Austin Teen Book Fest Wrap-up

Into Hearts of Darkness panel members! Me, Holly Black, Robin Wasserman, Victoria Scott, and Jon Skovron!

Hey all, 

I had an AMAZING time at the Austin Teen Book Festival this weekend. It was especially nice to be on the home team for this one and not have to travel/stay in a hotel. I got to enjoy all the fun and then go home and sleep in my own bed. Win! 

Anyway, it went by in a whirlwind, but basically started with the cool-as-anything Maggie Stievfvater doing an opening keynote speech about fear and living your dreams. Then we went into panel sessions - I was with the lovely ladies and gentleman above for a panel on Hearts of Darkness. (Along with April Genevieve Tucholke, author of The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, not pictured.) It was a really fun panel that even included a round of Truth or Dare. The room was huge and yet it was standing room only. So very cool. I had a blast. 

Another highlight? Getting to meet Rob Thomas of Veronica Mars fame. As one of his Kickstarter backers and also a huge VM fan it was exciting to say the least. I had him autograph books for my friends and fellow authors Diana Peterfreund and Ally Carter, who couldn't make the festival. 

I attended the talk Rob Thomas and Sarah Dessen did for lunch and then headed over to watch one of the other panels when I had a break. This one included Melissa de la Cruz and her husband Michael who wrote the amazing Frozen, a new series that was just released last week. It also has dragons! Melissa and I seem to travel the same literary path - going from vampires to dragons! 

When all was over and Holly Black did her closing speech, it was time to sign books. They sold a LOT of books! Which is awesome, because now the teens who attended will have lots to read!

And how cute is this? Someone made a Scorched t-shirt that they asked me to sign!! So adorable!!

All in all it was a wonderful experience and I feel very grateful to have been invited to participate. Hopefully I will get to do it again someday soon! Thank you to everyone who did such a great job putting it on, especially Jenn Bigheart, librarian extraordinaire, and all the folks from Book People. I cannot even stress enough how awesome it is to have such an awesome indie bookstore in Austin who really cares about young adult fiction and teens!

xo 

MARI

Austin Teen Book Fest!!

Hey all,

Can I tell you how excited I am about this weekend? When authors from all over converge on our little Austin, TX for the infamous Austin Teen Book Fest extravaganza! And this time I am lucky enough to be included in their ranks!

I will be on a panel called Into the Hearts of Darkness and as you can see, I will be with some amazing authors!

In addition to my own panel, I may have to hit some others. Especially for the chance to fan girl Rob Thomas, who created the Veronica Mars TV show. As a backer of his kickstarter to make the Veronica Mars movie, I can't wait to listen to him talk about how the filming all went and what we can expect from the Marshmallow gang.

They're expecting 5,000 (!!!) teens to converge on the Austin Convention Center on Saturday where the festival is being held. Crazy sauce, right? And the Austin Statesman even interviewed me for an article about the event.

I'm not sure my picture should be up there with the other true "luminaries" but I'm going to revel in it all the same!

So yeah, I'm just a LITTLE excited!! Hope to see some of you there!!!

MARI

Fields of Fantasy in Scorched!!

Hey all,

So I've been meaning to post about this for a while, but have been so busy with the launch of Scorched and my following book tour that I have fallen very behind. 

So someone from Tumblr recently wrote to me saying: 

You mentioned Fields of Fantasy in Scorched! You have no idea how much I love little Easter eggs like that!

And yes, it's true! Fields of Fantasy, a video game I originally created for Gamer Girl, plays a part in Scorched as well. It's our heroine Trinity's favorite game and the book begins with her being excited about getting the expansion pack for Christmas. Of course before she can even open a single present, she finds herself on the run with the world's last dragon egg. 

But that's not the end of the Fields of Fantasy references in the book. In fact, an entire scene plays out within the game later on. But I won't give away any spoilers. :)

To this day, I think my number one search term for people finding this blog is the Fields of Fantasy game. I know a lot of people wish it were real. I kind of wish it were, too! Maybe someday a video game developer will stumble on the book and make it happen! :) But in the meantime, I thought it would be fun to revisit the game in a new series. Long live FIELDS OF FANTASY!!!

Gamer Girl fan art stolen from Deviant Art. One of my all-time faves. By Karut.

Anyway, just wanted to let you know!! 

xo
MARI

Too Hot to Handle Book Tour Dates

Hey all,

I'm about to embark on a Texas tour! Here are the stops/dates/times!

(Sorry this is so non-pretty...I'm trying to get out the door!)

HOUSTON 

Sept 14th (Saturday)
10am - West Houston RWA chapter meeting
2pm - Blue Willow (with Solstice author PJ Hoover!)

Sept 15th (Sunday)
2pm - Katy Budget Books

I will aso be speaking at the Cinco Ranch Jr High on Monday in Katy

AUSTIN (Round Rock) 

Sept 17th (Tuesday)
6:30pm - The Book Spot

DALLAS 

September 18th (Weds)
5pm - Southlake Barnes and Noble (with The Burning Sky author Sherry Thomas)

September 19th (Thurs)
7:00pm - Frisco Barnes and Noble (also with Sherry Thomas)
* Also a dinner with Fresh Fiction readers

I will also be speaking at Steele Accelerated High School on Weds 

SAN ANTONIO 

September 21st (Saturday) 
2pm - Twig Bookshop (with PJ Hoover 

I will also be speaking at the The Alameda School on Friday

Scorched Release Party at Book People (Wrap-Up)

Hey all,

I've been crazy busy lately promoting Scorched's release and I can't believe I haven't even had time to wrap-up DragonCon! Grrr... If you want a sneak peek of my adventures, you can check out my Instagram, which has costume pics, etc.

