Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Back from Comic Con! + Some Good Stuff Happens!



Back from San Diego Comic Con, and phew! Such a wonderful time! Have you been to Comic Con? It is so fun! If you don't know what it is, it is the biggest "comic book convention" in the world, and I put the quotes because it is so much more than comic books -- not that comic books aren't great. It's an all-pop-culture multi-media frenzy, with movies, TV, books books books, toys, T-shirts, art art art, video games, books, art, more books and more art, and tons of awesome panels from the likes of Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson to ... me, ha ha! (Seriously, though, I got to be on a panel with Stephanie Perkins and Kiersten White, two favorite writer friends, and meet their families and hang out. Wonderful!)

Also, it's in lovely temperate San Diego, so it makes a perfect mini-vacation (the zoo! the beach!).

These guys abound:




But above all, at the end of July, San Diego is for nerds.




I have around 800 photos to sort, and that is going to be a trick. Much I want to show you, but here's the problem: DEADLINE! This book needs to get itself written! Still, I will find some smidges of time here and there. Just, not right this instant. I had big plans for last night -- I had some work to do and some blogging planned, and then ... an hour after she went [easily] to bed, Clementine woke crying. For two hours crying, poor baby, sore throat, sore tummy, and so went the night. 


Here's a quick glimpse of me help chalk-graffiti a giant blackboard rabbit in the Kid Robot booth:







Happy Laini graffiti. You know how I love that word. It's my word. :-)

And speaking of happy ...

Daughter of Smoke and Bone has gotten its first trade review ... and it's a STAR!!!!


From Publisher's Weekly:



 Daughter of Smoke and Bone
National Book Award finalist Taylor (Lips Touch: Three Times) again weaves a masterful mix of reality and fantasy with cross-genre appeal. Exquisitely written and beautifully paced, the tale is set in ghostly, romantic Prague, where 17-year-old Karou is an art student--except when she is called "home" to do errands for the family of loving, albeit inhuman, creatures who raised her. Mysterious as Karou seems to her friends, her life is equally mysterious to her: How did she come to live with chimaera? Why does paternal Brimstone eternally require teeth--especially human ones? And why is she "plagued by the notion that she wasn't whole.... a sensation akin to having forgotten something?" Taylor interlaces cleverly droll depictions of contemporary teenage life with equally believable portrayals of terrifying otherworldly beings. When black handprints begin appearing on doorways throughout the world, Karou is swept into the ancient deadly rivalry between devils and angels and gradually, painfully, acquires her longed-for self-knowledge. The book's final pages seemingly establish the triumph of true love--until a horrifying revelation sets the stage for a second book. Ages 15–up. (Sept.)



Thank you thank you PW!




Also ... the good news continues, Daughter is a Junior Library Guild* selection for fall. Yay! Susan Marston, the editorial director at JLG, had this to say in a School Library Journal interview:

I'm in love with a bunch of YA titles: Everybody Sees the Ants (Little, Brown) by A.S. King, Tilt(Groundwood), by Alan Cumyn, and Daughter of Smoke and Bone (Little, Brown) by Laini Taylor—I cannot gush enough about them.


Thank you thank you JLG!




*Founded in 1929, JLG provides collection development services to more than 20,000 school and public libraries nationwide. This unique service reviews and selects children's and young adult hardcover trade books prior to their publication. JLG selections are placed into one of 41 reading levels ranging from Pre-K to YA and are then shipped to member libraries on a monthly basis. JLG is owned by SLJ's parent company, Media Source Inc.

4 comments:

storyqueen said...

"exquisitely written and beautifully paced"

Oh my! That is what I love best about your books, too!

Congratulations!

Shelley

Catherine Denton said...

What AMAZING news! I can't wait to get my hands on that book.
My Blog

Bets said...

One of my friends was at Comicon and yesterday presented me with an ARC signed to me, and I'm bummed that I wasn't there to gush in person, but I'm doing a happy happy happy dance here! I am so excited to read it! Thank you so much for another awesome book. :D

JM Gines said...

That review is AWESOME! Ahh, can't wait to read the book.

Bah, the same thing happened with my one-year old last night! It's a baby conspiracy...dun-dun DUUHH! Hope she feels better :)

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