Stacking The Shelves (170): SDCC Version

Stacking The Shelves, hosted by Tynga's Reviews, is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks!

San Diego Comic Con 2016:

My family and I attended SDCC this past weekend and had a blast. Amongst many other fun things we saw and did, we scored a load of books and met some fantastic authors. This stack is an assortment of books I brought and bought and received for free, but mostly freebies. It was especially nice to get a variety of middle school, young adult, and adult books. Something for everyone in our family.

Books I Brought to Get *Signed*:

Dangerous Creatures by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl
Etiquette & Espionage by Gail Carriger
Hounded, Hexed, & Hammered by Kavin Hearne
Stars Above by Marissa Meyer
Tiger's Curse by Colleen Houck
Reawakened (arc) by Colleen Houck
Red Rising by Pierce Brown
Hilo: The Boy Who Crashed to Earth (arc) by Judd Winick

Books Purchased & *Signed*:

Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
Staked by Kevin Hearne
The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
Imprudence by Gail Carriger
Hilo: Saving the Whole Wide World by Judd Winick

Free & *Signed* Beauties:

Heartless (arc) by Marissa Meyer
Furthermore (arcs) by Tahereh Mafi
Prudence by Gail Carriger
Underground Airlines by Ben H. Winters
Hounded by Kevin Hearne
Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel
Dark Matters (arcs) by Blake Crouch
Ninth City Burning (arc) by J. Patrick Black
The Lovely Reckless (arc) by Kami Garcia
Alive by Scott Sigler
The Hike (arcs) by Drew Magary
Lucy & Andy Neanderthal (arc) by Jeffrey Brown
The Fold by Peter Clines
Red Rising by Pierce Brown
Clash of Eagles by Alan Smale
Bombs Away by Harry Turtledove

Free Paperbacks & ARCs:

An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir
Goldenhand (arc) by Garth Nix
A Time of Torment (arc) by John Connolly
Ninth City Burning (arc) by J. Patrick Black
Little Heaven (arc) by Nick Cutter
The Thousandth Floor (arc) by Katherine McGee
Bright Smoke, Cold Fire (arc) by Rosamund Hodge
Foxheart (arc) by Claire Legrand
Impyrium (arc) by Henry H. Neff
Time Traveling with a Hamster (arc) by Ross Welford
The Kiss of Deception by Mary E. Pearson
The Scorpion Rules by Erin Bow
Of Fire and Stars (arc) by Audrey Coulthurst
Galactic Hot Dogs: Cosmoe's Wiener Getaway by Braller, Maguire, Kelley
The Blackthorn Key by Kevin Sands
The Darwin Elevator by Jason M. Hough
Deep Dark by Laura Griffin
The Ferryman Institute (arc) by Colin Gigl
Nemesis (arc) by Anna Banks
The Rule of Three by Eric Walters
Spindle (arc) by E.K. Johnston
Curse of the Boggin (arc) by D.J. MacHale
Between Worlds (arc) by Skip Brittenham
Lock and Key: The Initiation (arc) by Ridley Pearson
Spare and Found Parts (arc) by Sarah Maria Griffin
After the End by Amy Plum
Like a River Glorious (arc) by Rae Carson
Three Dark Crowns (arc) by Kendare Blake
Gamescape Overworld (arc) by Emma Trevayne
Going Wild (arc) by Lisa McMann
Five Elements: The Emerald Tablet (arc) by Dan Jolley
Frazzled (arc) by Booki Vivat
Mike & Dave Need Wedding Dates by Mike & Dave Stangle

Stacking The Shelves (118): SDCC Version

Stacking The Shelves, hosted by Tynga's Reviews, is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks!

We attended San Diego Comic Con once again this year and had a blast! This year's activities for us were more kid-focused, so I did not engage as many authors as I probably would have on my own. But that's okay. The family time was well worth it. But I did still manage to get some new goodies added to my shelves. I couldn't leave SDCC with out some sweet freebies and spending some cash :)

*Signed* Book Purchases:

Ink and Bone by Rachel Caine
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline (loved on audio!)
Star Wars: Jedi Academy by Jeffery Brown
Star Wars: Jedi Academy, The Phantom Bully by Jeffery Brown
Darth Vader and Son by Jeffery Brown


Awesome Freebies:

Legend: The Graphic Novel by Marie Lu (signed!!)

Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll (signed!)

