Columbus Book Festival

The festival was amazing.

We thought we were well prepared. I brought 175 pieces of vellum, 10 maps, 100 bookmarks, 250 bookplates. I thought we would have to drag some of it back.

We were not well prepared.

So imagine this old library with beautiful marble facade in the middle of a park. In front of it is a small tent city of white canvas filled with vendors. You clear it, walk into the library across a stunning mosaic floor and enter three floors of books. It is airy and spacious, and it looks like it would make amazing film set for a sequel to Relic. Once you make it through to the back, there is another park and more tents. Live music is playing, books and book bling is being sold, and everything is green and gorgeous.

We started the festival in the back with a signing in Steamy Lit Bookstore booth. There was a longish line, the day was very humid, and we signed for about an hour and then moved on to the large tent where our first panel would be.

The interesting thing about the festival is that it offers signings after every event.

So we do the panel with Jeaniene Frost and Shalini Abeysekara. You already know Jeaniene’s new release, but I have to tell you about Shalini’s book because it sounds amazing. It’s a law drama dark romance set in ancient Rome. With magic. I was like, “Yes, please, where do I get a copy?” (She signed a copy for me, hehe.)

This Monster of Mine

She knows the taste of death.

He’ll stoke her hunger for it.

Eighteen-year-old Sarai doesn’t know why someone tried to kill her four years ago, but she does know that her case was closed without justice. Hellbent on vengeance, she returns to the scene of the crime as a Petitor, a prosecutor who can magically detect lies, and is assigned to work with Tetrarch Kadra. Ice-cold and perennially sadistic, Kadra is the most vicious of the four judges who rule the land – and the prime suspect in a string of deaths identical to Sarai’s attempted murder.

Certain of his guilt, Sarai begins a double life: solving cases with Kadra by day and plotting his ruin by night. But Kadra is charming and there’s something alluring about the wrath he wields against the city’s corruption. So when the evidence she finds embroils her in a deadly political battle, Sarai must also fight against her attraction to Kadra – because despite his growing hold on her heart, his voice matches the only memory she has of her assailant…

A dazzling Ancient Rome-inspired romantasy debut, This Monster of Mine is a bloodbath of manipulation, deception, and forbidden love.

Learn more/ Order

The panel was moderated by Kris Hickey, who is a librarian and who did an amazing job.

After the panel, we go to our designated signing on the second floor, except that Gordon and I are intercepted and led to the third floor instead, because we have “a line.” We go up the stairs and I’m thinking that we just had a signing, how big of a line could there possibly be?

Gordon nudges me, and I see people lined up along the wall. Like lined up aaaalll the way back… And then we get to the table. This is the front of that line. It looked just like that for hours.

This was the moment that I realized we did not bring enough stuff. Like, we normally get a line, but this was not a normal line. This was… a lot.

Elisa Stone Leahy, the Programming Chair, gently inquired if we would be willing to stay longer than an hour. We were willing. We started at 2:00 pm and were done by 5:30 pm.

We crawled back to the hotel, semi-coherent, had a great dinner with Jeaniene Frost and her sister, and congratulated ourselves on a job well done. The signing was so massive that we had gotten overwhelming majority of our fans taken care of.

Sunday brought a break in humidity and speed dating panel, where we spent 10 minutes with a small group of readers and then moved to the next table. Everyone was awesome, and then we had another signing. We happily travelled to our table. I had brought knitting, because I thought we would chill and then I saw another massive line.

Me, to Gordon: What is going on? I thought we got everyone yesterday.

Gordon: No clue.

Another two hour signing later, we escaped to the outside for a 30 minute break, where we sat at a table, listened to live music, and tried to get our bearings. Then we went to our next panel, God Complex: World-Building, which was moderated by Andrew, a librarian with an amazing voice, and featured John Chu and K.X. Song.

John’s book is a hard SF, and his website is minimal, so I will send you to his Tor/Macmillan page instead.

The Subtle Art of Folding Space

The Subtle Art of Folding Space is the exhilarating debut science fiction novel from Nebula and Hugo Award-winning author John Chu which channels unhinged physics, generational trauma, and the comfort of really good dim sum. This isn’t your usual jaunt through quantum physics.

Ellie’s universe—and this one—is falling apart. Her ailing mother is in a coma; her sister, Chris, accuses her of being insufficiently Chinese between assassination attempts; and a shadowy cabal of engineers is trying to hijack the skunkworks, the machinery that keeps the physics of each universe working the way it’s supposed to.

Daniel, Ellie’s cousin, has found an illicit device in the skunkworks—one that keeps Ellie’s comatose mother alive while also creating destabilizing bugs in the physics of this universe. It’s not a good day.

If she can confront her mother’s legacy and overcome her family’s generational trauma, she just might find a way to preserve the skunkworks and reconcile with her sister…but digging into her family’s past is thornier than it seems, and the secrets she uncovers will force Ellie to choose between her family and the universe itself.

Learn more/ Order

K.X. Song‘s book has one of the most stunning covers I have seen. It is beautiful. The first book of her duology is inspired by Mulan and features fascinating Chinese mythology. (And I scored a copy as well, haha!)

The Night Ends With Fire

The Instant New York Times and No. 1 Sunday Times Bestseller

Infused with magic and romance, this sweeping fantasy adventure inspired by the legend of Mulan follows a young woman determined to choose her own destiny—even if that means going against everyone she loves.

The Three Kingdoms are at war, but Meilin’s father refuses to answer the imperial draft. Trapped by his opium addiction, he plans to sell Meilin for her dowry. But when Meilin discovers her husband-to-be is another violent, ill-tempered man, she realizes that nothing will change for her unless she takes matters into her own hands.

The very next day, she disguises herself as a boy and enlists in her father’s place.

In the army, Meilin’s relentless hard work brings her recognition, friendship—and a growing closeness with Sky, a prince turned training partner. But has she simply exchanged one prison for another? As her kingdom barrels toward destruction, Meilin begins to have visions of a sea dragon spirit that offers her true power and freedom, but with a deadly price.

With the future of the Three Kingdoms hanging in the balance, Meilin will need to decide whom to trust—Sky, who inspires her loyalty and love; the sea dragon spirit, who has his own murky agenda; or an infuriating enemy prince who makes her question everything she once knew—about her kingdom and about her own heart.

Learn more/ Order

After the panel, there was another signing. We both felt that there was no possible way…

Yes.

There was a line again.

A long one.

I don’t know what the hell happened, but it was strange. There were 4 book stores offering books and we sold out everywhere. Gordon had a surreal moment where one of the booksellers came up to the table and asked if we would be willing to sing bookplates. We had less than 20 left, so he also brought over plain labels, and when Gordon went to drop it off, the book seller commented that although we were around for years, we had “blown up.”

My binder is empty. Like there is nothing in it.

The library invited us over for a us-only focused event, and we would love to come back for that next year. I have to say, the event was spectacularly well ran, especially considering the sheer number of people present. Highly recommend.

Thank you so much to everyone who came to see us. Despite our insistence on no gifts, we came home with pins, cookies, yarn, beautiful handmade mugs, books, bookmarks… Thank you, guys. This was truly an awesome experience.

A bit of admin: I am hitting up all of your customer service requests. Sorry about Columbus taking precedence. If you haven’t heard from me, don’t panic, I am on it.