Last Saturday, as I mentioned here, I had a joint release party with fab YA author and friend PJ Hoover who wrote Solstice, a dystopian/mythology mash-up that I adored. We held the party at Book People in Austin and had an awesome turn-out.

Kendall, from Book People's Teen Press Corp, served as an MC and said really awesome things about Scorched. (Thank you Kendall!) She asked some great questions and then opened it up to the audience. At the very end, we turned the tables on them -- and asked some dragon and mythology trivia, giving out prizes to those who guessed correctly. And we wrapped it up by signing our books.

Here are a few pics from the event!

Dragons and mythology collide!

Littlest dragon!

Rainbow hair girls!

Rawr!

We had cupcakes and punch.

Kendall asks the tough questions!

Our awesome audience!

Pet the dragon!

Hey all,

I'm super behind in sharing all the awesome events like DragonCon and my book release party at Book People with you all. And I promise to get there! But in the meantime, I'm so excited that Scorched is now on the shelves and everyone's getting their copies.

I have to say though, one of the most fun parts of this whole release has been getting people to "pet the dragon." Have you heard about this? If you peel off the dust jacket of Scorched you'll not only find a hidden dragon--but one with scales you can actually touch and feel.

I've tried to explain this to people, but until they actually touch the book, they don't quite grasp just how cool this feature is. At DragonCon we literally had people buying the book with no idea what it was about JUST because of the petable dragon.

So I won't say anything else except head to your local bookstore and pet the dragon yourself! And then come back here and let me know what you think!

Someone told me maybe book 2 should have a scratch and sniff feature. :)

MARI

Book Release Party!! Saturday at Book People

Mythology and Dragons and the Apocalypse!

PJ Hoover and I are having a party to celebrate the release of our newest young adult books, and we want you to join in the fun!

•   When: Saturday, September 7 at 2:00 PM
 

•   Where: BookPeople 603 North Lamar Boulevard Austin, TX 78703

Five Fun reasons to come:

1) SCORCHED is all about dragons and the apocalypse. Think Terminator with dragons.

2) SOLSTICE is all about mythology and the impending doom of global warming. Think summers in Austin, Texas with Greek gods.

3) Both books are set in Texas.

4) Both authors live in Austin.

5) It's going to be a ton of fun!

Oh, and did we forget to mention there will be costumes (which of course are not a requirement, but Mari and I will be decked all out). And snacks. And dragon and mythology trivia!

We would love to see you and the whole family there!

* If you want to know more about us or our books, please visit our websites!

www.pjhoover.com

http://www.mariannemancusi.com

Happy Book Birthday to SCORCHED!

Hey guys!! 

Today's the day!! The day my dragon book SCORCHED is officially out in the world! We actually did a pre-sale at DragonCon (more on DragonCon soon!) but this is the first official day where you can go to Barnes and Noble and all the rest and get your copy! 

The book is available in hardcover and also e-book. If you buy the hardcover, be sure to peel off the dust jacket and take a peek! As you can see from the photo above, Sourcebooks hid a dragon under there! Not just any dragon, mind you, but one you can actually pet!! It has satiny soft scales. That's all I can tell you - you just need to check it out yourselves!! We were showing people at DragonCon this little secret extra and I swear people wanted the book JUST to the pet the dragon! :) haha.

Thank you SO MUCH for all your encouragement and support over the past year with the launch of this new series. It takes a village to write and publish a book and so I'm extremely happy I have the support of family, friends, fellow writers and most of all my awesome publisher SOURCEBOOKS and my agent, Kristin Nelson. Without them this day would not be happening!

Anyway, I won't go on and on. I just hope you enjoy the book and tell all your friends if you do. That is the golden ticket for authors - above all reviews and arc giveaways and pre-sale gifts and all that - the number one reason people buy books is because their friends told them about them. So if you love an author's work (mine or any other authors) TELL PEOPLE! (Just try to avoid spoilers!) 

And yes--Scorched is the part one of a series. I've sold three books to Sourcebooks and they will come out each September for the next couple years. Right now I'm hard at work on Book #2 which is tentatively called "SHATTERED." So there's much more of Emmy and Trinity and Connor and Caleb to come! 

Scorched should be available at most major bookstores. (If they don't have it in stock, ask them to order a copy for you!) If you prefer to order online or want the e-copy, here are some links: 

Amazon Hardcover (on sale right now for only $10.19) 

Amazon Kindle

Barnes and Noble Hardcover (Or you can go to your local store and they should have copies)

Barnes and Noble Nook 

WalMart (they're not carrying it in stores, but you can get free shipping to your home) 

Books A Million (I believe they will have it in stores, but also you can order online if you prefer)

IndieBound (if you like to support indie books) 

iTunes (iBooks) (To read on iPad, iPod Touch, iPhone, etc.) 

There are a gazillion more places, but that should get you started!!! Thank you so much!!! I can't wait to hear what you think!!

xo
MARI