Masterful Marks: Cartoonists Who Changed the World by Monte Beauchamp
Half a King by Joe Abercrombie
Red Rising by Pierce Brown
Illusion by JS Cooper


ARCs of Awesome:

Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff
Reawakened by Colleen Houck
Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel
Luke Skywalker Can't Read: And Other Geeky Truths by Ryan Britt
Hilo: The Boy Who Crashed to Earth by Judd Winick (my middle son already read & loved)

Comics for my Husband:

(When you get to meet one of your favorite cartoonists, of course you get a personalized comic book and signed DVDs!)
The Tick by Ben Edlund

Accessorize Me:

When my eyes locked with this beautiful R2D2 purse from across the exhibit hall, I knew it had to be mine. How could I resist?

Stacking the Shelves (70): San Diego Comic Con Edition

Stacking The Shelves, hosted by Tynga's Reviews, is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks!

My family and I attended San Diego Comic Con for the first time this year. It was awesome!! We only went Friday and Saturday, and just those two days totally wiped us out. It was overwhelming, crowded, colorful, and amazing. We learned a lot this time around and hope to go again next year with our new found experience under our belts, perhaps even ready to brave the line for Hall H.

You can find my thoughts on our Comic Con experience HERE.

Of course, being a bibliophile, books and authors were a big draw for me, and I got to see some amazing authors. I brought several books with me to have signed, and only bought one there. But my bags quickly doubled then tripled in size with the amazing booths to be visited and giveaways to be had.

Here are the books I actually got at Comic Con, and all but one were FREE!
(Thank you, publishers!)

Bought (& signed):

 The Magician's Land by Lev Grossman

 

Freebies (signed):

Ex-Heroes by Peter Clines

Inside the Maze Runner: The Guide to the Glade (signed by James Dashner)

Seeker by Arwen Elys Dayton (ARC)

Vampires of Manhattan by Melissa de la Cruz (ARC x2)

The Young Elites by Marie Lu (ARC)

Illusions of Fate by Kiersten White (ARC)

 

Freebies (not signed):

 Thrones & Bones: Frostborn by Lou Anders (ARC)

Magic Bites by Ilona Andrews

The Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard (ARC)

The Doubt Factory by Paolo Bacigalupi (ARC)

 Written in Red by Anne Bishop

The Warded Man by Peter V. Brett

The Elfstones of Shannara by Terry Brooks

Red Rising by Pierce Brown

The Lost Stars: Tarnished Knight by Jack Campbell

The Clockwork Dagger by Beth Cato (ARC)

The Deep by Nick Cutter (ARC)

The Jewel by Amy Ewing (ARC)

Endgame by James Frey & Nils Johnson-Shelton (ARC)

Messenger of Fear by Michael Grant (ARC)

The Butcher by Jennifer Hillier

Finding Cinderella by Colleen Hoover

The Midnight Queen by Sylvia Izzo Hunter (ARC)

The Golem of Hollywood by Jonathan Kellerman & Jesse Kellerman (ARC)

Proxy by Alex London

The Young Elites by Marie Lu (ARC)

Heart's Blood by Juliet Marillier

Maplecroft by Cherie Priest (ARC) 

Gathering Darkness by Morgan Rhodes (ARC)

All the Wrong Questions by Lemony Snicket

The Waters Rising by Sheri S. Tepper

 

 

San Diego Comic Con: Thoughts of a First Time Attendee

So my family of five attended San Diego Comic Con for the first time this year. We only attended two days (Friday and Saturday) because we weren't sure if the kids could handle four days in a row. Turns out we don't know if the adults could have handled it either. We had big expectations and we weren't disappointed. We definitely want to try and go next year, and perhaps we may even attempt four days (if we can get tickets that is - we got really lucky this year).
 

Here are some thoughts about our Comic Con experience:

 
1. Day 1 = Overwhelmed:
As a newbie, I had no idea what to expect. I mean, people can tell you what to expect, but until you get there, you just don't know. The number of people, number of booths, and distances to travel were all more than I imagined. So the first day of our experience, even just getting our badges, was a lot to take in. 
 
2. Hall H = Completely intimidating:
People camp overnight to get into Hall H. The line for Hall H is huge. Apparently Hall H is also huge, but not everyone gets in because Hall H is also the place to be for some truly awesome panels from such epic distributors like DreamWorks, Paramount, 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros, and Marvel Studios, plus goodies like The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones, among others. But this newbie and her family couldn't quite wrap our minds around its epicness this time around, so we hope to tackle it in the future.

