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TAMBOR
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C O RY D O C TO R OW
BOOKCON
SATURDAY JUNE 3
SHOW DAILY2017
DAN MARC
MARIE
BROWN MARON
LU
THE
CANDANCE BUSHNELL TODAYS EVENTS WITH LAINI TAYLOR
2:00 PM 2:45 PM
Marissa Meyer and LAINI TAYLOR: Truth or Dare Panel
Downtown Stage
THE NEW
YORK TIMES
BESTSELLER 4:00 PM 5:00 PM
TOUR COMES TO Magic and Power: Kami Garcia, Marissa Meyer, Maggie
Stiefvater, LAINI TAYLOR, and Daniel Jos Older Panel
BOOKCON! Room 1E14
Little, Brown and Company Check the inside cover for a full rundown of NOVL events and signings.
ALL-DAY RAFFLES WITH
FREE BOOK NERD
GIVEAWAYS! GOODIES!
SATURDAY
BARRY LYGA HOLLY BLACK LAINI TAYLOR
SUNDAY
SHANNON HALE SUNDAY
RYAN HIGA
2:30 pm 3:30 pm
Ryan Higa Writes Good Event
Main Stage
3:30 pm 5:00 pm
Autographing Area Photo Op
TICKETED EVENT
12:00 pm 1:00 pm Table 12
In-booth ARC Signing
Booth #2502
BOOTH #2502 Follow @lbkids and @TheNovl for daily SURPRISE giveaway alerts!
Limited quantities for all giveaways; while supplies last.
SATURDAY, JUNE 3
INTRODUCING
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FREE tote bag* and submit
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1:302:30pm 45pm
TABLE 12 TABLE 12
R.J. PALACIO NICOLA YOON
Books will be available for purchase from THE STRAND in the Autograph Area. Wristbands required for signings.
Jeffrey Tambor
Loves a #2 Pencil 32 Gregg Hurwitz
6
Gruesomely Engages
33 Marie Lu Returns to
Sci-Fi
10
34 Jason Reynolds: No
More Book Deserts
Cory Doctorow:
Contributors Tomorrow
Editoral Director: 36 Margaret Atwood:
Reimagined
Jim Milliot Dystopia Now
Executive Editor:
Jonathan Segura
Editor: Liz Hartman
Graham and
Managing Editor: Murray: A Team
Sonia Jaffe Robbins to Thrill
Art Director:
Bobby Lawhorn
28
Contributing
Writers: Alia Akkam,
Jason Boog, Sue
Corbett, Lucinda
Dyer, Alex Green,
Hilary S. Kayle, Claire
Kirch, Beth Levine,
Colleen
Shannon Maughan,
Hoover:
12
Judith Rosen, D.A.
Stern, Wendy Werris Different
Production Endings
Manager: Michele
Piscitelli
Published by
Publishers Weekly
BookCon is owned by Reed Exhibitons and any of its marks used herein are used under license from Reed Exhibitions
4 W W W. T H E B O O K C O N . C O M | JUNE 4, 2017
Amazon Charts
Congratulations to the authors, agents and publishers
on the inagural Amazon Charts Most Read Fiction list:
1 2 3 4 5
6 7 8 9 10
11 12 13 14 15
16 17 18 19 20
Y
ou may not know the name, but you know the face. Jeffrey Tambor has had a career most actors dream of:
years and years of performing the classics in repertory theater and then roles on not one, not two, but three
popular television shows: The Larry Sanders Show (Hey, now!), Arrested Development (Theres always money
in the banana stand), and now, the role-breaking Transparent (My whole life I have been dressing up as a
man. This is me). He is also a well-known acting coach, beloved for his attaboy approach to teaching
(more on that later), and co-owner of a thriving bookstore, Skylight Books, on the east side of L.A. Now he
adds author to his rsum. His just-published memoir, Are You Anybody? (Crown Archetype), draws from his formative
childhood years, when he was raised as a fat Hungarian-Jewish kid with a lisp and a depressive mother, to explore his
career path and creative process. BookCon caught up with the busy actor to discuss this new venture.
What inspired you to write this book? But he never told me how late. But I know I am the luckiest
from my life. A number of times, people have said I should You seem to have found your niche in ensemble
write this down, and now I have. I just wrote about things comedies. What is it about having that group around
that have been on my mind and lessons I have learned. you that you find inspiring?
