Bloody Valentine Pics

I mentioned last week that I had some pictures from our A Bloody Valentine event on Valentine's Day. Since I'm in the middle of formatting my collection for release in March (squeeee!), I figured I'd keep today simple and post those pictures!

The event consisted of readings by women in horror (including moi). We had such a fantastic audience! They laughed and gasped in all the right places, interacted with us, etc. It was a great night.

We'd planned on having dual programming going on, with recordings by authors around the country playing in the theater upstairs at Cottonwood Center for the Arts, and live readings on the main floor, adjacent to the author book signing area. Unfortunately, there were so many issues with the wi-fi that we ended up having to scrap the recordings upstairs and just focus on the live programming. We will be putting those recordings up on our Facebook page in the near future, so I'll be sure to post a link here when we have them up! We're actually hoping to do a live event on the page in order to do a final giveaway.

I read a story called "Stuck With Me," originally published in Twice-Told: A Collection of Doubles (it will be in my upcoming collection, too!). I figured this one was appropriate since it had to do with sisters. But that's all I'll tell you.

We had phenomenal giveaways, mostly courtesy of Carina Bissett and the participating authors, who sent us goodies to give away.

Hillary Dodge made a personalized Valentine for each giveaway, which was so fun. They were all dark and twisted in some way.

Cottonwood provided a cash bar, and they even made specialty drinks to go with the event.

Everybody got two tickets, because we had sooo many things to give away, so a bunch of people ended up with two items. There were tons of books, WIHM trading cards, and a variety of other fun goodies.

Angie Hodapp

PL McMillan

Carina Bissett

Angie Hodapp

DeAnna Knippling

Angie Sylvaine

Hillary Dodge

J.A. Campbell

PL McMillan

In the end, it was a successful event, and a lot of fun.

The Hosts

It's not too late to read a new woman in horror during the month of February! Check out last week's post for recommendations. The Stoker ballot is out, and there are plenty of women on there, as well!

I only got one book read this past week: Cinder, by by Marissa Meyer

This one's a sci-fi/fantasy YA story that takes the story of Cinderella and changes her to an android, who happens to be immune to a major virus wiping out the citizenry of Earth. The mystical beings living on the moon are immune, as well, but they're conniving, and have no interest in helping Earth unless it benefits them in some way.

It was good, but not my usual flavor, so I likely won't read on in the series. I was frustrated when I reached the end and realized there was no resolution, as it was the beginning of a five-book series. That was my own ignorance (by the time I get around to reading the books on the TBR pile, I've often forgotten what they're about and details like whether they're part of a series), so I can't hold it against her, but I tend to like series that resolve the main issue at the end of the book and address a different issue/arc in the next book. None of the arcs were concluded at the end of this one.

I will say that the creative ways the fairy tale is incorporated in this story were a pleasure.

I'll be posting about a Friday the 13th blog hop next week, so I hope you'll stop by and sign up!

Have you read any female horror authors this month? Gone to any fun events in February? Have you read Cinder or anything else by Marissa Meyer.