In My Mailbox (58) - SmartChicks edition

In My Mailbox is hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren, inspired by Alea and explores the contents of our mailbox on a weekly basis.

 

I didn't really get any books this week besides the ones that I bought at the SmartChicks Kick It Tour, which was awesome btw. I got to see [insert fangirl scream] Kelley Armstrong!!! She was the one I was most excited about because I had seen Holly and Cassie and Melissa before but never Kelley. So, I'm talking to Kelley and I said "I need more Derek" and she answered "That I can do" and I just might have jumped and screamed right there. This new series that starts with The Gathering has other protagonists who eventually will meet up with our Chloe/Derek gang. I wont bore you with that many details, I'll just share some pics of the event:

Melissa Marr & Anabelle (my daughter)

Kelley!! (I dont know why I look so crazy-faced in every picure)

YES! My book says TEAM JEM!!

I got books signed by every author, including Beautiful Darkness and the first chapter of Red Glove!! Besides the authors I also got to meet the awesome Vania, and made some new friends. Sitting right next to me was the lucky winner of Darkest Mercy. I didnt enter the giveaway, so I was rooting for her, so yay Cori!

As always, the event was hosted by the best bookstore in Houston, Blue Willow Bookshop.

SmartChicks Kick It - Q&A

The Smart Chicks Kick It Tour is author-organized AND author-funded, with the 18 participating authors -- or “Chicks” -- coming from a wide variety of different publishers. This ground-breaking approach will, for the first time ever, provide fans of the incredibly popular romance, fantasy and science fiction genres the opportunity to meet and talk to some of their favorite authors at one time, even though the authors publish with different houses. Featuring six to nine Chicks at every venue, the author line up in every city will be different so no two events will be exactly the same.

 What can fans expect when they attend a Smart Chicks Kick It event?

Melissa: At each event, fans will have the opportunity to participate in a Q&A with the authors and get their books signed by all of the Smart Chicks. We love to get our pictures taken with our fans – but since we might be sharing a few “spoilers” we don’t allow video. We don’t want our spoilering caught on tape!

Kelley: We’re looking forward to having fun and interacting with our fans. There will also be tons of give-aways, including one “mega swag basket” at each stop that features books from ALL 18 Smart Chicks, tote bags, audio books, bracelets and necklaces and lots of other cool stuff!

Can I still “follow” your tour if I’m not located near a city where you will be?

Melissa: Absolutely. We’ll be tweeting, Facbooking and blogging while on the road, sharing the good (the events), the bad (the grueling travel) and the ugly (a bunch of night owls trying to locate coffee before an early morning interview!).

Kelley: We’ll also be bringing a photographer along for the ride so we can visually chronicle this adventure and share our trip with our fans.

Are there plans for a Smart Chicks tour in 2011?

Melissa: Tentatively, Kelley and I are looking at a smaller 2.0 tour with a different line-up, bringing in a lot of non-paranormal YA writers and some of the paranormal YA writers who couldn’t make this tour. In my rather optimistic way, I’d love to do a few big “reunion” events with this line-up too. I haven’t exactly mentioned that to the authors on tour yet, though, so we’ll see where we end up on that topic.

Check out the Schedule HERE! - I will be at the Houston stop!

Website