A Note:

6/2/13

I once told myself: IF I am accepted into grad school, this blog would no longer be updated. As it turns out, in April, I received news of my acceptance for the Fall 2013 semester, where I will attain a Master's degree of Science in Nutrition.

Running a blog, as many of you may already know, is a demanding side job once the excitement wears off. And once I fell out of the blogging community's loop (have you SEEN how many blogs there are now? Wow!), it was like the kiss of death. Despite my best efforts, I couldn't get into a blogging routine once this happened due to the disconnect I felt from the community.

So I took a break. I struggled with the loss and with missing my blog. And then I realized I didn't have to run Book Faery to still be a book reviewer; I could read my books and post reviews online. I'm still a book review blogger, just not in the traditional sense.

I'll still be online. You can chat with me on Twitter, where I'll be posting links to my reviews and talking books. I'll also be posting links to nutrition articles. And if you'd like to connect with me where I guarantee I will post reviews, just add me as a friend on Goodreads.

So that's all, folks! It's been a fun and amazing journey, and I thank you all for listening to my thoughts about books. I hope we all can keep in touch elsewhere :)

Tori

Friday, May 28, 2010

Pictures from BEA Part I

WARNING:  This post is PICTURE HEAVY.

I felt bad for the people who were missing out on Book Expo America this year.  Some have never attended, let alone have heard about it... which is why I tried to take a few pictures for you all to see how HUGE it was.  I know before I started blogging that I never even knew what BEA stood for, let alone what it was, so I was extremely excited about going on Wednesday and Thursday!

If you can manage, I highly suggest saving up for the trip to Manhattan for BEA11 next year.  Aside from extremely sore shoulders/upper back (yesterday I was sporting the overstuffed backpack, plus a tote on each arm all packed with books), I got to meet some wonderful bloggers like Heather from Darkly Reading (who was my BEA buddy. We were pretty much glued to the hip both days [dude, I still can't believe they ran out of Shadow Hills copies on the first day!]), Karen from For What It's Worth, Sandy from Pirate Penguin's Reads, Kristi The Story Siren, and many many more!  I also met Sophie Jordan (and didn't realize it was her until she mentioned who she was!), Gena Showalter (THREE TIMES--and holy crap, she remembered me and didn't even have to ask for my name at the following signings which kind of made me super happy [If you couldn't tell, I'm pretty much in love with her books]), Jennifer L Barnes (who was a HUGE sweetheart. We're both werewolf fans!), Beth Fantaskey (who recognized [and possibly visited] my blog!), Rachel Vincent, Leah Cypess, Maria V. Snyder, Artist Arthur, Melissa Marr, and so many others I'm going cross eyed trying to remember them.  A lot of authors, when I mentioned my name was Tori, asked me if it was short for Victoria.  Yes, it is.  Totally wasn't expecting them to be so chatty, it was wonderful!

It was so funny talking to bloggers while waiting on the autograph lines.  Pretty soon, I just started introducing myself as "The Book Faery."  I loved how peoples' faces would light up when they realized they recognized the blog's name lol! 

Anyway, I'll add little side stories with each picture.  I'm going to have to split this up into two different posts (Part II will be up on Monday) because I think I took too many pictures.  I went picture happy yesterday to make up for barely taking any on Wednesday.

Click to view the pictures

Also, clicking on any pictures will direct you to a larger version of the photo.

WEDNESDAY

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This is Sophie Jordan (author of the new series Firelight) and I!  I was standing by the booth, looking to see if Harper was going to distribute printed books (because around 9:45 when I got to their booth they were only distributing e-books [check the pic below to see what I mean]).  While I was waiting, she started talking to Phoebe and I.  Then suddenly, she introduced herself as Sophie Jordan.  It took me a minute to pin the name to the book, and when I finally realized she was the author of a book I've been dying to read, I kind of started getting all giggle-y.  Expect an interview in the near future, hopefully!