A|
Maybe this will help others. Also, I have four little ones Acting is not just what you send, but what you
ages 12, 10, and twins sevenand Id like them to know a get. Yesterday, I was in a scene with the
little about what Daddy did. I love a #2 pencil and paper. amazing cast of Transparent, and I thought,
To me, thats a good time. Genius is holding the fort. It cant help making
you better. All three casts had that, because all
Your theory of attaboy is that everyone needs three had brilliant creators that are actor-centric. I
encouragement in order to succeed. am drawn to that kind of creator.
A|
my kids. When they play music by Pachabel, I am clapping I cant. I will tell you that Jill Soloway
as loud as I can. [producer and writer] and company dont
do just next season plus 10%. Every time she
You blossomed as an actor late and then went on to just does it, she knocks it out of the park. She is
land three career-defining TV roles. [Tambor was 48 hitting out of the park again.
when he started on The Larry Sanders Show.] Do
you think because you were down in the trenches so And of course, we have to ask,
long, it helped you to keep your head on straight where are we with Arrested
when the awards started rolling in? Development?
6 W W W. T H E B O O K C O N . C O M | JUNE 3, 2017
W W W. T H E B O O K C O N . C O M 7
Nonfiction
M
arc Maron craves good conversation. Since 2009,
he has had hundreds of them from his garage,
where he hosts his popular WTF podcast. In
Waiting for the Punch (Flatiron, Oct.), Maron
and his longtime producer, Brendan McDonald, have arranged
hundreds of excerpts from his conversations with such celeb-
rities as Lena Dunham, Bruce Springsteen, and Kevin Hart.
This type of one-on-one, two-people-talking conversation
is lacking in culture, Maron says. I found that people who
listened to my show were getting something out of it. It
enabled them to feel less alone, [to feel] nourished intellectually,
emotionally, and spiritually.
There are so many elements of the human condition that
just come up organically on the podcast, Maron continues.
Brendan and I always thought that if you could create a
weaving conversation in a book through all the themes that
seem to recur, and through all these different voices, it would
be fascinating and amazing. In the book Louis CK reflects on
failure; Leslie Jones on mortality; and President Barack
Obama on identity.
When Maron and McDonald transcribed the interviews,
Maron says he was surprised by their immediacy. Theres
something very different reading people talking rather than
reading people writing, he says. The actual tone of the
[book]because it was first done in a conversationis very
emotionally connected.
A longtime comedian and writer, Maron says he launched
the podcast, by virtue of desperation. His career was
unraveling, and his divorce from his second wife left him
suicidal.
I was in my garage. I was in a desperate place. And I needed
to talk to people, he says. As the show blossomed, Maron and
McDonald realized that the big-name guests invariably talked
about issues that many people find difficult to discuss.
Maron attributes some of his passion for conversation to his
longtime friendship with Albuquerque, N.Mex., bookseller
Gus Blaisdell at the Living Batch bookstore, who died in
Today, 1:302:30 p.m. Marc Maron and coauthor Brendan 2003. He was a local wizard, Maron says. He had this level
McDonald provide a glimpse into the WTF podcast as they of comedic insight that was sourced in this vast intellectual
discuss their book in Room 1E14. reservoir that he had in his head. He was always able to render
Today, 2:453:45 p.m. Maron and McDonald sign in the things down in conversation to the purest bead of satire, where
Autographing Area. everything comes unhinged.
8 W W W. T H E B O O K C O N . C O M | JUNE 3, 2017
Visit the Little Golden Books Bus!
Located at Booth #2627
Little Golden Book-Themed
Face Painting (Limited Event!)
Costume Character Appearances
FREE Giveaways*
Interactive 75 Years of
Little Golden Books Exhibit
Your Favorite Fun
Little Golden Books All A for
g
Available For Purchase! All D es,
ay!
Golden Books The Poky Little Puppy is a trademark of Penguin Random House LLC.
SATURDAY, JUNE 3
Tomorrow
Reimagined
Everything
you want
and need
By D.A. Stern
D
ystopian novels of the future weigh down
our bookshelves, and adaptations of those
same stories increasingly dominate our
cinemas. But in Walkaway (Tor), visionary
technologist and New York Times bestselling author
Cory Doctorow presents a different take on the world
to comeone that suggests those more nihilistic
visions of the future are wrong.
