Friday, March 23, 2018

Discussion: #WLABBGoesPlaces - Obsidio Book Store Event

It's been a while, but sometimes, #WLABBGoesPlaces. Last week, I was lucky enough to attend the Obsidio tour stop in Princeton, NJ, and I must say, a good time was had by all.

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Once Jay Kristoff, Amie Kaufman, and Claire Legrand got settled, Mr. Kristoff welcomed the crowd with this heartfelt thank you. It was really lovely, and he talked about how "we" allowed them to quit their day jobs. I don't know about you, but I love a success story and seeing someone's dreams come to fruition, and of course, I shed a few happy tears.

Soon after, Legrand, who was an awesome moderator, polled the audience to see if there were any attendees, who had not read any of the books in the series. The reason? To prevent them from talking about spoilers. Can we give Claire Legrand a round of applause for that, because I will never forget the HUGE spoiler from the Cassandra Clare panel at BookCon (still bitter).

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In general, Kristoff and Kaufman are hilarious, and I loved the way they told their stories together. I laughed so much, and was totally entranced the entire time.

Highlights
  • Kaufman and Kristoff told how the IRS and the W-8BEN form were responsible for bringing these two together. It was an amusing tale, and we laughed a ton. 
  • They shared their co-writing process, which was really interesting, and it was mind-blowing how many things have to be considered with the way they told this story. 
  • They gave us their X meets Y pitches for each book
    • Illuminae - Battlestar Galactica meets 10 Things I Hate About You
    • Gemina - Die Hard meets Alien
    • The new series!!! - Guardians of the Galaxy meets Six of Crows 
  • I was really excited to hear about the new series, because these two make magic together. In addition to the X meets Y pitch, Kaufman shared that "not the heroes we deserve, but the only ones in the room at the time." 
  • They also talked about the astrophysicist, Brian Cox, who inspired their ideas for the new world. 
  • A game of Tops and Tails was played for an ARC of Furyborn. I did not participate, since I already have a copy, but let me tell you, it was fun to watch. 
  • Kaufman talked about her new book, Ice Wolves, and how she went to Iceland to research the book and how while there, she took wolf howling lessons. 
  • I LEARNED SOMETHING REALLY COOL THAT NOBODY TOLD ME ABOUT. Apparently, if you take the jacket off any of the Illuminae Files book and hold it up to the light, you can find a message hidden therein. 

Overall, this was a wonderful event. I am sad that this is the last Illuminae Files book, but I am ecstatic that Kaufman and Kristoff are writing a new series together.



Have you been to any bookish events lately? 
Let us know in the comments!

36 comments:

  1. What a great event! I've heard from others that Jay is really funny and is a blast to sit and listen to. Nice to hear that Amy is the same. :) And big bonus points for them taking care not to spoil anyone. (OMG how awful to get spoiled at a book event!) And that's so crazy about the book jacket!! So have you tried it yet? LOL

    The last bookish event I went to was the Amelia Island Book Festival last month when I went to see Jennifer Armentrout. I was planning on going to Jax Book Fest at the big main library earlier this month because Nicola Yoon was there, but decided against it at the last minute since I was still a bit under the weather.

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    1. They are both hilarious and they play off each other so well. I am glad that I am not the only person who did not know about the book jacket.

      I am so sad you missed Nicola Yoon. She is so nice and interesting. Maybe next time?

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  2. I saw these two a few days after you did. It was a lot of fun. They both were so genuine with their thanks. I loved learning the process for putting together these books. There was a lot of things that I didn't even think of that had to be dealt with.

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    1. Weren't they the best! Their process was incredible. There is so much more to it than I could have imagined.

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  3. How fun! I wish I was near events like this. I'm behind a book and need to catch up in this series soon!

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    1. Yes, you must read Gemina! It was fantastic! I live 40 mins outside of NYC, so I am near events, but with the distance from my job to home, I would have to take vacation days, and it costs like $25 to go to Manhattan on the train. I was so ecstatic to see an event near my job.

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  4. This sounds like it was such fun! The authors sound lovelyyy in person and though I haven't yet tried the Illuminae Files I really, really want to! The new series sounds exciting too and I'm definitely intrigued to see how it would shape up.
    I've sadly never been to any bookish events. International blogger woes lol :((

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    1. They really are so lovely. This is one of my favorite series! If you have access to the book, consider trying it. I have also heard amazing things about the audiobook. Boo! more authors need to come to Sri Lanka, then they could meet you!!

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  5. I’m glad you had a good time. The authors sound like amazing people. I still need to get a copy of Obsidio and reread the first two books because I don’t remember what happened.

