Come and say hello!

I can't wait to see everyone!
 
WEDNESDAY
7-8pm > Signing at the DC booth
 
THURSDAY
2:30-4pm > Signing at the DC booth

4-5pm > PANEL – Minx: Your Life in Pictures (Room 10) — In its first year, Minx found a whole new audience by creating original graphic novels for teenage girls. This year, Minx is breaking all the rules with another onslaught of amazing books. Panelists include group editor Shelly Bond and creators Cecil Castellucci (Janes in Love), David Hahn (All Nighter), Ryan Kelly (New York Four), Deborah Vankin (Insta-Life), and Brian Wood (DMZ, New York Four).
 
FRIDAY
12:30-2pm > Signing at the DC booth

5:30-7pm > Signing at the DC booth
 
SATURDAY
10-11:30am > Signing at the DC booth

2:30-4pm > Signing at the DC booth
 
SUNDAY

10:00-11:00 > The Radio Adventures of Dr. Floyd LIVE! (Room 8)— You can participate in a LIVE recording of the podcast the LA Times calls: “A Prairie Home Companion for kids!” Set your imagination to fun with Dr. Floyd as he travels through time trying to thwart the plans of his arch-nemesis Dr. Steve in this family-friendly hour of laughter, music, and audience participation. This program features show stars Doug Price (Star Trek IV) as Dr. Floyd and Grant Baciocco (Henson.com podcast) as Dr. Steve, along with special celebrity guests: the legendary Chuck McCann (Sid and Marty Krofft's Far Out Space Nuts),Frank Conniff (Mystery Science Theater 3000), Moira Quirk (Nickelodeon's GUTS!) and, quite possibly...you!
Categories: Kids

WHICH NOW ALSO STARS DC COMIC'S OWN CECIL CASTELLUCCI!

1:30-3pm > Signing at the DC booth









 

It was hard to choose a winner because all the entries were so fabulous!

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

Option 1 - Embarrassing story!

Under 18 category - Rebbekah R.

( Because of my dangerously skinny self-esteem (it just can't stomach those compliments - as soon as they're swallowed, they surge right back up), I have no designs on a relationship and this story merely reinforces that cynicism. )

Over 18 category - Julie W

( I am very loyal. I had one unrequited crush all through middle school- who I can thank for getting me into Iron Maiden- and one single unrequited crush all through high school. Day One through Graduation. Maybe a little later than that. You know, the one for whom I drove around his block into the hundreds of times. For whom I typed term papers. And put into my yearbook quite ( E la tua perdita) On the whole, though my love was never returned, he turned out to be as great as I thought he was, and a pretty good friend. I knew he knew about my crush, all his friends knew, all my friends knew- apparently I was not subtle. )

Option 2 - Fan Art

Under 18 category - Julia


and Kathkvn


F.D. Tams 2008

Look at my little Scout. She likes to read.

I am in the writing cave. I have so many deadlines looming that I can't do anything or see anyone.

But today, just as I finished one deadline, trumanburbank called to see if I wanted to go to the Santa Monica Library with him Mike and Anna, to see Stan Lee talk and then grab lunch.

"Sure," I said, being way in the mood to procrastinate and needing a break.

I felt as though seeing Stan Lee was the perfect nerdy thing to do in the middle of the afternoon.

So we go west toward the ocean and we go see Stan Lee talk.

"Doesn't get better than this," I thought.

But we kick it up a notch afterwards, and we decide to go check out the comic book store across the street.

I am always curious about comic book stores because each one is so different. I like them. I like to buy a lot of comic books in them. And lately I am always interested in where all the Minx Books are shelved. I have discovered that like in book stores, they are always in a different place. I have found it interesting and so I almost always introduce myself and I ask. So the manager and I are having a nice conversation, about Water Baby, which had just arrived, and the Minx books and other comic related things and this guy comes up and joins us, and we're all talking for, like, 15 minutes before it suddenly dawns on me that this nice gentleman whose joined us, who I'm casually shooting the shit with, is none other than Luke Skywalker. Being a seasoned Hollywood girl, I do not even let it even faze me at all, I just keep talking until we finish up and then I go over and rejoin my friends.

"So," Mike says. "We were standing over here watching you talk with Luke Skywalker and we wondering if he stole any peeks at your Star Wars tattoo and knew that you had the love of the force inside of you?"

"No, I don't think so," I say. "Besides, it's not like it's a rebel insignia, it's a tattoo of Queen Amidala's insignia tattoo, he probably doesn't recognize that as easily, because nobody does!"

And then I thought,"It doesn't get better than this."