Our theory about what people will do in disasters
has been propagated by a lot of narrative that takes the
lazy shortcut of oh, my dramatic tension will come
from the fact that as soon as something goes wrong,
your neighbors will come over to eat you!
And yet history (the San Francisco earthquake, 9/11, organizational overhead we used to devote to running a
Hurricane Katrina) is full of examples to the contrary. school bake sale, Doctorow says. Its amazing to think
Im reminded of friends of mine in New York during how little institutional overhead is needed to do really
the blackouts, who experienced such amazing ambitious things. Walkaway can be thought of as apply-
amounts of kindness from strangers. There is, Docto- ing that trend to wider issues of governance. Imagine a
row notes, a scientific, neurological country that worked like that. Imagine a
basis behind this behavior: the human government that worked like that!
neocortex, the literal new bark around Doctorows novel presents a version of
our brains, developedand is largely that world, a world where everything that
concerned withfinding ways to form you want, everything that you need, exists
social relationships with others, i.e., somewhere and is routed to you with such
with networking. efficiency that it almost feels like magic.
And technologyspecifically, the Its something thats in our grasp.... I
internethas facilitated those kinds of think if the novel resonates with people,
relationships, enabling us to network in but they dont why, it will have a lot to do
ways that produce projects of stagger- with this idea.
ing complexity, all at a minimal cost.
Today we build encyclopedias and Today, 4:155 p.m. Cory Doctorow will be in
operating systems with the kind of the Autographing Area.
10 W W W. T H E B O O K C O N . C O M | JUNE 3, 2017
Fiction
A
n unlikely meeting brought us together, CalArts University, and while at one of her plays I ran into
says Heather Graham, the bestselling Stephen Christy [then editor-in-chief at Archaia Entertain-
author of more than 100 books and novel- ment] and a friend of Chads. He suggested that I work with
las, explaining how she came to write a Chad, who had recently published an illustrated book with
book with actor Chad Michael Murray. Archaia. I was too busy at the time, but when I met Chad I
My daughter was a performance major at was in.
12 W W W. T H E B O O K C O N . C O M | JUNE 3, 2017
YA READS TO FEED YOUR
FICTION ADDICTION
BOOTH #2921
Signing: Saturday, June 3
10:30 a.m.
SATURDAY, JUNE 3
10:00am
Tote Bag Giveaway*
11:00am
Author Signing: David Stabler
Kid Authors: True Tales of Childhood from Famous Writers
(on sale: 10/10/17)
1:00pm
Tote Bag Giveaway*
3:00pm
Author Signing: Grady Hendrix
My Best Friends Exorcism and Paperbacks from Hell
(on sale: 9/19/17)
4:30pm
LESLEY BRYCE
14 W W W. T H E B O O K C O N . C O M | JUNE 3, 2017
Maker Stations
at Family HQ!
TODAY
from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m.
Create custom Boxcar Children buttons,
bookmarks, and more with your friends
from Albert Whitman & Company!
Come earlyspace is limited to 40 kids!
www.boxcarchildren.com
Meet up-and-coming
YA authors!
Booth #1913
(Tor), an adventure novel published earlier this year. It is
interesting to work on a co-project, she says. Ive done so
many books that sharing ideas and throwing them back and Saturday, June 3
forth can be a great deal of fun.
American Drifter is Murrays first book of prose. Ive written
before, he says. Ive always loved storytelling, either via
poetry, acting, short stories, or scripts. In 2011, his graphic
novel, Everlast, was published by Archaia Comics. For me,
writing and acting are great forms of release. Ive been blessed
to find great mentors to help show me the process of both.
As to whether Murray and Graham will continue their col-
laboration, Graham says, I never predict the future. Murray
adds, Ill always be open to collaborating with her. What I
do know is that writing is something Ill always do. But Im
not sure what the platform will be.
Katherine Locke Megan E. Bryant
Today, 11:15 a.m.12:15 p.m. Heather Graham will interview 10:30 a.m. 11:30 a.m.
Chad Michael Murray about their book, American Drifter, in
Room 1E10. Free ARCs and swag at each signing!
Today, 12 p.m. The first 100 fans at Graham and Murrays
ALBERT WHITMAN & COMPANY
discussion, above, will get tickets for a signing at the Forge Publishing award-winning books since 1919
booth (3008). www.albertwhitman.com
W W W. T H E B O O K C O N . C O M 15
Profile
Dan Brown
Shares His Secrets
Create something and throw it out
By Jason Boog
D
an Brown fans have waited four years for a new book to decode. At last, Origin has been announced for publication on
October 3, one of publishings most anticipated (and most secretive) events. In fact, Doubleday has only released a
single sentence about the novel: Origin thrusts Harvard symbologist or symbolist Robert Langdon into the dangerous
intersection of humankinds two most enduring questions, and the earthshaking discovery that will answer them.
