Sunday, August 26, 2012

Authors After Dark Recap (Better Late Than Never)


As some of you may know, I was in New Orleans from August 8-12, 2012 for Authors After Dark. It was a completely amazing experience and a lot of fun. I didn't take a lot of pictures while I was there (and I'm not sharing the ones I did on this blog*), but I did take pictures of the majority of the books that made it home with me. I do not have pictures of all of them because my smut-loving kinfolk fell upon the erotica and hardcore romance stuff like buzzards on carrion.

I'm going to start you guys out with MY books - the ones that I took with me to New Orleans. I have been hoarding books by authors I knew even the remotest tidbit of information about for the trip since my friend and I decided that we should attend. I also had a large number of these books already because I lurve these ladies. Let's begin.


Darker Still by Leanna Renee Hieber
Royal Street by Suzanne Johnson (which I loved by the way and read while I was down there)
You Dropped a Blonde on Me by Dakota Cassidy (who my friend is obsessed with)
Darkness Becomes Her by Kelly Keaton (aka Kelly Gay)
Dearly, Departed by Lia Habel


Blue-Blooded Vamp by Jaye Wells
Blood Rights (House of Comarré #1) by Kristen Painter
Flesh and Blood (House of Comarré #2) by Kristen Painter
Bad Blood (House of Comarré #3) by Kristen Painter
Hunted by the Others by Jess Haines
Halfway to the Grave by Jeaniene Frost


My Life as a White Trash Zombie by Diana Rowland
Even White Trash Zombies Get the Blues by Diana Rowland
Eye of the Tempest by Nicole Peeler
Tempest's Fury by Nicole Peeler (I ended up with two of these - one went to my aunt)
Black Dust Mambo by Adrian Phoenix
Dead and Loving It by MaryJanice Davidson (this one wasn't signed because she wasn't there)

***

Now we are starting the fun and games with the books that I actually BOUGHT at the conference. I mean, it's not like I didn't have enough books at home or get loads in the swag bags. Okay, I did, but I needed MOAR!!!


The Hour of Dust and Ashes (Charlie Madigan #3) by Kelly Gay (aka Kelly Keaton)
Silver-Tongued Devil by Jaye Wells (I own another copy, too, but I had to buy this one to get signed because my friend hasn't returned the loaned copy)
Ward Against Death by Melanie Card
Vampire Vacation (The V V Inn #1) by C.J. Ellison
Big Game (The V V Inn #3) by C.J. Ellison
The Hunt (The V V Inn #2) by C.J. Ellison

***

The ones below here are what I received as a result of swag bags, fabulous authors & publishers, giveaways, and general begging on my part. As I have said before, I gave away quite a few books to my family before I thought to take pictures of All The Things.


Full Blooded by Amanda Carlson
Velveteen by Daniel Marks (Him I begged - don't judge me.)
Hatsept Heat by TJ Michaels
The Secret Diaries by Kris Cook
A Beautiful Evil by Kelly Keaton


Demons Prefer Blondes by Sidney Ayers (unsigned)
A Sliver of Shadow (Abby Sinclair #2) by Allison Pang
A Brush of Darkness (Abby Sinclair #1) by Allison Pang
A Blood Seduction by Pamela Palmer
Trance by Kelly Meding


Chosen by Blood by Virna DePaul (unsigned)
The Better Part of Darkness (Charlie Madigan #1) by Kelly Gay (unsigned)
The Darkest Edge of Dawn (Charlie Madigan #2) by Kelly Gay
First Drop of Crimson by Jeaniene Frost
Mind Games (The Disillusionists #1) by Carolyn Crane

***

Since most of these books were signed, I'm going to share a few of my favorite scribblings with you guys.


Kayla, Welcome to the zombie apocalypse response team, woman. TJ

My friend and I had a bit of a running joke going on with ZART, so it tickled me muchly to get an autographed copy of TJ's book. Now I need to just read it and learn more about all things ZART.


Kayla, Thanks for letting me sign your unicorn. Allison Pang

I have a unicorn bag that I've been carrying around forever and a day. I have a little bit of an obsession with unicorns. I may or may not have unicorns as decorations in my childhood bedroom that my daughter now sleeps in. REGARDLESS, here is a picture of my bag now.


Pretty cool, huh?


For Kayla - Braaains!! Diana Rowland



For Kayla - Zombie Superpower Activate!! Diana Rowland


To Kayla - Thank you so much for coming to see me at AAD2012! Lia Habel [Cthulhu]-


To Kayla! Great sitting with you & chatting! Stay away from the Swamp People! xo Carolyn Crane

This one is my favorite. My friend and I told her all about our GPSes sending us onto a weird path through  Atchafalaya country to get to NOLA and our significant others. She had never heard of the Swamp People, so we enlightened her a little. You may not ever really get the joke, but just know that every time I see this title page it gives me the giggles.

***

Now for the swag, which I know you are going to be completely jealous of. Hell, I'm almost jealous of me.


I may have ended up with a few things off of this fantastic table centerpiece that Allison Pang and Carolyn Crane put together. (Okay, I took the unicorn, some paper swag, a Gumby and the "Justine" Barbie doll.) I will be posting more pictures of this table and the after-party shenanigans of the toys that went to party in room #474 (was that the room?).


These are some of the nicknacks that really stood out to me from my quite overwhelming pile. I really liked the Allison Pang goodies (love my unicorns!), the Kelly Keaton Darkness Becomes Her bookmarky thing (it's cover is different than mine) and the ribbons the authors gave out to go on the badges were super cute. I, unfortunately, did not have time to do the scavenger hunt and find all of the ribbons. The ones I did get said ZART (TJ Michaels), JADE LEE ROCKS (Jade Lee), MIDOL CAN'T TOUCH THIS CYCLE (Amanda Carlson), GOT EVIL? (Jaye Wells), and NEW VICTORIAN (Lia Habel). If I got any of those wrong, please feel free to correct me.


Yes, those are miniature fuzzy handcuffs with a USB drive. I think there is probably a book on there. Honestly, the handcuffs were enough for me. They looked fabulous on Justine back in the room.


If vampire bite tattoos aren't the best thing ever invented, I don't know what is. I have no doubt that these are going to be used for Halloween. *grins*

***

So there you have it - my wrap-up. I'll gladly share the pictures my friend and I took at the convention when I clear some of them with her. (Nothing is more annoying that having pictures posted without your blessing!) Unfortunately, I do not have any author photos for you. I'm extremely anxious in large crowds, and that makes me a tad more shy than I usually am in person. Also, I fangirl hard over authors, and I was very overwhelmed nearly the entire time. If I medicate, people don't notice except for my general awkwardness. Since I WAS in New Orleans, after all, I chose to skip the medication and drink lots of booze. I heard that I got pretty ballsy at one of the parties. Forget it - I won't tell you which one. I'd die of shame. ;-)

4 comments:

  1. Sounds like an amazing trip (to my favorite city). THanks for sharing.

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  2. Thank you for stopping by! It was a completely amazing trip, and I can't wait to go on another. :-D

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  3. wow, I am jealous!! You got some realy cool stuff. One of these days I might make it there.

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  4. YOU GOT SO MANY BOOKS. Also, you will not regret having begged for Velveteen!

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You are going to put words in my box?! *squeezes you* Now I shall stalk YOUR blog!