SDCC 2011: Author Signings and Sightings, Part 2

More Comic-Con author events!

1) Mira Grant's zombie series is one of my very favorite in the genre. Imagine how excited I was when the awesome people at the Orbit booth told me she was going to be there on Friday AND they were giving out her books. I had kicked myself multiple times for not bringing just about every book I own just in case the author was there as was the case when I found out Erin Morgenstern and Ransom Riggs were at the Con. I was so excited that I showed up an hour and a half early for the signing. My boyfriend and I wandered away and returned a restrained thirty minutes early. We weren't allowed to create a line, so I milled around their booth and the Mysterious Galaxy book across the way. I found a fellow zombie novel enthusiast and we chatted about Deadline and how we need the next book now! Anyway, Mira Grant AKA Seanan McGuire was really nice and showed that she does extensive research to make the science in her books as cutting edge as possible. A reviewer said Deadline descended into science fantasy, but she had read articles about scientists a brain imaging technique to teach untrained mice what trained mice know using a brain scan. I don't know all the particulars (mostly because I tried to research it and it made my brain spin), but it's being considered as future treatment for Alzheimer's. I would love to know more about it. I really respect authors that put that much work into their novel to make it believable and realistic to the readers. Plus the chainsaw in her signature is fantastic!

2) Right after Mira Grant's signing was Diana Rowland's signing of her new book My Life as a White Trash Zombie at the Mysterious Galaxy booth. I love the eye-catching cover to the book and I just love zombies, so of course I had to get it. She has another series that's an urban fantasy police procedural that sounded really interesting. She gave me the third book in the series, Secrets of the Demon, so now I have to start with the first one. I like the concept and I haven't really seen a serial killer in an urban fantasy context (excluding the third Dexter book, which I hate with a fiery passion).

3) The third signing of the day was for The Zombie Autopsies: Secret Notebooks of the Apocalypse by Steven C. Schlozman MD. My sister just read this book and considers it one of the best zombie books she's ever read. It's kind of hard to impress her, so I'm even more excited about this book than I otherwise would be. The other draw for me besides zombies is that it's written by a medical doctor who can give some interesting insight into the mechanics of zombies. My boyfriend and I again arrived pretty early for the signing. We actually arrived just about the same time as Steven, so I got to chat with him. It turns out we both love Scandinavian horror films, such as Let the Right One In and Dead Snow. We both desperately want to see Trollhunter, a documentary style horror film. Of course we talked about zombies and that led to George A. Romero, a friend of his who regularly educates him on classic horror and cinema. He signed my and my boyfriend's books earlier than scheduled and I ask him if he would like to be interviewed along with the review I will post during the September Zombies event. He was happy to do so and I can't wait to read his book so I can formulate questions to ask.

4) My last signing of the day was at the Penguin Teen booth where they gave out copies Nightshade and Andrea Cremer signed them. The line was super long and completely covered the DK booth next to it where there was another signing for a Star Wars Encyclopedia. The lady in the booth was pretty mad, but it was easily fixed by folding the line over on itself in the middle of the hallway, making traffic around there even more congested. *sigh* By this time, I was super tired, but I managed to remember to actually take a picture. Her steampunky outfit was awesome and she was really bubbly. I wasn't the biggest fan of Nightshade because I really hate misogynistic and abusive pack practices typical of werewolf novels. However, I really enjoyed her writing and Calla, the strong female protagonist, so I do want to read Wolfsbane.

So many zombie books, so little time. Artists tomorrow!