Hoo-boy, ready to jump right into the Tucson Festival of Books recap love-fest?? Here’s my top five.
1. Meeting authors and stuff, but also watching my great bloggy friends meet authors (and stuff)
Jessica at Quirky Bookworm got to drive around Deborah Crombie and interview Cara Black. Ric and Jami at The Lonely D12 dished over penis drawings and RPGs with Chuck Wendig and Sam Sykes. Also I made new friends, like Aly F-in Summers, an awesome local author. And Chuck Wendig. Because I call him Chuck now. Like, first name basis. Because we talked for 15 minutes and are now BFFs obvs.
2. Everything Kevin Hearne
Let’s just get it out of the way–Kevin Hearne, author of the Iron Druid Chronicles, is god-damned adorable. They had this great author banter hour at the Tucson Festival of Books that Hearne, Sykes, and Bear participated in. One person in the audience asked about hate mail. All the authors took their turn and then turned to Hearne. He just mumbled sheepishly that he never received hate mail. OF COURSE NOT. Hearne is adorable.
3. Gettin’ my nerd on over in the “Are We in the Future?” session with Elizabeth Bear, Ben Bova, Chris Impey…
The list goes on people. It was a damn good session that made this not-so-sciencey-savvy girl think more deeply about wormholes and cryogenic freezing and space exploration. I can’t say that I really understood more than half of it, but the part that I did. Woah.
4. Shedding an extreme tear or two during the “Magical Realism” session with Tim Tingle and Daniel Olivas
Every year I leave the festival with another few names of authors in my pocket. This year it was Tingle and Olivas. They held a fascinating discussion about the role of magic in fiction and their lives as authors. Also, Tingle told this story about a fox on the road that, I mean, it was classic, heartrending story-telling. I’m in love.
5. Seeing the awesome of Arizona
I know this sounds kinda squirmy cute and all, but like, I’m really excited to see that there are huge reading events in Arizona and new bloggers and authors out there doing THINGS. There are also really great organizations making mushrooms, growing desert edible plants, and raising honey bees over (as seen in the Science section). Like good on you Arizona. We’re becoming a force to be reckoned with (and not just in the awkward Facebook way, where you see relatives in other states freaking out about Janet Brewer or Joe Arpaio).
What was your favorite part about the Tucson Festival of Books?
The post Friday Wrap-Up: Top Five from the Tucson Festival of Books! appeared first on BookPairing.
