Fall Fierce Reads Recap + GIVEAWAY!

Posted September 28, 2012 by Asheley in Uncategorized / 35 Comments


I was so fortunate to be able to attend the Fierce Reads stop at the Malaprops Bookstore/Cafe in Asheville, NC on September 23, 2012. I met Ann Aguirre, Elizabeth Fama, and Lish McBride at this event. WHAT?! I know. 


I had the chance to have an awesome sit-down and chill-out chat with Lish McBride, Ann Aguirre, and Elizabeth Fama before the event began. We talked of great and many things such as the wonders of audiobooks vs. print books and the awesomeness of public libraries. 

Lish McBride shared that she is an avid reader. She reads print and listens to audiobooks all the time. Ann Aguirre has never actually listened to an audiobook before. Elizabeth Fama really likes audio and wants to listen more because in doing so, she can actually read more. I was personally curious about whether or not authors have a preference about readers choosing to read their books in print or via audio; Lish mentioned that it truly did not matter to her because at least people are reading the stories – however, audiobooks remind her of cover songs – when musicians sing other musicians’ songs – it is another artist (in this case, a narrator) interpreting their words in his or her own way. (This is something I had never thought about before!)

We also talked about libraries and how these authors love to see copies of their books in public libraries. It makes them so happy to know that their book is being checked out over and over and over. Elizabeth Fama made the comment about how cool it is to see that the copies are well-worn, which means that they have been checked out and used quite a bit. The others agreed with this. (Another something I had never thought about before…)

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Jessica Drake opened the event by singing the Fierce Reads theme song “Turn the Page” – which you can download for free HERE.
 
 





Then each author read a passage from her book:

Lish McBride reads from Necromancing the Stone. She read a funny passage and was hilarious as a reader. I’d listen to her read the entire book to me in a heartbeat.

Necromancing the Stone is the follow-up to McBride’s award-winning Hold Me Closer, Necromancer.

Elizabeth Fama read the prologue from Monstrous Beauty. It was perfectly quiet while she was reading and I think she could have kept going and no one would have stopped her.


Ann Aguirre reads an action sequence from Outpost, complete with perfect voices for the characters. I was on the edge of my seat. 

Outpost is the follow-up to Aguirre’s Enclave, from the Razorland Series. 


After the authors read from their books, there was time for a few audience questions. I loved this part of the event the most because it is when I was able to see the personalities of each author play off of one another. They kept me laughing. 

On their favorite and least favorite things about being on tour:
Lish McBride mentioned that she loved all of the awesome book stores she had been able to visit but she did not love the early wake-up calls to travel to the next city (I can’t say I blame her!). Ann Aguirre loved meeting readers and talking with them but she did not love the lack of sleep that was required for a tour like this one. Elizabeth Fama loved the professional development she gained while being on tour with the other talented authors – she says she learned so much! She said it was torturous to be in all of the wonderful, new places for short times, but not be able to explore them.

On what made these ladies want to be writers:
Lish McBride has known she wanted to write for as far back as she can remember. Well, first she wanted to be a vet – until she realized exactly what they do and sometimes their work involves unpleasant needles. Since that time, she’s always wanted to write. Ann Aguirre has always known. When she was a young girl, she won a school contest in which part of the prize was seeing Shel Silverstein read from his book Where the Sidewalk Ends. (NO. WAY.) Elizabeth Fama started and finished her schooling headed toward a career in biology/pre-med – but she secretly wrote a novel while she was also writing her dissertation. When she finished her novel and her dissertation, she decided that her heart was actually in being a writer, and that is where it lies today. (Interestingly, her stories have lots of science and biology in them. I love that.)

On what makes their writing dark fantasy vs. the regular high school romance-type stuff:
Lish McBride states that she writes what she knows – she grew up with brothers, so she wrote her male main character and his personality easily. She loves to read all types of books, though. Ann Aguirre says writing dark stories is a mental illness but it is much cheaper than therapy! Elizabeth Fama says that her book is a dark fantasy story because her children played a large role in designing it and putting the story together.

Beth Revis, Ann Aguirre, Elizabeth Fama, Lish McBride, ME!

As if meeting the awesome Fierce Reads authors wasn’t enough, guess who else showed up to be in the audience during this event? Beth Revis. YOU GUYS. I can’t even. The only thing better than sitting and talking to three authors for a little while is sitting down and talking with four. Y’all she is SO NICE and funny and WOW. 

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With Elizabeth Fama! 


I had the best time meeting these fabulous ladies and hearing them read from their books. They were so very welcoming to me as a reader and as a blogger. Thank you to Elizabeth Fama, Lish McBride, and Ann Aguirre for being so welcoming to me and for taking the time to talk to me before the event. You are all so awesome.

Thank you to Malaprops Bookstore in Asheville, NC for hosting such great events like this for the public.

Thank you Macmillan Kids PublishingFierce Reads for being awesome all the time, for publishing fantastic YA books, and for sending these authors on tour.


