Author Event Recap and Giveaway: Richelle Mead

Hi everyone!  Last night I had the great privilege of meeting Richelle Mead at an author event and signing at the Barnes and Noble in Santa Monica, California.  Richelle is one of my all-time favorite authors, so I was beyond excited!  I guess a lot of other people were too, because it was packed!

Richelle Mead

Richelle did a reading from The Golden Lily to begin with. To my surprise, instead of picking a swoon-worthy moment, she picked a funny scene.   A scene involving:  a defense-class, Sydney, Adrian, and someone nicknamed Captain McTropical Shorts.  Everyone was laughing!  This reminded me of the great amount of snarky humor she includes in all her stories that make them so much fun to read.  

Here are some interesting tidbits she shared:

On writing Rose: Richelle just thinks:  "What would I not do?"   Richelle said that Rose is the polar opposite of her but really fun to write.  Rose is always the kind of person to punch first and ask questions later.  Sydney is very different.  She's so smart and oblivious.  Of the two, Richelle is more like Sydney personally. Also, Richelle knew she would write the Bloodlines spinoff series about half-way through the Vampire Academy series. When she begins a series, she always knows how they will end.  Wow!

The Indigo Spell, the third book in the Bloodlines series, comes out February 14, 2013.  Yay!! We don't have to wait a full year for the next one.  If you've read The Golden Lily, the title should mean a little something to you……

Foretold, which releases August 28, 2012, will have a Rose and Dimitri short story where they visit Russia together!  Sounds romantic.   I've been excited for Foretold since I saw Maja's Wow on it a few weeks back.

Movie of VA? There is a production company that has the film rights and they are trying to pitch it to studios.  So far no one has taken a bite.  She thinks we may be in vampire burnout, and it may not be until all the Twilight films have run their course that a studio would be interested.  She doesn't have any dream cast in mind because the characters have always looked a certain way in her head, and no actors currently fit the image.

Did she have to do more research for VA or Bloodlines?  Answer: Bloodlines.   The most research being the insane random trivia that Sydney dolls out (She's supposed to be a genius).   Richelle had to learn all about Ford Mustangs for The Golden Lily, because Sydney is a car buff.There was more Alchemist research, and research into tourist attractions in Palm Springs.  The windmill farm in there is real, by the way.   

Input on the covers?  She did have some, like picking the models.  She thought that was cool because not a lot of authors have any say on the book cover.  This is something I've heard from a lot of authors at book signings.

Her new adult series: Age of X is set to come out late 2013.  It's a futuristic sci-fi with paranormal elements to it.  It's set one-hundred years into the future, in a world where the US and Canada have merged into one country.  This world is very anti-magic, anti-supernatural.   It's about a guy and a girl who travel, find reports of magic, then go and try to debunk it.  She wants to keep the paranormal force in that series under wraps, a surprise.

Giveaway:

I loved The Golden Lily.  You can read my review for it here.  So I wanted to share my fun with all you awesome people by giving away a signed copy of The Golden Lily, along with the signed VA poster shown.  The giveaway is international and runs for a week.  The only requirement to enter is that you follow the blog via GFC. Just fill out the rafflecopter below.  Thanks for visiting and good luck!

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