BookCon caught up with Brown, uncovering a few clues about the new book.
16 W W W. T H E B O O K C O N . C O M | JUNE 3, 2017
BELOVED
NERD HERD
RETURNS
In Book One of the new
House of Night
Other World Series
AT BOOKCON TODAY!
SATURDAY, JUNE 3RD, @ 11AM-12 PM
at Blackstone Publishing's Booth #2628
18 W W W. T H E B O O K C O N . C O M | JUNE 3, 2017
B OOK C ON 201 7
D A N BR O W N
Booth Signing of Books SATURDAY,
FERAL JUNE 3
2:00-3:00 p.m. | Table 3
CHRISTOPHER RICE
Booth Signing of Books
SUNDAY,
JUNE 4 RAMSES THE DAMNED
The Passion of Cleopatra
12:00-1:00 p.m. | Table 3
B OOK C ON
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
GIVEAWAYS AND ACTIVITIES
The #1 internationally
10:00 - 11:30 a.m.
bestselling phenomenon will
Giveaway of Dear Ijeawele by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Tote Bag
talk about his books and movies,
10:00 - 11:30 a.m.
as well as the codes, symbols, Giveaway of The Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood Pins
art, and history that continue to 11:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.
inform his work. Endurance: A Year in Space, A Lifetime of Discovery by Scott Kelly
Raffle sign-up to win a personalized signed, finished book (arriving late
Dan Browns next novel, Origin, September). Three second prizes of autographed excerpt bookletsmust be
will be published worldwide on present at the 2:00 drawing to win. Special photo op with life-size Scott Kelly!
October 3. 2:00 - 4:00 p.m.
Giveaway of Uncommon Type by Tom Hanks Poster
SATURDAY,
4:00 - 6:00 p.m. JUNE 3
S A T U R D A Y, J U N E 3 Pantheon Graphic Novels Pins (Fight Evil. Read Books.)
11:0 0 a.m. | Main Stage
S
ure, theres plenty
of coffee to be had
on the Jacob Javits
convention floor, but why
not take a break from the
aisles, get some fresh air,
and find New Yorks finest
purveyors of caffeine. Bet-
ter yet, energize on your
way to the Javits with a
stop at any one of the fol-
lowing places deemed good
william daniels enough by Liz Clayton and
Author of There I Go Again Avidan Ross to make it
into their book Where to
June 3, 2:00 - 3:00 p.m. Drink Coffee, coming from
Phaidon in July. In this
chock-full-of-caffeine tome, 150 baristas and coffee experts
Potomac Books
offer 600 spots in 50 countries. Weve narrowed the vast
selections from all five boroughs to the top 10 Manhattan
locales.
Intelligentsia Mini-bar
180 10th Ave., intelligentsiacoffee.com
Neighborhood: Chelsea
Style: Coffee truck
Coffee outside is always really fun. Aaron Ultimo
22 W W W. T H E B O O K C O N . C O M | JUNE 3, 2017
Nonfiction
Come Meet Workmans Authors!
* Booth #2807 * Joe Pro Shop
131 W. 21st St., joenewyork.com
Neighborhood: Chelsea
SATURDAY, JUNE 3
Style: Coffee bar
10:3011:30 a.m. One of my favorite filter coffees ever was served to me at
Elias Weiss Friedman, Joe Pro. Camila Ramos
THE DOGIST
In-booth Signing Little Collins
(Pack of 3 puppy pins 667 Lexington Ave., littlecollins.com
with purchase) Neighborhood: Midtown East
11:45 a.m.12:45 p.m. Free
Style: Coffee and food
Samantha Mabry, tote with The best filter coffee Ive been served in a cafe in recent
any purchase memory was a Kalita Wave of Finca Kilimanjaro, brewed
A FIERCE & SUBTLE POISON or newsletter
In-booth Signing sign-up! using the Modbar machine at Little Collins in New York.
Samuel Lewontin
12 p.m.
