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Book Expo: Every Book Nerd's Safe Haven

By Ale Bodden

This past week I had the opportunity of attending Book Expo for another year. Once again I am baffled by how much of a wonderful experience it is. I swear, during Book Expo you are able to walk the Javits Center without bumping into anyone unless that is your intention. Not to mention, you are surrounded by the nicest attendees, exhibitors, and staff/crew members.

This year I promised myself I would be extremely picky and would only pick up books that I would read. For the most part I stuck to it. I gave away a few and still have one I picked up for a fellow Bleeding Cool contributor. For some reason I still made it out with these many books (granted, past years I used to leave with over 50 books). They might not look as much, but when you are lugging tote bags filled with paperbacks and hardcovers, trust me, your back will break. My hip and shoulders are still so sore I gave up on BookCon.

There were two main things I was looking for, one of which could not make it, sadly. I wanted to meet Babs Tarr, to be honest—but at some point the signing consisted of Brendan Fletcher and Cameron Stewart only, so I just went to line up for the other item on my MUST list: Leigh Bardugo's Wonder Woman Warbringer. I got to the Penguin Random House booth at noon for a signing scheduled for 2pm… and thank goodness I did, since there was already an unofficial line forming in front of the booth. For two hours a line formed and thankfully it was recognized by the publisher—they moved us to the proper place and off we went. I was also incredibly happy to get my hands on the Wonder Woman magazine from Entertainment Weekly. I kept looking for it everywhere and a wonderful soul I asked randomly gave me her's.

I unexpectedly passed by Chris Jericho and had to do a double take. I was very excited to see him there signing copies of No is a Four Letter Word. You see, I have been watching WWE for the past 5 years with my best friend, but never really took an interest to it until last year. Flash-forward to Friday and I was fangirling hard—I will admit I even let my hair down and was the first time I was not bothered by my accent being brought up. You read that right. It was one of the highlights of my day to have made that list.

One of the things I love the most is the camaraderie between attendees and their willingness to work together. Another unofficial line I joined was for Holly Black's Cruel Prince at Little Brown. Somehow there was no one from the imprint around when a group of us took turns to ask around in the booth. We were lined up for about an hour and a half before they created line in front of where we were and it became a little mess—however, the code of honor made the ladies at the front search for me in the back of the line to bring me back to the front. I was in heaven.

Thank to those same ladies in line who helped me get back to the place I was before I got the chance to meet Neil Patrick Harris, who was signing Advance Reading Copies of The Magic Misfits at the Autograph section right after his panel. One of them decided to not attend and gave me her ticket. I was also given a ticket to meet P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast who were signing copies of LOVED, a House of Night novel. I was in utter shock—I had been given the chance to meet two authors and an actor I love to pieces by nice acquaintances I had just made. Never, in a convention, have I made such close friends as I have throughout my years going to Book Expo.

Right after, I was able to sneak into line for the wonderful Lemony Snicket—he was signing posters for his upcoming book, The Bad Mood and the Stick. He is, hands down, one of the funniest authors I have met. He interacted with everyone who went up to him and made each and every one of them smile. He sang, yelled, applauded, and even invited everyone for drinks after once he found out it was the first book Expo for one of the attendees. I must admit, more often than not I hate getting posters at conventions. And of course, as always, mine got pretty banged up during my commute. I was super happy to have had him sign my journal before I left his table- Not before he made fun of me for bringing my diary.

One of the things I used to complain about was attendees leaving books behind. However, when passing by a random booth, I had a book shoved into my hands and even though I tried giving it back the person insisted for me to take it since it was free. I saw my friend leave a trail of books that had been given to her like that and when I asked she stated that she tends to leave books in every corner for those who might be interested. We left some on a coffee table and traded a couple. I was happy to see that they got a new home by the time I stood up. I did find some copies of books I have been interested in getting that someone else had left (one of them even had a signed bookplate included!) and it felt like good karma.

Here are some of the other books that I was very happy to have gotten my hands on: Kristin Cashore's Jane, Unlimited; Maggie Stiefvater's All The Crooked Saints; Sasha Alsberg and Lindsay Cumming's Zenith—thanks to a fellow Bleeding Cool contributor; Melissa Albert's The Hazel Wood; Patrick Ness' Release; Dhonielle Clayton's The Belles ; and Grady Hendrix's My Best Friend's Exorcism and Paperbacks From Hell.

And you know how I mentioned making amazing friends during my previous Book Expo conventions? Look at the Holy Grail that fell on my lap this past week. Three years ago I met a friend at BEA and even though we have stayed in touch we had not been able to see each other until now. I had met Marcilia from The Plot Bunny Blog (Insert Link: http://www.theplotbunny.com/) while lining up to meet Amanda Palmer in BEA 2014 and bonded over Neil Gaiman and Anne Rice. And look at the beauty I was surprised with. She had kept it for the past years! I tell you, no better place to make friends that Book Expo—the nicest attendees, and the most helpful staff and exhibitors with smiles on their faces at all times. Once again Book Expo is the highlight of my year so far—loved seeing old friends and making new ones.

Ale Bodden is a freelance artist and contributing writer for Bleeding Cool and Old Man Geek. You can find her on Twitter @nerdy_faery and IG @nerdyfaery.

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