    Aj @ Read All The Things!

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    1. I always feel like the authors do a good job recapping in the books. I never re-read, but my sister always does when a new book in a series she is reading comes out.

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  6. I am going to find my copy of Illuminae right now. Hidden message finding time! Loved Gemina even more than Illuminae so I can't wait for Obsidio.

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    1. Half the crowd was holding the jackets up in the light when I was at the event. I am glad it was not just me who didn't know about it.

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  7. I haven't read this series, but these authors sound like a lot of fun and very fan-friendly. I should keep an eye out for stuff like this!

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    1. I am not a huge sci-fi reader, but this series is like not heavy sci-fi and it's funny and the format is so awesome.

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  8. I did not know that about taking the dust jackets off! That's fantastic. I saw these two live before and they are just amazing. Too funny and really nice. That's awesome they are writing a new series together. I didn't know that! I really want to re-read the first two so I can go into Obsidio with everything at the top of my mind, if you will. As for author events, I saw Mackenzi Lee earlier this week and she's fantastic!

    -Lauren
    www.shootingstarsmag.net

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    1. I really thought it was only me. Good to see I was in good company. I met Mackenzie Lee at a local event a few years ago. She was really nice and fun too.

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  9. What a great success story! I'm a sucker for those. I grabbed a copy of Children of Blood and Bone after seeing author Tomi Adeyemi's genuine reaction to seeing her published book for the first time!

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    1. Adeyemi's reaction was so wonderful! I saw clips and just all her tweets. That stuff makes me happy.

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  10. I'm so glad you got to attend this event. It sounds wonderful and "Guardians of the Galaxy meets Six of Crows" makes me more excited than ever to get my hands on a copy of Obsidio.

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    1. Doesn't that new series sound awesome? Amie said a lot of other stuff, that was really funny, but I couldn't write it all down fast enough.

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    1. They were great, but it was also great to be at a book event after such a long time.

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  12. Ahhh! I saw your posts on social media and I was super jealous. It looks as though you had the best time and I love how many fun things happened. The new series sounds amazing and I think that we can expect great things. Thanks for sharing all of this. :)

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    1. I was drooling while they described the new series. I cannot wait to read it!

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  13. oh wow this is so awesome! I have never been at a bookish event! I'm so glad you had this opportunity Sam!
    The new series sounds fantastic! And the hidden message in Illuminae is so cool I'll have to try it! I think you just convince me to read this series once and for all Sam!

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    1. It's been a long time since I went to an in-store event. I forgot how fun they were. This series is so good, and I am not a sci-fi person, and I loved it.

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  14. WHAT, that is so fun about the jackets, as soon as I type this I am going to go look at mine, thanks for that! This looks like SO much fun- they seem like really nice people in general, and fun to be around. Glad you had the chance to go to this event!

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    1. I am so grateful to whoever asked about the jacket, because I had no idea. They were so awesome and I am so happy that I helped them fulfill their dream by buying their books.

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    2. Did you find the messages!? I could only find the one in Gemina!

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    3. I only have the paperback ARC for Gemina, but Obsidio's was on one of the creases in the flap fold. I cannot find it on Illuminae, but maybe it wasn't on the ARC jacket?

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  15. That was really awesome of the moderator to ask about spoilers! I've had a few things spoiled at book events because people assume if you're there, you've read everything. It's not always true!

    I haven't had a chance to read this series, and it's only popped up on my radar since the release of the most recent book. I'll remedy this soon! Promise!

    It looks like you had a lot of fun, and the book jacket seems pretty awesome. I love that she went to Iceland to research wolves. I'm a little jealous. ;)

    Do You Dog-ear?

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    1. I know, right? Gold star for Clair Legrand. Sometimes it's nice to wait until the series is finished. Then you don't have to wait to read the next book. I read Gemina May 2016, so I was really jonsing for Obsidio.

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  16. Oh wow you got a nice seat! I'm really happy that they were so aware of spoilers, I'm curious about how bookcon spoiled you?

    Did Jay go on his rant about American bacon? Dude is passionate about bacon.

    And I had no idea about the secret message either! Did you do it already??

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    1. Yes! They talked about bacon and how Jay always gets "randomly" searched by the TSA. I wonder if Australian bacon is like the bacon I had in Ireland? If so, yum! Did you read LoS? If so, the moderator asked Cassandra Clare a question about Diana's secret, but she revealed the secret, and I swear! There was a collective gasp from the audience. I was so mad.

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  17. That's so cool! :) Thanks very much for sharing - I'll have to try that with the covers!

    GotG and Six of Crows - sounds awesome!

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