I woke up way too early Tuesday morning to grab a 5:30 train into New York City so I could get to the Javits by 8. Yes, I absolutely passed out on the train. The guy sitting next to me was smarter, though, since he had a blind for his eyes. Jealous. At least this time around I don't believe my jaw completely dropped open and I was sitting there unconscious and gape-mouthed for all to see.
I arrived at Javits and its hugeness on my intended time, checked my bags and piddled around before they opened the doors officially at 9. This having been my fourth year I was over the OMG I MUST GET IN NAO! anxiety that some people feel. I avoided any and all lines to get in, mainly because I think actually queuing to get in is pretty dumb. There are at least three entrances onto the Javits floor and people only line up at one of them. And it's a stupidly long line. Pass. I walked to the opposite end of the hall, where NO ONE was and waited in peace. What a surprise I got in at the same time everyone else did who were a half mile back in the other line.
It was far more crowded this year and many walkers were far more of the school of FUCK COMMON COURTESY hence my homicidal urges were rearing their ugly heads by 9:30. I wandered my way over to the Disney booth only to get sucked into a gaggle of tweeners that I'm pretty sure were just dropped off on a field trip. And I mean sucked in. As in I couldn't get out. My FUCK PEEPSOMETER went soaring real quick in that and as it's not proper, nor is it, I believe, legal, to throw an elbow at a foaming twelve-year-old I used my shoulders instead to get as far away from the cluster of Big 6 as I humanly could.
Until I had to loop back around for the RL Stine signing. Over and over and over again. Deborah Harkness was signing just before him so I literally looped the S&S booth at least 7 times looking to see if people were queuing for Stine yet. Not so much. Maybe 20 minutes before he sat down to sign the line started forming. I was maybe five people up from the front and in front of them were still Harkness signers. I'm okay with that. I felt sneaky, like I knew a secret that others didn't. A Stine secret. And his signing was for an adult novel. I'm super excited for it.
My signing schedule didn't have a lot going on so I was able to do some laps around the exhibit floor, take some token Javits pictures to share with you all.
That first one is obviously Ally Condie's display for her MATCHED title. People could actually get behind the ball and get their photos taken in the bubble looking like the chicks on the book covers. Check out Penguin Teen's tumblr for some of those. The other photo is just a random one of an area on the floor. It's a trade show. There are people milling about and booths. I shot booths at random.
Eventually it came time to get into Melissa Marr's signing line for CARNIVAL OF SOULS. The signing was at the booth in the 3300s. My place in line was somewhere in the 2500s. Yeah, long line. And I just have to say if you think Harper Collins is the author of the book whose line you're waiting in to get, you need to vacate the line immediately, and quite possibly the entire trade show. This was a real overheard conversation. People within earshot didn't know the title of the book they were waiting to get and didn't know the author. While they were waiting one would stay in line while the others would go out and forage for books. Not an uncommon practice but usually people do it for specific signings. Nope. They were coming back with literally piles of books to throw in their bags. Shove all of that together and I wanted to rail on someone. Seriously, what is your purpose at BEA if this is how you're acting? It's not so much the shameless book hoarding that bothered me but the fact that these people couldn't tell an author from a publisher. Gross. Get out. You make the rest of us look bad. Yes, they were bloggers but not of a site I was familiar with.
At least I had an internet-familiar face in line behind me. Lo and behold Danny from Bewitched Bookworms was there! She's the lovely that designed the site you're looking at. Since she's from Germany imagine my surprise that I finally got to meet her. And she's a total doll.
That's her on the right, your's truly on the left. Let me tell you how many people I had kind of freaked out that I recognized them but they had no idea who I was until they saw my tag and were like OMG! Yeah, that's totally purposeful. Unless you know where to look you will not find my face splashed about my blog. I like hiding in plain sight. I can be incognito and be standing right in front of you. Sneaky.
Chatting with Danny made the line go much faster although in reality is didn't take too long to get through. One of the good things about BEA is that the pubs putting these events on know how to organize and make things as succinct and as streamlined as possible. Everyone has someplace to be and they know it and they do their best to get you from Point A to Point B and it's something I appreciate as an attendee. Love me my organization.
I very much like the change in cover design they did although I did like the original ASHES cover too. This one definitely looks more YA and I think that's what they were going for but you know me. I like my creepy and the original cover was total creep. No, the Starbucks wasn't mine. I'm not a coffee drinker.
I made my way down to the Apocalypsies event to hang out for a bit. A very small bit. It was a pretty small room with a way lot of people which rankled me by default. I'm really not a crowd person but for something like BEA I can halfway manage because the floor is huge. A classroom is not so I didn't stay long. I chatted with Lenore for a few before running into my fellow YAckers that were able to attend. My girls are awesome.
From left to right, Sandy at Pirate Penguin's Reads, Holly at Book Harbinger and Angie at Angieville. After that I hightailed it out of there pretty quickly. I had a hotel to check into. That ended up being blissfully bedbug free. Hooray!
Tuesday at BEA was my packed day and it was an overall success. The pub people and fellow bloggers I interacted with were all gems. So were the authors. I really can't ask for more. But on top of what I mentioned above about irksome issues, another big one was people's inability to read at a publishing trade show. The signs that stated no rolling suitcases allowed on the floor are gigantic. People walk right under them. Let's count how many I saw those bags on the floor. The only people that are allowed to have them are those with special permission, usually people already in motorized carts. Not a problem. Unless the organizers got really liberal with their permissions, I'm pretty sure the majority of the people I saw with those damn things shouldn't have had them there. Aside from the fact that they're actually really difficult to roll over some of that really thick carpeting, it's a pain navigating the people let alone having to watch out flipping ass over tea kettle over a suitcase that comes up to your shins. Or having a full one roll over your toes. Grrr.
And then there were the people that couldn't grasp the concept of moving off to the side of the aisle to have a conversation or check their phone or gaze around. BEA was far too crowded to have to deal with people who are the only inhabitants of their own universe and couldn't be bothered to move out of the way of the tide trying to get around them. All the stop/starts were making me motion sick. And were slightly impeding the flow of traffic. Maneuvering around the lines were bad enough without adding in aimless, oblivious people to the mix.
Thankfully I got out of there and headed to the New York Public Library for the Penguin panel on bridging the gap of YA fiction. The turnout was small but the panel was still lively and the people in the audience asked their fair share of questions when the time came to keep it engaging. And I got to meet Mari Mancusi, FINALLY! And she gave me a set of Lost Boys fangs. I am forever a fangirl.
And then, the piece de resistance, dinner with Angie and Holly at Max Brenner. Or should I say dessert? I did order chili and chocolate sprinkled waffle fries because I needed something of substance other than ice cream. While the wrap I half ate earlier was $9, it wasn't very filling. Or all that good. Love the overpriced food at Javits. Let's not forget my $3.65 bottle of water. Yes! Hooray for drinking fountains and refilling!
But the sundae was the kicker and the size of a meal itself. And it had bananas in it. That's a fruit! And protein!
Those are absolutely extra bowls of fudge and peanut butter sauce. Yes, it was divine. It would have been uncouth for me to just sick my face directly in it so I refrained but I did snarf.
By the end of day one my feet were dying and I could have slept face down in a subway train. A few gripes but far more fun and entertainment. Overall a productive day and I ended up with more books than I intended. At least Wednesday was looking to be much lighter because I REALLY didn't want to have to haul that bag all over the damn island.
Stay tuned for more!
