Meagan Spooner

As quite a few of you know, I spent this past weekend at Comic-Con, reveling in my first experience with such a large number of fangirls (like me) and fandoms and freaks (also my people). It was … ah-mazing! I took great pleasure in flashing my “Professional Author” badge Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, fangirled the heck out of that weekend, and endured–with great relish–my sore muscles after carrying loads of free and signed books around the convention center for 3 days. “Pack light,” they said. “Carry nothing heavy,” they said.

Are you crazy? THEY’RE FREE BOOKS!!!! That’s countless hours of free entertainment for myself and whomever I decide to share these pretty morsels of fiction with. Some people just don’t understand the price of fantasy. I didn’t care how early it was (it’s book-time somewhere!) and ignored the fact that I’d been hefting these heavy items around all day. I literally spent three days in the book, novel, and comic area–everyone knew my name by Saturday–and I basically enjoyed three full days of hanging out with fangirls and writers and publishers. It was the best! I’ve never actually experienced that crazy hype over free things, but when Illuminae arcs came out, I was ready to kill, if need be.

I received about 20 free books in all *heaves dreamy sigh* and actually ran into a fan of the Rising Shadows trilogy who recognized me (look, ma! I’m famous!). I got a pic with her, and it was awesome! So, to give you an idea of how amazing this past week was, here are some highlights from Comic-Con:

Meeting/stalking Marie Rutkoski and Renee Ahdieh and getting The Winnter’s Curse and The Wrath and the Dawn signed by the authors. #deadonthefloor And they were so gracious, too!

Getting to meet Gena Showalter, author of Alice in Zombieland. My dress was inspired by the series’ covers, and Gena and her publicist loved it. I got several pictures with Gena, and her publicist contacted me afterward saying that if I ever wanted one of Gena’ books or a title that hadn’t been released yet, then I just had to let her know . . . Umm, okay!

Getting an advanced reader’s copy of Illuminae by Amie Kauffman (These Broken Stars, with Meagan Spooner) and Jay Kristoff. I had been circling like a hawk all day long, just waiting for the moment they started releasing them because they’re in such limited supply. Score!

I saw a little girl staring at me for five minutes, and so I asked her if she wanted to take a picture together. She was so darling! She said that she and her dad were getting ready to leave, but she hadn’t met a princess yet. I almost cried, she was so sweet, and this costume totally made her day and mine; I felt like a Disney princess!

Befriending a fellow bibliophile, Lisa, in line for Sarah J. Maas and Susan Dennard. And she’s going to check out the Rising Shadows trilogy! Also, Sarah J. and Susan were hialrious and wacky–loved meeting them!

Achieving my lifelong dream of meeting Captain America and Star Lord. Also, Star Lord was a riot and–ahem-very handsome and charming. Just sayin’. ^_~

Also, having author Kate Elliott think my costume was so amazing that she had to take a picture of me with her book, which meant I got to give her my business card so she could tag me in it–eeeee!

I didn’t get to see Stephen Amell, but I did meet Arrow on Thursday. Just *sigh.* This picture was even posted on the official CW Comic-Con website. o.o Waaaaa?

Seeing Armie Hammer *sighs* and Henry Cavill *faints* and Garrett Hedlund (aaa-ooo-ga!) and Hugh Jackman (waaa?) and Matt Smith (WHO??) and Douglas Booth (Oh, Romeo) in Hall H for The Man from U.N.C.L.E, Batman Vs. Superman, Pan, and Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Give it to meeeee!