BEA 2014 Day 2 Recap

My 2nd day went much better.  After I had sat down the night before and made a definite plan, I was able to avoid a lot of stress, and get pretty much my main books that I had hoped to get, or meet the authors I really wanted to meet.  My day started out by getting in line to see Becca Fitzpatrick.  Her time wasn’t until 9:30, but it was worth getting right in line, as I was the 8th person in line.

I decided to wait to see AG Howard first thing on the 3rd day.  Now this may not have been the very best idea, for reasons I’ll tell you in my 3rd day post, but for my day 2, it started me off on a successful path. 
While I’d been waiting in line, I’d tweeted an author that I met in line for the bloggers’ convention at BEA 2 years ago, Michelle Madow, about how I’d be looking out for her and hoped to meet her again, as well as getting a picture with her.  Just a little bit after that, she just happened to be walking by, and I called her over!  I got a picture with her, and also snuck her in line with me.

I also found out that I won the contest to have my name as the science teacher’s name in the 2nd book in Michelle Madow’s Secret Diamond Sisters series.  I didn’t get a picture taken with Becca Fitzpatrick as I had met her 2 years ago, and I figured it was better to let the line move quickly for the others waiting. But I was able to get an ARC of her new book, Black Ice. 

Next I waited in line to meet Marie Lu.  Even though we weren’t going to get an actual full ARC of her new book, The Young Elites, it was only a sampler.  But as I’d never met Marie Lu, that was worth standing in the line for me.

A book that I love the cover of and have of course been seeing everywhere is The Jewel by Amy Ewing.  I was shocked that her line was actually a pretty short one as well.  So I was able to meet her and get a copy of the ARC.

While waiting in line for Judy Schachner, I was able to jump over and meet Kathy Reichs, the author of the books that are behind the tv series Bones.

And then of course I was able to meet Judy Schachner, author of the Skippy Jon Jones series, and I had to get that book for my niece. 

Another book I’d been hearing about that sounded really good, was The Walled City by Ryan Graudin.  Honestly again I was surprised that her line was not longer.  But very happy for me!

Another line I was lucky enough to get into was How We Fall, by Kate Brauning, and I was able to get a copy of this ARC as well.

The next part of my plan was to go get in line for Michael Grant.  They hadn’t started a line yet, so I ended up getting to be first in line to meet him.  It was right after they’d had a break for the volunteers to have lunch.  So there was no one at the table right before.  When the author got there, there were no books.  At first, he was early, but he went ahead and called us up and said he’d sign whatever.  I and the others in line asked about the books.  So then he was like, oh yeah, and went looking for them, and we lined back up.  Then I finally got to go and talk to him.  And I told him that I’d loved his Gone series, even more in a way than Stephen King’s Under the Dome, and that really said something because I was a huge Stephen King fan.  He was funny and said that he was going to tell Stephen King I’d said that. 

A book I’d really been waiting on, because it sounded so good, was The Fever, by Megan Abbott.  And I was able to get an ARC of that, and meet the author as well.

Another ARC I’d been hearing a lot about was Compulsion by Martina Boone.  So as I’d planned, I was able to get right in line and get an autographed copy.

I wasn’t able to meet Amanda Maciel, the author of Tease, which was pretty disappointing.  However there is another upcoming book about bullying that sounded pretty unique, called Press Play by Eric Devine. 

As I was waiting in line to meet Seth Grahame-Smith, I saw another person standing in the next line over with this cool bag:

And then of course when I got up to meet Seth Grahame-Smith, I was a bit disappointed that we didn’t get an ARC of his new book, The Last American Vampire, but as it isn’t supposed to be published until January of 2015, I guess it makes sense.  We did instead get an autographed copy of Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter.

One author I am a huge fan of that I had to see once again, was Jonathan Maberry.  I got in line, pretty far up again.  I reminded him that I’d helped name his one e-novella, Tooth and Nail, and he gave me lots of info about how the series might be picked up for a movie!  Also, all the novellas may be put into a print book at some point, which means I’ll have my name in print book thanks section again.  This time they were handing out paperback copies of Rot and Ruin, which is actually one that I’ve read, but don’t own. So that was cool. 

The one mistake I feel I made was using my front of the line pass for Stan Lee on the 2nd day.  It was cool to meet him, he did hand me the book himself, and smile and say hello.  But I barely got a picture of him by himself, and I heard the line went really quick.  Oh well, live and learn.  We didn’t even get a whole ARC, just a sampler of a new middle grades book he’s helping write, Zodiac. 

And I was able to get one more ARC and meet one more author before I headed out for the day, Starry Night, by Isabel Gillies.

Here is a picture of all my books from the day:

I did get some books autographed by Rick Riordan, but since I’d met him before, I didn’t get pictures again.  I also got a few ARCs or actual books without meeting the authors, The Vampires of Manhattan by Melissa de la Cruz, Summer on the Short Bus by Bethany Crandell, How I Got Skinny, Famous, and Fell Madly in Love by Ken Baker, and Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson.

I did bring the rolling suitcase today, and it definitely helped my shoulders.  I still took the shuttle to Grand Central station though, and then the subway from there to my sister’s house.  Afterwards I made sure to plan out my final day of BEA, which I was a bit nervous about as it was also Book Con.  And I’d heard there had been at least 6,000 tickets sold to that.  More about that later, although I’m sure you’ve heard some rants about it on other blogs already.