Kate T. Parker, STRONG IS THE NEW PRETTY Third Rail Coffee
In-booth Signing 240 Sullivan St., thirdrailcoffee.com
(Personal photo & temporary tattoo with purchase) Neighborhood: Greenwich Village
4:155:15 p.m. Style: Coffee bar
Adele Griffin, BE TRUE TO ME Best charmer. Alice Quillet
BookCon Autographing Area, Table 8
Everyman Espresso
SUNDAY, JUNE 4 301 W. Broadway, everymanespresso.com
Neighborhood: Soho
11 a.m.12 p.m. Style: Coffee and waffles
Jessamyn Stanley, EVERY BODY YOGA The (often) tiki-themed signature beverages are innovative
In-booth Signing (Yoga mat bag with purchase) and delicious, and the coffee never disappoints.
12:301:30 p.m. Jeff Steffy
Laura J. Moss, ADVENTURE CATS Abrao
In-booth Signing 86 E. 7th St., abraconyc.com
Neighborhood: East Village
3:304:30 p.m.
Style: Coffee and baked goods
Ella Morton, ATLAS OBSCURA
Pretty essentially New York City for me... tiny, bustling,
BookCon Autographing Area, Table 10
and great pastries. Ryan Fisher
Amor y Amargo
443 E. 6th St., amoryamargo.com
Neighborhood: East Village
Style: Coffee and cocktails
Top marks for drinks and coffee would have to go to the
folks at Amor y Amargo. Its like coffee is hanging out with
the cool kids rather than in a fridge with the sticky bottles
of pre-squeezed grapefruit juice. Zachary Carlsen
Voyager Espresso
110 William St., voyagerespresso.com
Neighborhood: East Village
Opens: MondayFriday, 7:30 a.m.
Style: Coffee bar
For a coffee shop to do something truly different in design
or conception is unusual nowadays, Voyager Espresso is one
of the best coffee spots goingin one of the citys most
workman.com . @workmanpub unlikely places. Liz Clayton and Avidan Ross
24 W W W. T H E B O O K C O N . C O M | JUNE 3, 2017
W
hen the mother-daughter writing team P.C. Cast
and Kristin Cast realized that 2017 would be the
10th anniversary of the publication of Marked,
the first book in their bestselling vampyre-themed YA fantasy
series, House of Night, they decided they wanted to do some- Kristin Cast (L.) and
thing special to celebrate. We considered teaming up with a P.C. Cast (R.)
few other bestselling YA authors and setting an anthology in
It's never wise to put all your Stop by Booth 1743 before you
eggs in one basket. Relying on a depart from BookCon to learn
single revenue stream won't get
how we can be a reliable partner
publishers far in the Digital Age.
for your digital strategy. Text
There are boundless
RSVP to (330) 730-1946 to
opportunities for their content to
be repurposed or reintroduced. schedule a meeting with our
publishing experts.
Need to rethink your digital
strategy? Consider eBooks2go.
Our content solutions provide Need more info?
the answers publishers need, Please visit
whether they are looking to www.ebooks2go.net
optimize their titles for mobile or email your inquiries to
devices, expand their leslie@ebooks2go.net
distribution channels, or venture
into the world of e-commerce.
26 W W W. T H E B O O K C O N . C O M | JUNE 3, 2017
the House of Night world. We also thought answers to selected questions asked by fans on
about writing a novella that followed the story the Casts social media platforms.
of the very first House of Night, but nothing Kristin Cast began working as the House of
felt quite right, P.C. says. We decided our fans Night series editor when she was 19. Since the
would prefer another novel with their favorite series ended, she has become an author in her
characters instead. own rightwith the Escaped series (Diversion
The resulting book, Loved (Blackstone, July), Publishing)and she is much more involved in
the first in the House of Night Other World the new House of Night series. Im not just
spinoff series, features returning characters from sitting on the sidelines and waiting until some-
the duos earlier series. The new novel takes things handed to me to edit, she says. Because
place a year after the end of Redeemed, the last of that, I can see a picture being formed in my
book in that series, and finds Zoey and the Nerd head as its being written. This time, were
Herd reunited to battle evil and rabid red vampyres. building the world together, and I have input on how to pro-
I wanted to answer questions that fans have asked about pel the story forward. Its creating as opposed to waiting.
main and secondary charactersas well as make fans wishes Kristins expanded involvement is a relief to P.C., who
come true, P.C. says. That opened up a whole alternative notes, Writing is such a solitary career, so its been a great
House of Night world for me, so I tried to figure out a plot. experience to have Kristin by my side as that picture is being
But giving our readers what theyd been asking for made me painted.
really nervous, and it took me forever to begin writing. Kris-
tin kept saying, Phyllis, just start the book! Today, 11 a.m.noon. P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast will sign
Loved contains additional material for fans. It includes a deluxe samplers of Loved at the Blackstone booth (2628).
