On Tuesday the 9th of August in overcast (but not raining!) Melbourne - Hawthorn Readings bookshop played host to the wonderful author of 8 books (so far!) - Maria V. Snyder.
It was a very relaxed atmosphere inside - everyone was chatting excitedly as we waited for Maria to make her entrance - comparing book covers, favourite characters and scenes as well as (naturally) talking about the other books we'd read and sharing recommendations. That's what I liked about having a relatively small group (about 30-40 people in all) - there was a great vibe in the room.
Maria had an attentive audience as she spoke about her writing, inspirations and where her ideas came from. It was great to hear about how much her personal life was involved with her writing - and we were all quite amused when asked about her vision of Valek (featured in the 'Study' series) that her husband 'claims' the he was the model of that particular heartthrob character - with much rolling of the eyes from Maria and made us giggle quite a lot.
As questions were opened up a lot of eager hands shot into the air. Questions ranging from Maria's idea for Inside Out/Outside In (a frantically written down dream) to how often she edits her books before publication (between 6-8 times).
Too soon it was time to suspend with the questions and Maria set off to begin signing all of our books. A lot of people had brought her entire collection with them and Maria was really great and took the time with each of us, signing personal messages in each book, posing for photos and answering some last-minute questions.
And now comes the competition time!!
I am giving away a SIGNED copy of the Australian Edition of Inside Out - the first book in the Inside Out/Outside In duo!
This competition will be open internationally and anyone can enter - you don't need to follow my blog (though naturally I would greatly appreciate it!)
All you have to do is send me an email with your postal address and tell me two things:
1) I've talked about four different Maria V. Snyder books in my blog before this post - tell me the very first book of hers I reviewed.
2) Tell me your favourite character from any Maria V. Snyder book and why. If you've not read any of her books before - then tell me about a character from another book and why.
As long as you've covered those two points, I'll put all the entries into a hat and draw out the winner.
Competition ends the 26th of August with the winner being announced shortly after! So get cracking!!