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These were the e-books they were distributing to people.  It was pretty smart.  On the back they included a code so that you can upload it onto your computer.  You could then transfer the books to an e-reader…except for the Kindle.

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As you can see, this was the Autograph Area.  They had about 30 Tables…each one occupied by an author either every 30 minutes (in some instances) or every hour.  I wish I could have jumped up onto a chair or table to take a picture of the entire thing… The lines were INSANE for this.

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This was the Harlequin area.  I took this on Wednesday during the YA hour… and YES that is Gena Showalter standing behind the desk and talking to the woman with the blue bag.  A couple of bloggers I had been chatting with on the line started laughing at me because I started bouncing in place due to being so excited.

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Took this picture when I was next in line.  Gena was signing Intertwined, her YA book, during the Harlequin YA-author hour.  When I actually got to speak to her, and when she recognized me, I kind of forgot how to speak English due to my shock/excitement.  At that point, I was just standing there grinning like an idiot.  Yeah, apparently I turn into an idiot when I get to speak to my favorite authors.

I’d also like to mention that, because there were about 6 authors all signing their books during this hour, it was PURE chaos.  I guess the people at Harlequin didn’t expect to have that many rabid fans (Rachel Vincent mentioned on her blog that they actually ran out of books to sign). 

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Here’s another shot of the Harlequin “Spain” area (which was right next to the English area lol).  They had a REALLY soft and fluffy rug.  It was like standing on a cloud while all the books I gathered made me shrink into the ground.  Oh and the “3900” sign was that row.  There were a bunch of rows… I think it started from 1000 and spanned all the way to 5000?  I didn’t check, anything past 4700 was off my radar.



THURSDAY

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This was in the Penguin area.  I decided to take a few pictures of the awesome posters they had on their walls.  As you can see, this is from Richelle Mead’s Vampire Academy series.

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This is the book Matched by Ally Condie.  I’ve started to notice that I was a bit too enthusiastic about taking pictures of the posters at this point, and got a bit careless.  It looked a lot better in person!  Lol.

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While walking in the isle, I couldn’t resist taking a picture of the new covers for Kelley’s books, along with Waking the Witch.  I love the new look!  (And I’m kind of really regretting buying Bitten when I did lol)

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This was part of the Egmont booth.  Heather and I went here in hopes of obtaining a copy of Shadow Hills by Anastasia Hopcus.  Unfortunately, the woman we had spoken with yesterday was incorrect… they ran out of copies Wednesday morning.  Did manage to score a bookmark/pin though.

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Here’s another picture of the ceiling and stuff.  No, I’m not obsessed with ceilings.  I wanted to show how BIG the 3rd floor was!

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Kinda blurry, but here’s another display.  See that soft, fluffy rug?  It’s like walking on a cloud, I swear.

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Here’s another angle of the Harlequin booth.  If you look towards the bottom right corner, there’s the desk Gena and the other authors were signing at the day before.  The red archway was a nice, unique touch.

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Another angle of the Harlequin booth!  As you can see in the back, Simon and Schuster was beside Harlequin.  Pretty convenient.  And there’s the semi-circle desk where Maria V Snyder and Rachel Vincent were signing during the Paranormal Hour on Thursday.  There was also a super “secret” (except not really) room behind the Harlequin poster.  You can kind of see the door all the way on the right.

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A shot of the Spanish Harlequin.  If you couldn’t tell, Heather and I were Harlequin lurkers on Thursday.  Wherever we went, we ended up back over here.  The chairs were pretty comfy at those tables.  Then again, I think anything I could sit on at that point was comfy.

