Interesting blog discussion on character, story, action!

Hi friends,

An interesting discussion has just begun by friend and fantasy author S.C. Butler over on SF & Fantasy Novelists site. His post: Give Me Narrative or Give Me Death, starts off an interesting discussion on what is most important to a reader in a book.

Head on over and chime in (I did). I'm aware the conversation and opinions can go various ways, but isn't that the fun of comments and blog posts anyway? To throw in your two cents and see what everybody else has to say?

Talk amongst yourselves.

P.S. New post soon on a fantastic bound galley I picked up last week.

BEA weekend from my eyes.

It was a fun weekend for me, attending Book Expo America at the Javits Center. Long but fun. Lots of walking around, handshaking, grabbing books, grabbing iced coffee, and taking rests. But between seeing old friends, and meeting so many new ones, I was pleased. I know the press has reported that attendance and giveaways were down from the last few years, but it felt like a rallying show to me in the eyes of the larger world and the doom-and-gloom feelings. I had a blast.

I had the pleasure of joining in the Blogger Signing Event hosted by Firebrand & Netgalley on Saturday at 4pm, which was really neat. I was sharing the table with bloggers: Stephanie of Stephanie's Written Word, and Gayle of Every Day I Write the Book. They were super-nice and it was a treat to be seated with them and talk about books & blogging about them.



Also, I wanted to mention again, one of the books I'm most excited to finish, the graphic memoir by David Small, STITCHES. I snapped a photo of the advance copy, I scored at the Norton booth.

Creepy, sureal, and yet happy and sad at the same time, I'm less than 100 pages in and already swept away by the honesty and cruelty of the story, and I'm attached to the sad story, a touching memoir with emotional art reminiscent of Bill Plimpton and Chester Brown, among others. Here is a photo of the author signing at the W.W. Norton booth - I was glad to see so much buzz generated about this terrific new book.


As Heidi MacDonald summed up at The Beat, it didn't matter one bit that this was a memoir written as a graphic novel to anyone grabbing up a copy. Everyone I spoke with seemed highly impressed with the format and style.

More to come on books I'm excited to read that I picked up at the show and other assorted highlights.

Walking the Path

This is the type of day I like. First of all, it's only 9:30 a.m. and it is beautiful out. I'd prefer it to stay at the cool 68 degrees it is at now, but I can handle an 80 degree day. I've been home the past few days, happily editing a new manuscript about ancient warfare that has been very interesting, I'm really enjoying it.

But I am glad that I set out to get out of the house today and get into Manhattan. First, I'm heading to lunch with my friends from Osprey publishing, and I'm looking forward to catching up. From there I might hit Midtown Comics to check out yesterday's releases, and hopefully find some gifts for my godson's birthday.

From there I'll wander around, and hopefully share a drink and a few laughs with friends as the day goes by. I plan to end up in the Time Life building, where I used to work, as I've been invited to attend the Secret Identities: Asian Americans in Comics panel, which sound like a lot of fun, and I remember there sometimes being cool events like this in the building when I worked there.

I've also spent the past two weeks setting up meetings and planning to touch down with colleagues and friends at next week's Book Expo at the Javits Center. It looks to be a great show, if even a bit smaller than last year in L.A. That is fine by me, as I'll be wandering around and not working a booth this year.

I see BEA as a great networking opportunity, and I'm looking forward to meeting many new people, especially the other book review bloggers at the blogger signing event on Saturday.

And of course I'm looking forward to seeing old friends and grabbing some exciting new galleys to read!

I'm Participating: BEA Blogger Signings

If you’re headed to Book Expo America this year at the Javits Center, be sure to stop by the Firebrand booth (#4077 – same as a favorite M*A*S*H* unit of mine) to see me—and many other bookish folk—at the blogger signings. In an attempt to build community, and slightly mimic author signings which are popular at the show, the good folks at Firebrand Technologies and Netgalley.com want you to check out the line up of book reviewer bloggers they’ve lined up and come say hi. Check out the new Netgalley blog below for details and a schedule.

http://followthereader.wordpress.com/2009/05/14/blogger-signing-schedule/

I’ll be at the table on Saturday at 4:00 pm, sharing with several other book bloggers (see the schedule in the link). If you’re at the show, please stop by and say hi – and support this great idea of pulling book bloggers together.

Stay tuned for more details.