Milwaukee is not a day trip ~ but I got to meet Peter Lerangis!!!

Me and Peter Lerangis - - - how cool is that!

Peter Lerangis kicked off his tour for the newest 39 Clues book, The Dead of Night, this week.  He was in Wisconsin on Tuesday, March 13 at the Bay View Library.  I was thrilled to have the opportunity to attend.

I took a half day off work and hit the road, it's just under 5 hours to Milwaukee from my house.  It was a great time.  He gave a presentation about the life of an author and talked about where he gets his story ideas and such.  He was funny, interesting, and entertaining; I was thrilled to be there.  The room wasn't huge, but it was pretty much full and I was one of very few adults not accompanied by a child (all with 39 Clues book clutched in their hands).  He spoke, answered questions, signed books, and even has his own Author Agent 39 Clues card that he signed and handed out.  At the end my only wish was a shorter drive home.

I got to meet Richelle Mead!!! Giveaway!!!!!!

This is me and Richelle Mead!!!

With the amazing weather we have been experiencing here in MN, it's hard to remember what a horrible winter we just lived through.  That's what keeps any of us living here - because if we remembered we would move before it got cold again!  The reason I mention winter is because Richelle had a signing planned in December, but was forced to cancel due to the blizzard in the Twin Cities (the one that collapsed the dome).  So...with motherhood in her very near future, we were all afraid there would be no rescheduled signing - - We were wrong!!! We were privy to one of the only touring dates she has planned and it was GREAT!
The event started with her reading the first chapter of Blood Lines - Oh how I want that one!
Then she surprised us by having a drawing and giving away five LUCKY attendees ARCs of Blood Lines - no I wasn't one of them. Then she signed books, up to three per person.  It was a great time.
To celebrate the signing I decided to giveaway my extra copy of Storm Born (no it isn't signed).

To enter: fill out the form below.  Thanks!  Happy reading.

Lois McMaster Bujold Signing in Edina, MN!

This is Lois reading the first chapter in her upcoming - as yet, untitled, book! 

I can't wait for it to be finished, published, and in my hands! 

I was enthralled by the story and found myself truly disappointed when she paused

 and stacked her papers because 

I realized she had read all the story she was going to read to us! 

I looked at my friend and said, "Wait! Is she done reading, because I am not done listening!!!"

This is me with Lois after she signed her newest book - Cyroburn!

Lois McMaster Bujold has been writing science fiction for 25 years!  Click here to go to her homepage!

You can click here to go to my blog post about her for The Literary Road Trip!

Currently the leader in Hugo Awards - she is an author that you don't want to miss!

This is what Publishers Weekly had to say about Cryoburn at Amazon:

Fans have been clamoring for Hugo winner Bujold to pen a new Vorkosigan Saga novel since 2002's Diplomatic Immunity, and they will not be disappointed by this thoughtful tale. Only five days after arriving on Kibou-daini for a cryonics conference, interplanetary diplomat Miles Vorkosigan narrowly escapes kidnapping. Drugged, dazed, and alone, he is taken in by Jin Sato, whose mother was the leader of a cryonics reform movement until being declared mentally ill and involuntarily frozen. Now Jin lives in a building full of squatters running an illegal cryonics clinic. Under imperial orders to investigate the shady dealings of the cryo cartels, Miles connects the far-flung pieces and exposes a sneaky plot. Bujold introduces appealing characters to join familiar ones in exploring the ramifications of a planet-wide culture of postponing death, and her deft and absorbing writing easily corrals the complex plot and softens the blow of a tear-jerking conclusion.

Road Trip: Patricia Briggs

My friend Kathy and I went to see Patricia Briggs this last weekend.  She was signing books on Saturday in Minneapolis at Uncle Hugo's bookstore.  I am a new Patricia Briggs fan - found her in Strange Brew - after hearing about what a great author she is from my friend Kathy. 

We arrived at the bookstore, after an amazing lunch at a fantastic deli, with our books to be signed: me with my very few (3) and Kathy with ... everything that Patricia Briggs has written (except the newest, which she intended to buy there).  It was wonderful, Patricia Briggs is truly a "real" person and was fun to chat with.  Here are pictures of us with her!

                                                      
We are planning to go back to Uncle Hugo's to meet Robin Hobb in May - more photos to come!