Dear Reader letter from P.C. that offers a brief summary of Double-sided book posters, temporary tattoos in the design of
where House of Night left off, and what was going on with a the #HoNLovedTattoo design contest winner, and Loved book-
major character. Theres also a classroom discussion Q&A and marks will also be given away.
W W W. T H E B O O K C O N . C O M 27
Fiction
Colleen Hoover:
Different Endings
I write to entertain, I dont write to educate
or inform. But its something else when you
main characters, Lily and Ryle, after them, and the first
write a book, and it actually does have an time he hits her is actually what happened between my
impact on people in a positive way. parents.
Although the book was easy to write on one level,
By Hilary S. Kayle
Hoover says that it was difficult emotionally because she
I
t takes courage to ground a book in your familys private knew her mother would read it. She called after she
story, especially one involving an abusive relationship. But finished it, Hoover says. She was crying and couldnt
thats what Colleen Hoover decided to do when she took a even talk. So she texted me and said that for 35 years she
detour from her usual contemporary romance path and wrote It wondered if she had made the right choice by leaving him.
Ends with Us (Atria). And this book solidified that [decision].
I was inspired by my mother to write it, Hoover says. The I hope readers take away that people deserve respect in
book was based on her relationship with my father; she divorced relationships, Hoover continues. Not just women, but
him when I was about two years old. The authors note at the end everyone.
explains how the story related to my parents. I fashioned the Hoover wasnt sure what to expect from her fans. I was
very nervous because it was a departure from what I
usually write, she says. But I had the biggest response
L IVE YOUR BEST L IF E IN that Ive ever had to any book. Its changed lives. Women
have given this to friends who needed it. Ive always said
I write to entertain, I dont write to educate or inform.
But its something else when you write a book, and it
actually does have an impact on people in a positive way.
Hoover has made a positive impact in other ways. Two
years ago she founded the Bookworm Box, a subscription
service that mails members two signed books a month and
donates all profits to 501(c)3 organizations. I work with
publishers and authors to get the novels donated every
month. We send out about 2,000 packages monthly
thats 4,000 signed novels I have to organize every month,
Hoover says. To date the Bookworm Box has donated $1
million to charities.
Between her charity work and taking care of her three
sons, Hoover still finds time to write, usually after
everyone is in bed. I stay up until three in the morning,
and then stay in bed until about nine or 10, she says.
VISIT BOOTH #1921 ON SATURDAY, JUNE 3, Hoovers next book, Without Merit (Atria), is scheduled
and ask Who is Milo Yolkin? to be to come out this fall. It is another departure for her. The
one of the first to experience OTHERWORLD*. main character is a 17-year-old high school student named
Merit. For Hoover, its closer to YA because the book is
Art 2017 by The Jason Segel Company
Presented by
more about family, with romance in the background.
28 W W W. T H E B O O K C O N . C O M | JUNE 3, 2017
Dont miss YouTube sensation
KARINA GARCIA
signing copies of her new book
KARINA GARCIAS DIY SLIME
SIGNING DETAILS:
June 3rd, 2017
11:00am-12:00pm
Booth #1520
Cassandra Clares
Fans Want More
Than Their MTV
Passionate Fans are Insatiable Readers
By Claire Kirch
F
ive years after Cassandra Clare concluded her blockbuster series, Mor-
tal Instruments, she is fully entrenched in the follow-up series, Dark
Artifices. Shes at BookCon to spotlight the second volume, Lord of
Shadows, which continues to follow shadowhunters, first introduced in Mor-
tal Instruments. Shadowhunters are humans born with angelic blood who
protect mortals by hunting the demons who want to harm them, Now that
Emma Carstairs has avenged her parents deaths in book one, Lady Midnight,
30 W W W. T H E B O O K C O N . C O M | JUNE 3, 2017
she finds herself at the center of a love triangle shy about talking up her passions on social media.
between her parabatai, Julian, and his brother, Shes written a number of times for MTV News
Mark. Adding to the tension, the Unseelie King is about Clare and her books, and says, Generally,
tired of the Cold Peace and will no longer acquiesce theres a lot of interest, and a lot of conversations
to the shadowhunters demands. generated among fans on social media.
