I had the pleasure of attending a signing at the Chapters Book Store in
Richmond, BC, on July 17th. Touted as a Teen Author Night, my
expectations for this event were high. With four amazing authors consisting of
Amanda Sun, Elsie Chapman, T. Rae Mitchell and Jeyn Roberts, I was very
excited to get the three hour event started. As it happens though, my idea of an
event and Chapters' idea of an event apparently differ. I showed up expecting to
hear the authors talk about their books, give future spoilers and maybe even
have a reading or two from their books. What Chapters gave fans who showed up to
meet these wonderful authors was an awkwardly laid out set up at the entrance of
the store with three tables and four authors who had to just stand around for
three hours in the hopes that people would wander over and request a book be signed.
The saving grace to Teen Author Night? The authors! All the ladies very
graciously talked shop for however long you wanted to hang out and drool over
their books. They shared stories and some of them even gave up little tidbits
about their work you may be unaware of. Such as Elsie Chapman told me
that though her debut novel DUALED was originally
written as a stand alone, it is now the first book in a trilogy. The second book
in the series will be DIVIDED in May 2014. It is a bit of a wait but one
that will be worth it in the end. Remember the old saying, all good things comes
to those who wait?
Amanda Sun let it slip
that her debut YA, INK,
was not a paranormal when she originally began writing it. She had plans on
writing a contemporary but then her characters threw her for a loop and before
she knew it, there was a dragon in the story. Ms. Sun believes that every story
should have at least one dragon and as a fan of all things that involve dragons,
I couldn't agree more.
Did you know you could get T. Rae Mitchell's FATE'S FABLE in paperback?
Neither did I until I arrived at the signing. If you're like me and still want a
physical copy of your favorite books, then check out her website,http://traemitchell.com/, to
see how you can order your own copy.
My conversation with Jeyn
Roberts went a little deeper as we debated over the ethics of writing a fan
fiction book and then having it published as your own idea. There are plenty of
people on both sides of that fence but one question that was brought up while we
chatted was in regards to the books being written now that are based on classic
works with a zombie or vampire thrown into the mix. Would that not be considered
a type of fan fiction as well? What are your thoughts on fan fiction?
All in all, regardless of how Chapters set it up, Teen Author Night was a
delightful way to spend a few hours talking to people who love books as much as
I do. Getting to meet authors whose books you adore is always a treat and I look
forward to meeting these lovely ladies again in the future.
Rosie Bindra, Fresh Fiction Reviewer
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