Except remember that I live in Hollywood? And sometimes there are advanced screenings here? And sometimes little ladies who live in Hollywood get invited to such press / advanced screenings? Oh. Yeah.

That's right about when I checked my email and saw an invite to go see The Dark Knight. Mmmm. Hmmm.

Lesson learned?

Sometimes procrastinating from writing your own geeky books = having the Best Geek Day Ever.

In the spirit of hopelarson and sumoandso* I am doing a JANES IN LOVE arc giveaway!

The rules are simple.

I have four copies to give away, so as always there will be two over 18 winner and an under 18 winner. Make sure that you say which age category you are in when you enter!

OPTION #1: Email me an embarrassing school dance story or, if like me, you've never been to a school dance, an embarrassing encounter with a crush story. Best story wins the book.

OPTION #2: Email me a piece of PLAIN Janes fan art. Best drawing wins the book.

Please make sure to mention if you are entering the over 18 or the under 18 category and email to misscecil (at) gmail (dot) com

Remember that I will post the winning stories and the winning art on my blog. (So make sure with the art you include a © your name 2008)

The contest will be open til I close it. Have fun!

You can download preview pages from The PLAIN Janes for reference at the MINX website.

or here are our girls for immediate reference.




*And yes, it's true, I am ripping off two of my fave ladies (and gal pals) in comics - Mariko Tamaki ( sumoandso ) ( read SKIM and EMIKO SUPERSTAR) and Hope Larson hopelarson ( read CHIGGERS) who ran similar fabulous contests on their blogs.

More! Fun! Neat! Photos! are over at my flickr page.

Love note from handed to me by a waiter while dinner with the LAYAs.
I love librarians! I love you, Maria!


Los LAYAs (Heather Tomlinson, Me, Amy Goldman Koss, Carol Tanzman, Susan Casey and Mark London Williams) eat tasty Indian Dinner


Finally! We have the proof we need to show that John Green and MT Anderson are very tall and know how to loom.


The divine Ms. Holly Black


Librarians, make sure to get your d20 gaming books from Chris and Nicole from Green Ronin Publishing. They also have a great book called Hobby Games: The 100 Best


LAYAPALOOZA Game Show!

Holly Black (aka blackholly ) is having a contest over at her blog where you can win a copy of the Spiderwick DVD or a Spiderwick Collector's Trunk.

All you have to do to win is make a LOLcat and post it in her comments section.

You should all totally enter, because the entries so far are hysterical.

Now, inspired by what friend Christopher Rowe came up with...

Behold, my cat Scout, starring in her first LOLcat for the fabulous Miss Holly Black!

In which Jim and I talk about JANES IN LOVE

Are you Canadian!?

Are you between 14 & 24?

If so you can enter the FAZE Magazine, Surf, Sun and Celebs contest and win a free trip to Los Angeles, a $500 shopping spree and lunch with me.

That's right. Me and you. And lunch. In Los Angeles.

I call that: Fun! & Neat!

Just back from a fab time at the Sequential Art Symposium where I did a great panel on writing for comics with Ray Fawkes ( aka ghoizdoz ) and fellow nominees for the Joe Shuster Award Outstanding Canadian Comic Book Writer Howard Wong and Jim Munroe.

Howard Wong, Me, Ray Fawkes, Jim Munroe


Then it was the Shuster Awards ceremony where I got to present Pierre Fournier with his induction into the Hall of Fame. He was so nice. The awards ceremony was super fun and every comic that they showed up on the screen in all the categories made me want to rush out and read everything. And then I got my mind blown away because when my category came up, I was the gal that won!

Let me just say that I am beyond honored to have won the Joe Shuster Award for Outstanding Canadian Comic Book Writer 2007!

The plaques are gorgeous!

Here I am standing between Dale Eaglesham - Outstanding Canadian Artist and Jeff Lemire - Outstanding Canadian Cartoonist


Here are more of the winners from the evening! I am standing in between Hall of Fame inductees Pierre Fournier and Stan Berneche. I was officially the tiniest winner!


Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

I am still smiling like crazy!

The Sequential Art Symposium


JUNE 14, 2008
Lillian H. Smith Library Auditorium, 239 College Street, Toronto
10 am and runs until 5 pm
I think the panel that I'm on is at one
1 pm --- Writing for Sequential Art
Shuster Awards 8 pm
Come and see me!

The Comic Book Club show was awesome. I'll post the podcast as soon as it's up. Thanks Pete, Alex and Justin for another swell evening. (more photos at my flickr page)

COMIC BOOK CLUB
A Live Weekly Talk Show about Comic Books

***BEST OF NEW YORK PRESS 2007***

Hosted by Justin Tyler, Pete LePage, and Alex Zalben

Tuesday, June 10th @ 8:00 PM

Featuring:
Cecil Castellucci (The Plain J.A.N.E.S.) (that's me!)
& Air Conditioning! (that's good!)