The Lord of Shadows was released just last week, Clare finds the books are really different from
but when Clare is interviewed today by MTVs pop the television series, which, she says, feels like
culture writer Crystal Bell, expect some discussion someones written fan fiction, [or] like someone
about the 2013 film, The Mortal Instruments: City took the core characters of the books and decided
of Bones, and the subsequent adaptation for television. In the to do completely different things with them. Asked how that
series that airs on Freeform (a cable/satellite TV channel feels, Clare would only say, I try for serenity, accepting the
owned by the Walt Disney Company) and has been renewed things I cannot change.
for a third season, Clary Fray and her pals hunt demons while Beyond the TV talk, Clare promises that much of the con-
unsuspecting New Yorkers, who have no idea that they are versation with Bell will remain on Lord of Shadows, especially
surrounded by faeries, warlocks, vampires, and werewolves, since there is a big character death who people were not
go about their business. expecting to die. Shes even braced for pushback, disclosing
According to Bell, the MTV viewers who watch shows like that she cried when she wrote the scene, partially because it
Shadowhunters are young and passionate, and they are insa- was brutal, bloody, and unexpected.
tiable readers. Clares created a fun and inclusive world, with
great characterslike queer characters of colorand great Today, 12:151:15 p.m. Cassandra Clare and Crystal Bell are
dynamics. Young people can relate to her characters. Theyre in conversation on the panel Out of the Shadows, in Room
saying, Finally, characters who look like me, feel like me, love 1E14.
like me. Today, 1:303:30 p.m. Clare will sign Lord of Shadows in the
Bell, who describes herself as a professional fangirl, isnt Autographing Area.
Gregg
By Hilary S. Kayle
L
ast year, with the launch of the Rains Brothers, an
alien-meets-zombie series from Tor Teen, Gregg
Hurwitz
Hurwitz, author of the bestselling Orphan X
series for adults, made his YA debut. This October Hur-
witz continues the series with Last Chance, in which his
teenage characters become humanitys only hope of sur-
Gruesomely
vival as they fight an alien threat thats transforming
everyone over the age of 18 into ferocious, zombie-like
beings.
Brothers
crowd, he says. My daughters
were getting older, but werent
old enough for my adult thrill-
ers. So I wanted to write some-
I wanted to write a series about kids thing for them to reada series
about kids on their own who feel
on their own who feel that every adult that every adult in the world is
in the world is set against them. set against them.
Hurwitz also strove to write
the kind of old-fashioned adven-
ture stories he grew up read-
VISIT THE ingKidnapped, Swiss Family
OVERLOOK
Robinson, the Hardy Boys, and the nov-
els of Jack Londonstories with val-
ues like loyalty, strength, and courage
in the face of the unknown. He set out
PRESS
to write a modern take on those sto-
ries, in which both boys and girls are
represented. I wanted these to be books
that would really stick in the hands of
32 W W W. T H E B O O K C O N . C O M | JUNE 3, 2017
Fiction
Back to Her
Beginnings
Marie Lu makes BookCon debut
By Shannon Maughan
D
espite two bestselling series under her beltLegend
and the Young Elites, both from PutnamYA
author Marie Lu hasnt been to BookCon before. But
making the trip from her Southern California home to this
years show definitely has a back-to-the-beginning vibe. I feel
like Im a debut author all over again, she says, which makes
me quite anxious and excited at the same time.
The project that has Lus emotions on high alert is Warcross
(Putnam, Oct.), the first title in a planned duology. Warcross is a PRIMO
return to science fiction for me, says Lu, but it is very near-
future science fiction. The story features 18-year-old Emika than what Im used to writing, she adds. Im excited for the
Chen, a bounty hunter in New York City whos offered the job of challenge, and hopefully this time around I can get it just
a lifetime by the young billionaire creator of the wildly popular right so that readers will like it.
hit video game Warcross. I wanted to write a book that was just
really fun for me, Lu explains. Theres a little bit of mystery and
a lot of action, and it includes a lot of my favorite things in the
world. Even my dog is in it! I have a corgi, and she walks across
the screenfor like two seconds.
Part of Lus enjoyment during the writing process was informed
by her previous career as an artist in the video game industry.
