A Quick Introduction

This past Saturday, June 25, 2016, I had the fortunate opportunity of attending Simon & Schuster Canada’s Blogger Meet-Up #2! Joining the 9 bloggers in attendance were authors Erin Bow (Scorpion Rules), Kevin Sylvester (MiNRS), and Kevin Sands (The Blackthorn Key), all present to talk about their upcoming sequels — for which the meet-up was aptly named “Blogger  Meet-Up 2: The Sequel”.

(Image from SimonTeenCA Twitter)

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The Sequels

After a quick introduction from OG (see: original gangster) bloggers to newbies, we jumped right into the author’s speaking about their respective series — where it was currently and where it was heading.

A Q&A period followed with questions ranging from historical footnotes, the characters they saw themselves in, the implications of extraneous media influences on writing, and even fave Star Wars/Trek characters. Their responses were a balance of candor and humour, and it was truly awe inspiring to listen to them breathe their passions. In particular, I loved the quick witted bantering between the authors!

(Image from SimonTeenCA Twitter)

Fall 2016 Pitches

After lunch (yes, they showered us with food!), we dove right into discussing the books S&S were excited for!

• Irena’s Children (Tilar J. Mazzeo)
• The Littlest Bigfoot (Jennifer Weiner)
• Scythe (Neal Shusterman)
• Boy Robot (Simon Curtis)
• The Diabolic (S. K. Kincaid)
• Fate of Flames (Sarah Raughley)
• The Lost Property Office (James R. Hannibal)

Prior to attending this pitch, I was already stoked to read Scythe, Boy Robot, and The Diabolic. But shit, the hosts made great strides to pitch Fate of Flames (Pacific Rim MEETS Sailor Moon MEETS Avatar The Last Airbender. DAFUH, RIGHT?) and The Lost Property Office (MG Sherlock-ian fun with a MG lead with synesthsia). ANYWAYS, IT ALL SOUNDS SO FUN AND YES I NEED.

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Spring 2017 Features

• The Beast Is an Animal (Peternelle van Arsdale)
• Always and Forever, Lara Jean (Jenny Han)
• Lord of Shadows (Cassandra Clare)
• The Gauntlet (Karuna Riazi)

I thought it was going to be 2016 releases but they also had a chance to highlight some 2017 titles that they’re buzzing about. But seriously, THE GAUNTLET is JUMANJI/SWORD ART ONLINE with more diversity feat. a Bangladeshi American MC in a Middle Eastern setting — all of which is under S&S new Salaam Reads [Muslim centric] Imprint! It just sounds so great.

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The Shenanigans

The fun part was when we played trivia and bookish pictionary broken telephone; where you start off with a “book title” -> next person draws that title -> person after guesses the drawing to figure out the book title -> and so on…for a few rounds to where the original book title turned to. I sat next to Jesse (Books at Dawn) and I gave him The Unexpected Everything to draw — perhaps the most obscure title ever (sorry man BUT TO BE FAIR IT WAS A S&S TITLE). The one’s I had to draw were “Cress by Marissa Meyer”  and “Legend by Marie Lu”. It just happened that I had to guess “The Museum of Heartbreak” twice!

Either way, this was plenty of fun and definitely a bookish game you should play with your buds!

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The Swag

I was stoked to be able to obtain 3 of my 5 requested books from their Fall selection at the event! Some of the other swag items included in the bag were a neat to-do list log, dog post-its, and bookmarks.

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Other Recaps

Want to read about this event from another perspective? Check out these recaps below!

Wendy @ A Cupcake and a Latte

Michelle Lynne @ Musings of a Writer

Afterthoughts:

I have never wanted four hours to last longer!

Cheers,
Joey

connect: 
afterthoughtAn // twitter
anotherafterthought // goodreads
picturevomit // instagram