Photos from the Book Cons & links to some cool authors I met there

I just got back from Albacon, a small sci-fi con in Albany, and also RT Booklovers Con in Dallas. Both were a blast for different reasons. At the sci-fi con I got to be on four panels, which I loved. In Dallas I met and chatted with amazing authors, bloggers, readers and editors. I took photos of my fave authors and intriguing new ones. Wanna see?

Tammara Webber
(and that's me on the left)

Tammara's novel EASY was what got me into new adult lit. The story was so much deeper than I ever thought "romance" could possibly be.

Nice tatts, Molly!

Check out the tattoos on the fabulous Molly McAdams. She helped take romance out of the Fabio era and into the new millennium.

Shari Slade's The Opposite of Nothing was intense and wonderful reading, however short. I look forward to more from her and it was fun to chat with her.

What a thrill to meet Lydia Kang in person after being friends online. She writes great sci-fi for the YA crowd.

Lydia Kang

Hey, she's holding my novel!

And guess who was staying at my "overflow" hotel? The great legend that is Tamora Pierce! In case you've been living under a rock, she's written dozens and dozens of fantasy novels over the years.

Tere Michaels

Holy cow, I got to ride in the van to the main event and chat about houses, the perks of living upstate and other domestic fun. Who cared if we weren't at the main hotel.

I got to see Tere Michaels again. She wrote Who Knows the Storm, a fascinating dystopian novel with an M/M love element. Wasn't sure it would be my cuppa tea, but hey, love is love, and boy, can Tere write! Her future, very noir NYC had my hair standing up.

Tamora, me, her PA

I met Zoraida Cordova who writes YA fantasy and often about the ocean like I do. Check out her Vicious Deep series. And last but not least, a couple of my own reader fans!!!
Kathleen Baldwin was on a panel, and her novel School for Unusual Girls sounded so cool, I have to load it on my kindle asap. Here are my tips for attending book cons in a post for Untethered Realms.

Tempted to make this guy
my next cover model.
Thoughts?!

The organized chaos of the RT  Giant Book Fair

Kathleen Baldwin

Zoraida with yours truly

Shari Slade

Loyal reader and friend, Raynell

OBSESSIONS!!!

I'm thinking about things I'm obsessed with lately.

I’ve been obsessed by Anthony Bourdain’s Parts Unknown, a travel show to very offbeat places, but also a foodie show (which I’m not, or didn’t think I was until this). At first I found him to be wayyy full of himself, but I got totally hooked into the show watching the Tokyo’s dark nightlife episode, and the Detroit one where industrious folks set up makeshift eateries in their yards and living rooms. I’ve walked the streets of Detroit. It’s a train wreck, but a fascinating one. Here is Bourdain in Libya, uh, yeah. His wicked humor and clever scripts have invaded my brain. So, as a convert, I’m on a marathon episode watch.

I’m preoccupied with reading romance, since I’ve been writing new adult romance. Easy by Tammara Webber rises far above the pack. M Leighton’s Down to You with sexy twins Cash and Nash is sizzling yet silly in a super-fun way, and Aubrie Dionne’s space opera romance Colonization is quite creative (with beautiful yet creeptastic killer plants). I'm getting used to my pen name, Kitsy Clare in prepping for the launch of my NA romance novella, Model Position in early 2014. And I'm passionate about bad boy artist, Casper Mason in my next romance WIP.

I’m absorbed by holiday shopping, trying to find the perfect gifts for people: Craig Venter’s book, Life at the Speed of Light for my science nerd friend, vinyls at Rough Trade in Williamsburg, Brooklyn for my musically inclined son, Met opera tickets for the hubby--should it be Borodin's Prince Igor, Puccini's Madame Butterfly or Dvorak's Rusalka? Wow, the choices! Oh, and I booked an upcoming anniversary trip to the Dominican Republic, it doesn’t get much
better than that! Looking forward to riding dune buggies and segways, and taking a horseback trek through the jungle. You?

What are you obsessed with this season? Any cool new finds for holiday gifts?