Back Home Again--But More Events To Come in October!

Well, the official Gray Wolf Throne tour is history. The laundry is in the hamper, and the suitcase is back in the closet for now.

I had great intentions of blogging/posting every day, but some of that foundered on the rocks of reality. Many nights I returned to the hotel at 10 p.m., sat down at the computer, and immediately fell asleep in my chair.  

It was wonderful to see so many of my online friends in person. Thank you to everyone who turned out along the way—you rock!! You’ll find photos of many of the events on my website here  (scroll down to past events.) Thanks to the Webmaster for getting everything posted up so promptly!

I have some exciting events coming up in October—from local gigs in Ohio to appearances in Spartanburg, SC and the San Diego area. Hope to see you at one of these!

           

Stow-Munroe Falls Public Library
Magic on the Page: Writing Young Adult Fantasy
Tuesday, October 4, 2011, 7 p.m.
3512 Darrow Road Stow, OH 44224
330-688-3295

OELMA Annual Conference
Ohio Educational Library Media Association
October 13-14, 2011
Columbus, OH Convention Center
http://www.oelma.org/Conference.htm

Spartanburg Teen Reading Festival
Teencentric 2011
Saturday, October 15, 2011
http://www.infodepot.org/zTeen/SCPLteencentric.asp

Cuyahoga County Library Chagrin Falls Branch
Writing Workshop: Worldbuilding, Elements of Fantasy Writing
October 20, 2011, 6-8 p.m.
100 East Orange Street
Chagrin Falls, Ohio 44022-2799
phone 440-247-3556

Books by the Banks Bookfest
Saturday, October 22, 2011
Duke Energy Convention Center
http://booksbythebanks.org/

Barnes & Noble Booksellers, Oceanside, CA
Author Reading and Signing Event
With Cinda Williams Chima, Garth Nix, and Sean Williams
Wednesday, October 26, 2011, 6-8 p.m.
El Camino North Shopping Center
2615 Vista Way
Oceanside, CA 92054
760-529-0106

Diversity in YA Signing Event
with Cindy Pon, Holly Black, Malinda Lo, Greg van Eekhout, Paolo Bacigalupi and Karen Healey
Thursday, October 27, 2011, 7 p.m.
The Poway Library
13137 Poway Rd.
Poway, CA 92064
858-513-2900
Library website: http://sdcl.org/locations_PW.html
Diversity in YA Website http://www.diversityinya.com/

World Fantasy Convention
October 27-31, 2011
Town and Country Resort and Convention Center
500 Hotel Circle North
San Diego, CA 92108
http://www.wfc2011.org/html/mainmenu.html

ON TOUR IN WICHITA!!

 HOST: WATERMARK BOOKS & CAFE
 WHEN: Monday, September 19, 6 p.m.
 WHERE:  471 E. Douglas Av., Wichita, KS
 CONTACT: (316) 682-1181 

I am on the ground in Wichita. I've already taken a walk along the river, and I'm looking forward to hanging out with book-lovers here.

The Revised Website: Take A Walk Around!

In collusion with the Webmaster, I’ve been making changes to my author website, based on reader feedback. I’ve added lots of new content, geared to the kinds of questions I usually get. Hopefully this will make it easier to find answers to questions, whether you are an interested reader, or you’re working on a book report or school project.

I hope you’ll like what you see. Let’s take a look!

Reminder: you may need to refresh your screen in order to see the changes.

·  Books pages: Now that I have two series going, I’ve organized content about them under two buttons: Seven Realms and Heir Chronicles. That should make it easier to find information about the series you’re currently reading. You’ll see information on the fourth book in the Seven Realms series, due to come out in fall, 2012! 

Anthologies/Nonfiction: I’ve added a page specific to Anthologies/Nonfiction to showcase my shorter work. And taken down the links to my nutrition articles. 

   Contact Page: reorganized with links to content that will help you find the information you’re looking for

FAQ: The FAQ pages has been reorganized and the questions grouped and linked so you can actually find the answer, if it’s there. 

   Signings and Appearances: Want to know where I’ll be? Questions about inviting me to your school or library? You’ll find all the information here. 

Help for Writers: Expanded, including a FAQ for Writers page. Many of the questions I get are about the writing process, publishing, etc. Hopefully this will be a resource for my present and future competitors. 

Teachers/Librarians/Students: I also get many questions related to book reports, school projects, academic competitions, and the like. I’ve posted a new section including FAQ for School Projects, discussion guides for the Heir Chronicles, and an extended bio for those for whom the brief bio just isn’t enough!