Tickets: $5
Online: ThePIT-NYC.com
Phone: 1-800-838-3006
Questions? 212-563-7488

The Peoples Improv Theater
154 West 29th Street, 2nd Floor
Between 6th and 7th Aves.

So hot in New York City. It is so unbearably hot. With no air conditioner. It is even hotter.

Adventures so far: Today I spent the day in Brooklyn doing a school visit with my old college friend, now a school librarian. It was fantastic!

Also, good old friends are so good. They are like a syrup of tasty. Also, old good friends soothe so good. Because you just step right back in where you left off. I love that.

Yesterday was the Books of Wonder signing with mroctober, blackholly and tltrent to name a few. I took no pics because I forgot to, or perhaps I am lazy! But picture this: we were all sparkly and fabulous! There was tasty Mexican food afterwards and total bonding.

The day before that it was MOCCA. Which was amazing! I was like a kid in a candy store. So much comic-y goodness! I finally met hopelarson and destroyerzooey! I even got myself a Chiggers book signed plus a bandana!

I also saw Alison from pwshelftalker and garethhinds!


Then I bought loot, like t-shirts. (y'all know I have a t-shirt addiction) one was a Ceci N'est Pas Un Kazoo t-shirt by the fabulous Diana Tamblyn, because Magritte is funny and a play on Magritte is funnier! And then I snagged a t-shirt by squidfire, my new fave t-shirt place.

I also picked up Sidescrollers by Matthew Loux, (which was an ALA Top Ten Great Graphic Novels for teens!) whom I also got a chance to meet and chat with and who is so cool. I devoured the book. It was so my speed! Love!

And can I just say that I am just loving all the new Minx books!

Also CONGRATS to Shelly Bond for her Women of Distinction nod at the Lulu's!

So here are some of us Minxers at MOCCA. I loved hanging out with Mariko and Rebecca.

I just read Emiko Superstar by Mariko Tamiki. And I adored it. Seriously, so good. It felt so real to a scene. To joining a scene. To an art scene.

Mariko!


Rebecca Donner and Brian Wood in conversation! (Read Burnout and The New York Four)


Rebecca and I signing at the DC Vertigo / Minx booth


Notice the Janes in Love ARCs. Once I stop traveling, I will be doing a giveaway!

Ah, picture it! Here I am on the east coast ready for a few outings!

First up, New York City!!

June 7th! MOCCA!
594 Broadway, Suite 401

I'll be talking with Shelly Bond and Mariko Tamiki about our Minx books. I think this is at 2 PM after brianwood talks with Rebecca Donner about their Minx books.

June 8th! 1-3 PM! Books of Wonder
18 West 18th Street

It's for the anthology, Magic in the Mirrorstone, with contributors Cecil Castellucci, Cassandra Clare, Tiffany Trent, Beth Bernobich, Craig Gidney and editor Steve Berman.

June 10th! 8 PM!Comic Book Club!

I'll be a guest at the fantastic Comic Book Club show at the Peoples Improv Theater! Tickets are $5
154 W 29th Street (upstairs)

Then it's off to TornontOH! Canada

June 14th! 10 - 5 PM I'll be at the SEQUENTIAL ART SYMPOSIUM
It's free to go! and it's at Lillian H. Smith Library Auditorium - 239 College Street
Then 8 PM in the auditorium I'll be at the Shuster Awards (where I am a nominee!)
Come on by and say hello!

Book Expo was in my town! Which means I was there! And not square!

I saw, talked to, hung out with and grabbed a book from one thousand authors. No lie.

I could name them but that would be le boring!

Lisa Yee has lots of pics on her blog of nearly all one thousand. Although I must confess that it was all tricks and mirrors that we employed to make MT Anderson and David Levithan look taller than me. We all know that I tower over them! Number five rules over number one!

literaticat and I swapped one cocktail party for another and ended up at a place where the floor was a fishtank.
She also helped me get a ticket to the Children's author breakfast and it was great! The speakers were Sherman Alexie, Judy Blume and Neil Gaiman.

Friday, I signed ARCs of Janes in Love at the DC Booth!

Just look at the DC Booth!


Could a girl be happier!? I think not! You know what was great? It was great to have so many people come up who were so excited that book two was coming out! Thank you! I snagged a couple of JIL ARCs so expect a giveaway! Probably in my next post!

Then it was Saturday!

I did some speed dating. Got some digits. cbross did it, too. No, silly! It wasn't for singles! It was with booksellers! The speed dating was fun. But you only have three minutes! I'm going to do the speed dating again at ALA.

