You know, I've went from not knowing one author to meeting five authors in the same month. It's been my very own whirlwind tour of authors during the month of August!
I had a nice time at ArmadilloCon, it was what I would call a very sedate affair, low key. I've only been to one other Con and that was Comic-Con San Diego last year, it was a mad house. In comparison, this Con was very quiet and I have to say I enjoyed not feeling rushed. I met Ann Aguirre, Kimberly Frost, Jeanne Stein and Mario Acevedo at different signing sessions. Of course, I was clueless as to what to say and felt like I was blubbering most of the time but I think I did a good job of not making too much of fool of myself.
Ann Aguirre and moi! I think I blubbered the most with Ann because I admire her for so many things besides the books she writes and if you read her blog you will know exactly what I'm talking about. She has a wonderful way of expressing herself. I asked Ann to sign my Team Chance t-shirt and The Jax books, t-shirt signing came out so pretty. Later after the signing, I ran into Ann in the hallway and she introduced me to Sharon Shinn. Ann said she is an awesome fantasy writer, and Mandi at Smexy Books earlier this week said the same thing, so I have happily added a new author to my list of must reads.
Just for the record, I've read a lot fantasy but mostly in the worlds of Dragonlance and the Forgotten Realms. But in case you haven't noticed, Urban Fantasy as become new fascination for me this year.
I bought a copy of Would-Be Witch by Kimberly Frost there at ArmadilloCon and asked Kimberly to sign it. It's a book I've been wanting to read for while, ever since Amber at Amberkatze's Book Blog had Kimberly as a guest. Kimberly told me that on August 25th she going to launch a big celebration for the release of her second book Barely Bewitched on her blog, so mark your calendars.
Jeanne Stein and moi! Jeanne was all smiles! I didn't have a book for her to sign because I had won all four books in the Anna Strong Vampire Chronicles, signed by Jeanne in a contest at The League of Reluctant Adults back in February. But I did have a postcard I received in the mail with the cover art for Retribution, so I asked her to sign that.
Jeanne Stein, moi and Mario Acevedo. When I explained to Jeanne why I was having her sign a postcard, she got really excited to meet someone who visited her and Mario's blog and won at a contest there, so she wanted a picture of all of us. She said she wanted proof of a visiting fan! Mario and Jeanne, I can tell are as fun in real life as their blog posts are. I enjoyed meeting them both.