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GIVEAWAY!
AND NOW…Thanks to the generosity
of Fierce Reads and Macmillan Publishing,
I am able to offer some SIGNED books to three lucky people!

These books deserve to be available to everyone, 

so I’m making this giveaway a little different.
This GIVEAWAY is open WORLDWIDE.

There will be three winners:

One person will win
Monstrous Beauty by Elizabeth Fama, SIGNED.
One person will win
Enclave & Outpost by Ann Aguirre, SIGNED.
One person will win
Hold Me Closer, Necromancer &
Necromancing the Stone
by Lish McBride, SIGNED. 


This GIVEAWAY is open WORLDWIDE 
and will run through midnight Saturday October 6, 2012. 
Winner #1 will get first choice. 
Winner #2 will get second choice. 
Winner #3 will get third choice. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck!

Asheley

About Asheley

Asheley is a Southern girl. She loves Carolina blue skies, Ben & Jerry's ice cream, and NC craft beer. She loves all things history but prefers books over everything.

You can find her somewhere in North Carolina, daydreaming about the ocean.

Find Asheley on Litsy @intothehallofbooks!

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35 responses to “Fall Fierce Reads Recap + GIVEAWAY!

  1. I'm so happy you got a photo of Jessica Drake singing! I sat there, enjoying the show, forgetting to use my camera. D'oh!

    The clever book tour gods made Asheville the last stop in a busy, exhausting tour just to give me a special treat to look forward to…finally meeting you in person! (And thanks to M. for holding down the home front so you could be with us.)

  2. This post is so great, Asheley. I couldn't tell it was done in the new blogger. I'm new to author events as well. But I now want to see EVERYONE who comes near me. I'm getting really excited because I'm planning to go see Erin Morgenstern this coming Friday. I think you need to come to the event with me! We could wear black and white and red together. Don't you wish you had a private jet?

    I love all the little things the authors said. Especially the comments about the audio books being like cover songs. SO TRUE. Sometimes they're bad covers, and sometimes they make the story better.

    Have you read Hold me Closer Necromancer? That's been on my radar, but haven't read yet. Looks great! And I'm glad that the author knows boys, so it will be more authentic.

    LOVE the picture of you and EF! I wish I had been there too!!

  3. Ems

    I'm hoping to be able to see Libba Bray and Shannon Hale in October (crossing fingers). I've seen several others, so I totally get the excitement and complete fangirl moments. I'm always the one in the audience who totally can't sit still because it's SO BLASTED EXCITING to be there!

    And WOOHOO on getting to meet these fabulous ladies PLUS Beth Revis!

  4. Christina K.

    Your post was awesome! Even though we weren't there, we got to know these awesome authors a little bit better through you.

    I'd love to meet all of them, but I'd especially love to meet Stephanie Perkins, Veronica Rossi, Andrea Cremer, Leigh Bardugo:)

    Thank you so very much:)

  5. My co-blogger and I met the ladies on the Smart Chicks tour in 2010 and that was absolutely amazing. Kami Garcia was one of the authors and her series is one of my top favourites. I would love to meet Ann Aguirre, I love her series too.

  6. Oh I wish I was there!!
    I would like a tour with Ann Aguirre, Marissa Meyer, Robin LaFevers, Kami Garcia and many many more 🙂
    Thank you for the international giveaway.

  7. Yay! It looks like your first author event was a raging success! I've read Hold Me Closer, Necromancer, Across the Universe and am starting Monstrous Beauty today (thanks to our generous friend, Lauren!) so I would have loved this event too!

    I still can't believe Anne Aguirre got to hear Shel Silverstein read from Where the Sidewalk Ends when she was a little girl. HOLY SHIT. (Sorry for the expletive but that is exactly what I uttered out loud when I read that!) That's awesome beyond words…

    You are so cute Asheley, I love seeing pic's of my blogger friends and putting a face with the voice:) So glad you had a blast!

    What author(s) would I want to see? Off the top of my head: Maggie Steifvater, John Green, Melina Marchetta, Maureen Johnson, Libba Bray, Myra McEntire, Cath Crowley, Beth Kephart, Laini Taylor and the list goes on and on and on….:)

  8. I have never been to an author event but I want to go to one one day! I really want to see Laini Taylor, Elizabeth Fama, Cassandra Clare, Jennifer L. Armentrout, and Kresley Cole!

  9. Squee!! I <3 Elizabeth Fama. Just sayin. I'm jealous though that she has met you and Lauren while I have not. One day we will be hugging, I foresee it.

  10. I love this recap, Asheley! I love that you discussed audiobooks with the authors, I haven't heard much from an author's take and it's really pretty interesting…actually, I love that you got the chance to sit down and talk to these authors period! I'm not sure I would have the guts to do that, I'm so intimidated and get all shaky and stumbly in person. All of these ladies seem so cool though! Reading dark books is cheaper than therapy too. 😛

  11. Wow, great entry! I always love learning about what authors are like in real life. Congrats on your first author event! I hope you get to attend many more.

    As for me, I'd love to see Kristin Cashore and Melina Marchetta.

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