I hope you like the changes—as always, let me know

Today I'm Interviewed on YA Fantasy Guide!

Today, I'm guesting over at YA Fantasy Guide, where I discuss books, writing, and where I find inspiration!

It's Seven Realms Week at Emily's Reading Room!

Emily is collaborating with the Provo City Library  to sponsor contests and events to celebrate my upcoming appearance at the library Tuesday, September 20, 2011. Download avatars and show your support for the warring factions in the Fells—the wizards, the clans, or the queen’s guard. 

They will be giving away TWO signed sets of the Seven Realms books.

Want details? Get them at Emily's Reading Room.

After 9/11: First Night Akron 12/31/2001

The bubble machine on the stage spun out clouds of bubbles that descended gently on the crowd. And the bubbles were actually freezing in the breathless cold. They would break, and collapse, but spiral down, like deflated balloons of spun sugar, to be collected on the palm and shrivel and disappear at the touch of a warm breath. By now, the strollers were gone, but school-age children who were up too late were laughing and chasing after them, and twirling to make themselves dizzy, and feeling like they were getting away with something. We all, all were getting away with something on that night.

At New Year’s my Cleveland area family joined the First Night celebration in Akron, one of many held around the country. There was a question as to whether people would actually turn out to greet the new year, given the terrible events so fresh and present in our common mind. It was a time for people to hide in their houses, to stay close by the hearth and bar the door against the terror outside. Yet we went out among the hardy people who braved the cold darkness, and the late hour, and anthrax, and car bombs and the memory of September 11 to gather together to welcome in a new year.

There were venues all over downtown, with music, and dance, and drama, and storytelling, ice sculpture and juggling and magic. The four of us walked and rode busses, joined the crowds collecting on the corners and the bus stops. People were swathed in hoods and scarves and parkas and gloves, babies riding around in little bubbles, their strollers covered over with plastic to keep out the cold. Music and light spilled from doorways into the night. We saw a blues band, and an Irish folk band, and sandcastle builders, Fret Daddies with flying fingers and other builders of dreams.

Men walked around with crowns of balloons on their heads, and women with illuminated roses in their hands, and people of both sexes and all ages with necklaces and bracelets and wands of light, blowing horns and generally making noise.

Towards the end of the evening we arrived at E.J. Thomas Hall and climbed the long, winding staircases in time to hear the University of Akron steel drum band play Auld Lang Zyne, a world music commemoration of things passing away. And, finally, close to midnight, we walked down to Canal Park, where fireworks were to be launched. The time and the countdown were displayed one wall of the stadium. We looked up at the time and temperature sign on the Beacon Journal, and it was 12 degrees, and then 11, doing a frigid countdown of its own. Music blasted from the amplifiers, and I swayed to the music and sang old rock and roll songs and embarrassed my children, which is a parent’s privilege and only revenge.

There were politicians and speeches. Akron congratulated itself for buying fire trucks and ambulances for the New York City Fire Department. More money raised per capita than any other city, the speakers announced, and the crowd cheered.

It is easy to understand why the Druids built bonfires to their gods in the cold, dark midwinter, despairing that the sun has gone and will never come again. For I despair also, when the lighted space of days is measured in just a few hours, and the night is a long mystery. That is when the cold leaks into bones and souls and the demons crowd around, just outside the circle of firelight. The ground is brittle and breaking underfoot, frozen ash, and it is beyond imagination that life and hope could push through it once more. It is then that we need the Midwinter revels.

I am not a sucker for the forced and desperate merriment of New Year’s Eve, or forced and desperate patriotism, but I am easily seduced by magic, and it was a magical night.

And we counted down together, and the light show began, shimmering showers of silver and gold and red and green and blue, lop sided and symmetrical, whistling rockets and Roman candles, a meteor shower to end the year. We thrust our collective fists of light into the winter darkness. The light will come again. We are not afraid of the dark, we shouted. We are not afraid.

Meet Me at Elyria Public Library Saturday, September 10!

Tomorrow (Saturday) I'll be at the Elyria Public Library West River Branch for a presentation, book sale, and signing. Hope you can come out.

Elyria Public Library West River Branch
Magic on the Page: Writing Young Adult Fantasy
Saturday, September 10, 1 p.m.
1194 West River Rd.
North Elyria, Ohio 44035
440-324-2270
http://www.elyria.lib.oh.us/locations.html