot of these are new to me too. Hopefully we’ll both get the chance to read some of them:-)
I used to go to SDCC quite often as I am from San Diego, but I stopped going in 2009 or so because it just got too crazy… and now it is so hard to get badges. *sobs*
Looks like you had an incredible time and you got so many amazing books!
Oh cool! It certainly is crazy now. My first year was 2012, and even then it was hard to get tickets.
Wow! You got a lot of great books! I still need to read Children of Blood and Bone, and I’m really looking forward to Sadie. Give the Dark My Love also sounds really good. I’m currently reading Grace and Fury and enjoying it so far! Glad you had fun! <3
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I’m glad you’re enjoying Grace and Fury!
I would LOVE to go to SDCC someday. But I have a feeling it would be super-expensive – and very overwhelming! *lol* We actually have a Comic Con in the Boston area, but I’ve heard it’s not very well organized. But there’s also ReaderCon, which I think took place a couple weeks ago. I should go to that next year…
Anyway. Look at all those books! I don’t even know what to comment on. XD I’ve been meaning to borrow Children of Blood & Bone from my local library, though. The reviews I’ve read still have me on the fence about buying it, so if I rent it instead, then I can get my own copy later if I find that I do like it.
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It is pretty pricey when you start adding in hotel and food, but it’s basically my yearly vacation (when I can get tickets), otherwise I don’t travel much, so I don’t mind spending the money:-)
I’ve never been to this sort of con, much too crowded for me. But it sounds like you had a great time and you certainly came away with quite a collection of books and other cool stuff. Glad you made it!
It’s definitely crowded and you just have to learn to to deal with it. I hate crowds, but for some reason Comic Con crowds don’t bother me that much.
You mean you have a better version of Book Expo in your neighborhood. THat’s a great book haul. I’d love to attend SDCC one year.
Well for spec fic fans, it’s better for sure:-) I hope you can go sometime!
Yay, you got to go to SDCC after all, and wow, what a haul! So jealous that you got to meet all those authors, that’s the one thing I regret missing most not being able to go to cons. So many authors that I’d like to meet face to face and shake their hand!
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I do love meeting authors, especially when they give tidbits of fun news, like what they’re working on:-)
That’s so awesome! I loved seeing your hauls on Instagram. 🙂 I’m happy to hear you got to do some meet and greets and get some things signed!
The author signings were definitely my favorite, and there were so many authors there! I didn’t even get to meet a bunch of them, there just wasn’t time for everything:-)
This sounds like so much fun and I’m totally jealous 🙂 you’ve got a gorgeous haul too! And cause our tasted overlap by I would guess 80%, I WANT THEM ALL xD xD wait, have you not read Murderbot yet? I forget. If you haven’t, I want to see your reviews when they’re up 🙂
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No I haven’t read Murderbot yet!! I think I’m the very last person to read them. Hopefully soon, I’m very excited:-)
So many good books i wouldn’t know where too start. I can’t wait for that MG dog book. I’m glad your daughter and you were able to go before she goes off to college. What memories you must have made. Can’t wait to start seeing some of these reviews!
It was a really nice mother/daughter trip. I’m going to miss her!!
WOAH you stacked up, lady! That’s quite a haul! I am curious about the Grace Draven book – I hear such good things about her books. Omgggg so many buttons! I love the Legendary ones in particular! I’m a button junkie… I think I need to stop being a button junkie lol I have so many! *So* many, not *too* many, right? I’m so sorry you didn’t get Muse of Nightmares. But I hope you enjoy all of your new books!
Have a wonderful day, Tammy. =)
Alyssa @ The Eater of Books!
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I love buttons too but I never know what to do with them, lol. What do you do with yours?
WHOOPS I never responded to this. The vast majority of my buttons are in a button box! A very specific box for them. 😉 But I’ve taken to pinning them to a button banner that a friend bought me for Christmas! It’s just a cloth banner that I can hang on the wall and my buttons are displayed. I love the idea! 😀
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That looks a lot of fun! I have been to Fantasycon and always come away with armfuls of books. Though this year, Himself couldn’t get the time off work, so we’re not going:(. I am going to Bristolcon, though and I’m hoping to pop up to London during the summer for a couple of events during the summer. You have an AMAZING haul of books, there, Tammy and I look forward to hearing about them over the coming weeks and months:)
I’d love to visit other cons as well, there are just so many:-)
I’m so jealous!! Its my goal in life to go to SDCC one year! I have been to Denver Comic Con (DCC) every year it has been a thing and its been fun to see how much it has grown! This year was the first year I paid attention to the book booths at DCC and it was awesome! I didn’t get nearly as many book as you did tho. That is awesome!! We have those scooters in Denver too, tho I haven’t tried them!
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Denver CC sounds like fun! There are so many of them all over the country, I’d also love to go to Emerald City Con in Seattle, I hear there are lots of books there as well:-)
I have been to Emerald City Con twice! It was awesome, but I didn’t check out their book section. That was before I knew cons had a large book section!
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THIS IS LIKE A DREAM COME TRUE!! <3 YOU ARE THE LIKIEST GAL ALIVE YOO. Right in your hood too. So many amazing books too. I'd dieee to try SDCC out some year. Like… 4 days and you kept yourself busy with SFF books and what not. I can't imagine all the comic book stuff going on at the same time too. And all the amazing authors that don't come to Canada. Omggg! THANK YOU for sharing Tammy! I do hope you'll enjoy all the goodies you got your hands on!! <3
You would DIG all the comic book stuff, Lashaan! It really is heaven for genre readers, comic book geeks and anyone who loves movies and TV. Hope you get the chance to visit someday:-)
Wow, this is seriously like my dream book haul right here! I’m glad you had such a wonderful time and I can’t wait to see what you think of The Lady’s Guide to Petticoats and Piracy, Sadie, Black Wings Beating, and so many more.
It’s my dream haul too, publishers were so generous this year:-)
This sounds like so much fun!! And that’s awesome you got so many signed (and unsigned) books!