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Here’s Larissa Ione’s newest installment to the Demonica series: Sin Undone and yours truly.  It’s also the last book in this series.  But don’t worry, Larissa’s going to be introducing another series that branches off from this one.  I’m kind of mad about the flash.  You can’t see Con’s butt in this picture!  (And it’s a cute butt too…)  Also, the guy who was standing next to the desk probably thought Heather and I were weirdos because we wanted to take a picture with some poster. *g*

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And here’s Larissa’s new book in the Demonica series (without me)!  Sin Undone looked absolutely amazing.  I wish the flash didn’t mess up the picture though =(  Well, at least you can see Con’s butt now ;)

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And this is for Kiersten White, because I didn’t want to make her wait until Monday to see her beautiful cover on display!  I would have taken a picture with Evie, except that Harper pretty much had all their new release covers on a bunch of these displays.  I almost gave up hope that this one would flash onto Paranormalcy until, when I turned my back, Heather pointed back to the screen.  I GOT IT!  …and I must say this looks GOOD on the digital screen :)


Anyway that’s it for now, more on Monday, including the guy in the costume, plus the marijuana book!  (Yes, there was a marijuana book)  And if you want to see the books I managed to obtain the past 2 days, stay tuned for In My Mailbox this weekend.

25 comments:

  1. Kiersten White: Love it! And you're the best! And you're adorable. AND guess what? Even authors get all fangirly and unable to talk when we meet our favorite authors. So no worries ; )

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  2. Tori: Hah I told my mom about my speechless moment and she started laughing at me... after stealing my super cool happy face vampire pins =(

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  3. Stella: Great! Thank you so much for not only showing us BEA through so many photos but for your fun narrative, glad you all had a great time! So jealous! *lol* ;-p

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  4. Tori: My pleasure, I'm glad you enjoyed it! Will post the rest on Monday :) There's a few pictures of me with other authors in those hehe.

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  5. Mandasmovements: This looks like book heaven!! I can only hope that there is an expo even a little like this when I'm in the states in Winter. Do u know of any in the November-January time?

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  6. Tori: Got these from this website when I did a random search:

    November 05, 2010 - November 07, 2010
    ShadoCon (Nov 2010)

    November 05, 2010 - November 07, 2010
    SugoiCon (Nov 2010)

    November 06, 2010 - November 07, 2010
    Mid-Ohio-Con Hot

    November 07, 2010 - November 07, 2010
    Tampa Comic Book and Toy Convention (November 2010)

    November 07, 2010 - November 08, 2010
    The Wayne Toy, Sports and Collectibles Show (November 2010)

    November 12, 2010 - November 14, 2010
    Austin Comic Con 2010 Hot

    November 12, 2010 - November 14, 2010
    Chicago Kollision Con (Nov 2010)

    November 13, 2010 - November 14, 2010
    NCcomicon (November 2010)

    November 14, 2010 - November 14, 2010
    Pittsburgh Comic & Collectibles Show (November 2010)

    November 19, 2010 - November 21, 2010
    Zona Con (Nov 2010) Hot

    November 20, 2010 - November 21, 2010
    Wonderful Woburn Warehouse Show (November 2010)

    November 20, 2010 - November 21, 2010
    Super Mega Fest (November 2010)

    etc etc... Just check out the website here and see their upcoming events ;)

    http://www.geekcal.com/reviews/search-results_m76.html?cat=57_39_55_56_37_64&criteria=1&jr_show=yes&order=jr_startdate&query=any&Itemid=99

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  7. mandasmovements: Wow that is awesome! Thanks heaps!

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  8. Alexia561: Love your pictures! I kept winding up back at the Harlequin booth too! They had so many great author signings, though I think the mob who showed up for the YA hour caught them off guard. Noticed that the rest of the signings were a little more organized after that one. *L*

    Looking forward to seeing all of your BEA books this weekend!

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  9. Tori: Thanks! Yeah, it was kind of dumb. I think they should have had one line. Everyone just bounces from one author to the next. That would have worked.

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  10. The Book Vixen: Thank you so much for posting about your BEA experience. It's too far for me to attend (I'm in California) and probably too expensive.

    I'm like you; I don't know bloggers by their real name, I know them by their blog name.

    That is cool that you could get eBooks but it's a HUGE bummer that they don't work with the Kindle.

    I was wondering how it works at BEA with getting books. Are the books for sale? Do they give ARCs away? How much does it cost just to attend BEA (not including travel expenses or hotel accommodations)? I envy you and everyone else who attended :)

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  11. Tori: Ouch! Yeah, Cali is def too far for this lol.