I snagged a bunch of ARCs. So many ARCs. I was like a greedy guts with the grabbing of the books. Can a gal help it? Uh, no. Because a) I love books. b) I love books c) cause I was in my home town! So, I just brought the books straight here to my house! I didn't even have to travel with them! d) I love books.

Also I signed at First Book and Wizards of the Coast. And was on a YALSA panel Get Graphic! At your Library!

While sitting on the floor wating for the panel to start, I saw an older guy walk by. It was Stan Lee! So I rushed over and introduced myself and shook his hand! It was a tres geeky moment! But I met Stan Lee!

Other huge meetings!

Behold the legendary first meeting of Cory Doctorow and MT Anderson!


And the legendary sitting and chatting at the YA table (self-imposed) of Barry Lyga, Cecil Castellucci and David Levithan.


We three YA-ers were at the Independent Press party. Small Beer was one of the hosts and Kelly Link kindly took this photo of the view of the pool. Doesn't it look like real person? Like, a real live writer? Like an author who just got naked and green and put rocks on their arm as an art installation / protest to show the world just how hard it is to write a novel? Sometimes, when I write, it feels like there are rocks on my arms. That's why it's so hard to type!


All said. A very fine and delightful BEA! Thanks to all who came up and said hello!

If you're going to be at BEA come and say hello! I'll be at BEA this weekend and signing all over the place!

Friday  2-3 PM  I'll be signing at the DC Comics Booth 

Saturday 1-2 PM I'll be signing at the First Book booth (#W-3, West Hall)

Saturday 2:30 - 3:30 I'll be on a panel called YALSA Get Graphic @ Your Library Panel

Sunday 10 -11  I'll be signing at the Wizards of the Coast booth

I am a first timer here at the fantabulous Wiscon in totally cool Madison, Wisconsin. But clearly, I am with my tribe. It seems like everyone on the whole planet is here! Everyone!

You know when you have that great conversation with a million kindred spirts. I've had about twelve of those convos already.

I've already done a reading with Tiffany Trent, Sara Beth Durst, Elizabeth Bunce and Heather Tomlinson.


Had dinner with bgliterary, kphoebe and others...



And sung a duet at Karoke with megmccarron.

And just finished a panel with shakennstirred

Does it get better than that?

Uh. Yes.

Because more importantly is the fact that I have found (and eaten) Cheese Curds. And also old fashioned potato donuts (like my grandma used to make.) So pretty much, all is well with the universe.

All.

I am here at Wiscon! Here is my schedule! Please come and say hello.


Reading
The Glass Slipper Comes Off!
Friday, 4:00-5:15 pm, Conference 2

with /
Heather Tomlinson (AURELIE: A FAIRY TALE),
Elizabeth Bunce (A CURSE DARK AS GOLD),
Sarah Beth Durst (OUT OF THE WILD),
Tiffany Trent (HOLLOWMERE),
Cecil Castellucci (BOY PROOF)


Title: Curses! YA Villains Unite
"Evil stepmothers, mean fairies, jealous sisters, wicked enchanters and greedy kings, the fairy tale itself -- YA fantasy protagonists have more enemies than they can shake a spindle at. Let's talk about what defines a worthy opponent, which characters deserve to be defeated, and which are simply the misunderstood heroes of their own stories. "
Saturday, 2:30-3:45 P.M.
Capitol B

M: Tamora Pierce
Gwenda Bond
Cecil Castellucci
Sharyn November
P. C. Hodgell


Title: "Transformation, Ready or Not "
" Beggar maid to princess, straw to gold, ugly duckling to swan, human to Other--YA fantasy is rich in tales of transformation, 'morally, physically, ethically, spiritually.' How do these compelling metaphors mirror--or not--the journey from adolescence to adulthood? "
Sunday, 2:30-3:45 P.M.
Senate B

M: Maureen Kincaid Speller
Sigrid Ellis
Cecil Castellucci
Heather Tomlinson
Sarah Beth Durst

Please come out to the literary salon I'm doing!

The Lit Thing: Liars and Thieves
Wednesday, May 21st @ 10 PM
1253 N. Vine, Hollywood

RSVP 323-856-0036

K. Kvashay Boyle 
Cylin Busby
Mike Hollingsworth
Justine Musk 
Tom O’Keefe 
Christina Pazsitisky 


with your host Miss Cecil Castellucci

The Lit Thing is just that.  It's a thing that is literary.  It's part reading, part telling.   Each show will have stories based on a theme told, read, sung or shown by authors, comedians, reporters, dancers, filmmakers, musicians .   This months theme is Liars and Thieves.