Well THANK YOU Jen for posting that to our SCASL listserv!! I knew that my good friend Fran Bullington is a huge fan–she reminds me all the time that the Mortal Instruments series is her favorite, naturally causing the YA author, Cassandra Clare to be her favorite YA author.  So I asked her–>Wanna go? Fran’s Saturday was slam packed full already, and we didn’t find out until Tuesday, just four days before the event. I didn’t want to go alone, so I was already negotiating with my husband to plan a Saturday afternoon and evening in Greenville, the only catch was going with me to the event.  LOL, he wasn’t too excited about meeting Cassandra Clare, but was going to make the sacrifice for me.

Fran says YES!
Thursday Fran let me know she wanted to go but would have to leave at 5:30PM. That meant I could go with her, and then just have my hubby pick me up–he was happy to be off the hook, sacrifice avoided! Thankfully I scored an advanced ticket, which guaranteed the newest book The Clockwork Prince and optimal seating at the event. The agenda was to bring in Cassandra Clare, allow her to do some fan Q&A for about an hour, and then start signing books. Fran and I arrived right around 3:15 so we would have nearly front row seats (we made it to the second row)  which would mean she would be able to stick with her plan of getting out by 5:30 to resume her jam packed Saturday plans.

• Fiction Addiction, a local bookstore in Greenville owned and run by Jill Hendrix, organized the event. It was SUPER organized and I was made to feel welcome and appreciated from the moment I entered.  THIS is why we should be supporting our local bookstores. They have made me a fan for life! As for this being a local bookseller, I think they have truly embraced rethinking what it means to be local. I’m already looking forward to their March 17 author visit by Jodi Piccoult. Now that I have time, I’m going to promote it bigtime at school, as I know we have students and faculty/staff alike who are huge fans.  At the Cassandra Clare event, I saw groups of high school librarians who brought along students and colleagues. SMART!!  Want to be “in the know” about upcoming author visits and events? Visit the Fiction Addiction website and sign up for their e-newsletters near the top right side with an email address.
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  Beth Revis, YA author of the series "Across the Universe" was there!!

  The Hangar @ the Runway Cafe, Downtown Greenville Airport, Greenville, SC. This was my first visit there, and I found the place shockingly quaint!  The smells wafting from the cafe adjacent to the hangar started my stomach to rumbling! Patrons can enjoy the scenic view of planes taking off and landing while enjoying the nice atmosphere, and there is even a place to sit outside and enjoy the view.  When I learned the event was to be held in the adjacent hangar, I was seriously skeptical of how successful this could be. I was pleasantly surprised. Fran said she can’t wait to bring her grandson back for lunch one day so he can see the planes land and take off.  I want to try it too!

• While waiting for the event to begin, Fran and I got to introduce ourselves to Beth Revis, YA author (pictured above) of the trilogy Across the Universe. The second in this trilogy comes out in January 2012 (just a few weeks away.) We asked about a possible shared school visit, and she indicated she was free in the spring.  She gave us her contact information, and we are going to follow up with this next week. COOL, COOL, COOL. I am going to go ahead and order some extra copies of her book!
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  Photo by VLC Productions - Cassandra Clare in Greenville, SC- Clockwork Prince

  Cassandra Clare was witty and fun! She mixed in the perfect amount of sarcasm and opinions, and shared freely when asked about her books. My takeaways were about the pending movie–the book is being developed into a movie, and how little she gets to say about how the screenwriters change the storyline. She shared when she first read the screenplay she told them fans would NOT be happy with the drastic changes, but of course was essentially told they didn’t care.  She shared that when you sign away on the contract, which she said is as thick as five city telephone books, you essentially sign away the right to control the storyline for the movie. She did say someone else read the script as well, and convinced the movie people to go back closer to the story line. She signed it over so there’s no use dwelling on what they do with it. Losing battle. So she is just focusing on her books and not worrying about the movie. She did ask to be kept informed regarding the chosen actors and other big decisions, which they will offer to her as courtesy since she asked.

• Cassandra Clare shared there will be two more books in the Mortal Instruments series, and another book in the Infernal Devices series. I did not know that!!
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  My question!! Photos by VLC Productions in Cassandra Clare in Greenville, SC- Clockwork Prince

  Cassandra Clare answered my question–one I posed selfishly in hopes of getting the cool Rune tshirt being given out for those who had a question chosen! My question went like this: When my kids at school asked for something new after devouring the Twilight series, I constantly suggested The Mortal Instruments series, bragging that they were like Twilight on STEROIDS. What would your recommend as a follow up to your books? She got a chuckle out of my comparison of her books on steroids to Twilight, and rattled off four or five books. I tried to tap them into my phone (why didn’t I think to just record this in Evernote??) but here are the ones I remember (with help from my friend Fran!):  Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor, The Gone series by Michael Grant, and Darkest Power Sereis by Kelley Armstrong.

• While signing our books, Cassandra Clare took time to talk to each person who came.  She was jovial, fun to talk with, happily posed for pictures while signing boks, and gave everyone there a really nice Shadow Hunters poster. I REALLY wanted a tshirt, but my question came too late. Sigh. I was tempted to request one while talking with her during the signing of my book, but alas I chickened out.