    I'm not sure why those particular e-books don't work on Kindle. The girl kinda just shrugged it off when she was explaining it to me. I should have grabbed a couple of extra ones to give away here. Oops :/

    They don't sell any books to my knowledge. Some publishers were literally throwing books at people. I know for Cassandra Claire's book, there were tickets. Shadow Hills was distributed Wednesday morning at like 9 I guess and they were out for the rest of the day/yesterday. Some signings only had 50 copies, others had over 100

    They have a donations box by the autographing area. That's the only time/place they ask you for money. They make it sound like it's mandatory to give $1 per book you get, but everything's pretty much free.

    They give away ARCs for free, definitely. Others were finalized copies of new releases later this month etc. Others were books that are already released. Some authors were signing ARCs also. Andrea Cremer, for example, was signing Nightshade at 10am yesterday. They were also distributing Nightshade at 12pm on Wed, and all morning yesterday.

    Press is free for BEA. Bloggers = press, so attending BEA alone (no hotel, no commuting, no food) is absolutely free. The food there is overpriced, so people would bring their own food. And I'm pretty sure you can room with other bloggers and split the hotel cost :) Just make sure if you get a hotel room that it's super close to Javits. That, and bring lots of money for shipping costs. They had FedEx there, and you're def gonna wanna mail your books to yourself if you don't live in NY.

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  12. The Book Vixen: Free books?!! Man oh man.

    What ONE book did you get that you wanted the most?

    Was there a book you wanted but didn't get cause they ran out?

    How many books did you get? Must be a ton if people are shipping books home. Wowziers!

    I just heard on Twitter that BEA was suppose to be in Vegas next year but has been booked in NYC thru 2012. Argh!!!

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  13. Tori: Firelight by Sophie Jordan. Or maybe it was Halo. NO, Raised by Wolves... But I did kinda want a signed copy of Into the Dark.... and there WAS Paranormalcy and Nightshade.... You just HAD to ask an impossible question, didn't you?!

    Shadow Hills. I was so disappointed because that, Paranormalcy, and Nightshade were three debuts I've been foaming at the mouth to get. I think I made the guy feel bad when he told me (I know I gave him my sad panda look) because he looked a bit distressed.

    21 the first day, 32 the second. Only 3 of those were e-books... and they were all on the first day. Like I said, I was rockin' the tote on each shoulder and a backpack filled to the brim yesterday lol!

    That sucks (it's great for me though! *cackles*)

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  14. Almybnener: It looks like you had a lot of fun!!

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  15. Hannah: I'm so glad you put in some pictures!
    I'm glad you had such a great time, too!
    Love, Hannah

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  16. Tori: Thanks! I'll be posting more up soon. I also did a vlog of all the books I got for this week's IMM. Should be interesting...

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  17. Jess Haines: O_O

    Awesome!! My jealousy--you haz it! That all sounds amazing. Hope I can make it next year!

    -J

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  18. Tori: You ARE going next year, you mean...? ;)

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  19. Spellbound Melissa: The BEA looks so cool. If i had the money I'd fly over from Australia. I've just finished Spirit Bound so seeing the cover for Last Sacrifice is definitely exciting.

    Lucky you ! :)

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  20. Tori: Yeah it looks so pretty. Unfortunately, I missed Richelle Mead's signing :(

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  21. Xmaybe: That's it, this post has made my mind up for me, lol. I'm so going next year. It's only a five hour flight away and it coincides with my birthday (kind of anyway) - so it shall be my bday present to me! ;)

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  22. Tori: Awesome! I can't wait for next year! :)

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  23. DarklyReading: I love that you posted pics of the soft carpets..hehe.. they were so nice! It was fun having a book buddy at BEA!

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  24. Tori: Book buddy! Yes, we must stick together again next year too :) we were an unstoppable force! And of course, those soft carpets were sooo nice hehe

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