(See those white tents? That's the line!)

3. Plan, revise, and plan some more:
We went in with a plan. I spent a lot of time reviewing the schedule, then going to different author and publisher website and checking if they posted signing schedules, then researching some more. We printed the schedule, plotted our additional time frames of when the exhibit booths would be having their signings or activities, and hoped for the best. Then of course, when we got there, we found out about a bunch of other things we wanted to attend, and had to cross off other things that we deemed to difficult to try to get to, and then later found out we missed some really cool stuff we just didn't know about. Oh well. But I'm glad we started with a plan, even of it did get revised.
 
4. Cosplay all the way:
Though we are not cosplayers ourselves, we loved how into it so many other people were. And they were everywhere. I mean, Everywhere! But don't hesitate to look, admire, and ask for photos of or with them. They love it. My favorite costume was the Scottish Stormtrooper (yes, that's a Stormtrooper in a kilt). He was awesome, and I'm very disappointed I did not get a photo. Here's the only Cosplay photo I got:

 

Light-up Transformers. So cool!

5. Divide and conquer:

My husband, sons, and I have some similar and some different interests, so splitting up was unavoidable. This was great because we got to get more things done at the same time, but hard because we would go hours without seeing each other. Feeling like I'd been neglecting the family, I ate lunch with them on day 1, causing me to get into a panel line later than I'd hoped or needed, and despite getting into the line over an hour early, I still missed the panel. Now whether ditching my family or not would have made a difference, who knows, but it was a good learning experience (which we applied day 2).

6. Walking, climbing, and waiting, oh my!
There was no need to fit in a trip to the gym with the amount of walking, stair climbing, heavy bag lifting, standing, and then more walking that we did. The convention center is huge, and the events even extend outside of the convention center. I had sore muscles everywhere. Patience is key, especially when standing (or sitting) in very long lines.


(Waiting in line outside.)

(Hey, at least we're in line inside now.)

7. Commence fangirling:
I love meeting authors, listening to authors, seeing authors. Beyond that, my family just likes seeing and learning about new things and old things in all forms of entertainment. Between the few panels we attended and author signings and celebrity sightings, we got a great taste of Comic Con awesomeness, and only hope we can go again next year and see more. Here are just a few of the authors we met:

Meeting Deborah Harkness

Meeting Lev Grossman

Meeting Scott Westerfeld

8. Speaking of panels:
If you want to see something badly enough, there's a high probability that a bunch of other people do, too. Hence the need to get in line early. Since I missed the Outlander panel on our first day there due to not getting in line early enough, we rectified our approach the next day. I still wanted to see Diana Gabaldon and George R.R. Martin, who were speaking at a group panel, so we got in line early enough to not only see them but the panel before them as well, which luckily for us was the writers of The Walking Dead and Norman Reedus, so though the kids complained about sitting in the panel room for almost two and a half hours, plus the hour or more of waiting in line, it was worth it. But, the kids also got to see the Phineas and Ferb panel, and didn't have a huge line to wait it, so they were happy about that.

Norman Reedus, David Alperts, Robert Kirkman:
The Walking Dead

Norman Reedus smiling :)

Diana Gabaldon (Outlander)

George R.R. Martin (Game of Thrones)

Panel: Joe Abercrombie, Lev Grossman, George R.R. Martin, Diana Gabaldon, Patrick Rothfuss

9. Freebies:

So I was hoping for a few free books or advanced copies. Well, I got more than I bargained for, and I loved it. Luckily, many of these lovely publishers also hand out free bags, so as my personal bag overflowed, I was able to carry more of these goodies. Plus, there's swag and trinkets to be collected everywhere. But if you take it, be prepared to carry it. A couple great things to bring with you: a backpack and a poster container.


(All these were free except The Magician King)

 
10. Did I mention the Exhibit Hall?
Bodies and booths are everywhere. Cosplay, comics, artists, movies, television, studios, publishers, entertainers, gamers, vendors... the list goes on and they are all over the place. Prepare to be jostled, to stop for people taking Cosplay photos, then to be told to keep moving. See great sights, hear all the awesome nerdspeak and geekspeak you dreamed of, and learn about things you didn't imagine. And though we spent very little money, if you're looking for unique finds, bring your wallet.

(This is a mere glimpse at some of the myriad of exhibits.)

 

 

Least Favorite Moment:

My middle son lost his iTouch :(

 

Favorite Moment:

 

My boys meeting Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman from Mythbusters

(They are huge fans!)