This book includes little nods and hints back to when I was at
Disney Interactive Studios, she says. It was absolutely my favor-
ite job in the corporate world before I became a writer. I worked
with eight other interns, and we all became really good friends.
Im actually married to one of them now. Some of the shenani-
gans that Lu and her pals got up to are included in Warcross.
Though she cant yet share whats next for Emika, Lu says she
is in draft mode for the second Warcross book. She has also
completed a YA novel about teenage Bruce Wayne/Batman
for Random Houses new DC Icons series, launching this fall.
And shes also working on The Kingdom of Back, a standalone
historical fantasy novel scheduled for 2019 publication by
Putnam. Im very nervous, because its very dif-
ferent from anything Ive ever worked on before,
she says. Its not like what I usually write. Its
about Mozart and historyand fairy-type
magic.
Like Warcross, this project is a trip back to Lus
beginnings. Its the novel that helped her secure
her agent back in 2007, though they werent able
to sell the book at the time. Its a quieter book
W W W. T H E B O O K C O N . C O M 33
Fiction
No More
Book
Deserts
Jason Reynolds goes from
rappers to poets
By Sue Corbett
W
ith three novels coming out this fall, you might never life reflected back to me: my family
guess that Jason Reynolds didnt like to read books in dynamics, the noise and complexities
elementary school, or even high school. of my neighborhood, the things I
It wasnt that the teachers were bad. From what I can loved, like ice cream trucks and
remember, they were pretty good, Reynolds recalls. It was Kool-Aid. Now 33, Reynolds has
about the selection of books. It was about not seeing my young made it his mission to make sure
todays students dont encounter the
same kind of book desert he found
himself in as a kid.
DONT FORGET YOUR CAPE Reynolds has published five
critically acclaimed novels in three
years. This fall he will add to that
fast-growing body of work with
Miles Morales (Disney-Hyperion,
Aug.), a Spiderman spinoff; Patina
(Simon & Schuster/Caitlin Dlouhy,
Aug.), the second installment in the
series that began with Ghost, a finalist
for the National Book Award; and
Long Way Down (S&S/Caitlin
Dlouhy, Oct.), a standalone YA
novel written in verse.
Long Way Down follows 15-year-
old Will as he gets into the elevator
of his building with a gun. He is
intent on avenging his brothers
death.The whole book takes place
in the elevator over the course of a minute, Reynolds says.
Thats all the time you need to stop and reflect before
doing something that will change your life forever. Most
VISIT US FOR A SIGNED GALLEY of these young kids have no idea why theyre doing what
34 W W W. T H E B O O K C O N . C O M | JUNE 3, 2017
stories written about the black
experience by black writers.
I had the opportunity to find all
the different parts of me, culturally,
in one space. I could read about
[the experiences of] my grand-
parents and my parents, but I could
also pair that with newer stories
like Coldest Winter Ever or PUSH,
which I dont necessarily like so
m u c h n o w, b u t w h i c h w a s
refreshing to read back then,
Reynolds says. And that was
enough, not just for me to bite down on and claim as mine, but
to spark my curiosity to go and read other books that were
outside of my bubble.
Featured Titles
W W W. T H E B O O K C O N . C O M 35
LIAM SHARP
Fiction
Margaret Atwood
Dystopia Now
Hulu revitalizes The Handmaids Tale
By Alia Akkam
36 W W W. T H E B O O K C O N . C O M | JUNE 3, 2017
T his years much-buzzed 10-episode
adaptation of The Handmaids Tale,
which was streamed on Hulu in col-
laboration with MGM Television,
rocketed Margaret Atwoods 1985 novel back onto best-
sellers charts. The tale about the totalitarian republic of
Gilead is told through the eyes of Offred, a female ban-
ished there, played by Mad Men star Elisabeth Moss.
People are certainly paying a lot more attention to
NOVEMBER
12-19, 2017
issues of governance, authoritarianism, and womens sov-
ereignty since the November election, says series show-
runner Bruce Miller, who worked closely with Atwood.
She was very gracious with her time as she walked me
through the thinking behind thousands of individual
decisions she made while writing the book.
Miller first read The Handmaids Tale in college. It was
the first piece of fiction that showed me how spare, care-
ful prose could have incredible impact. It taught me how
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W W W. T H E B O O K C O N . C O M 37
Fiction
38 W W W. T H E B O O K C O N . C O M | JUNE 3, 2017
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