Lou Anders's Blog, page 10

Reflections from the Road: Fort Daniel Elementary and Dacula Elementary

Last Thursday, I had the pleasure of visiting two schools in Gwinnett County, Georgia, Fort Daniel Elementary and Dacula Elementary.

I drove down Wednesday afternoon, where Dacula Librarian Paul Carey and his wife met me for dinner at Jim 'N Nicks barbecue. We had a wonderful evening talking about books, gaming (role playing and board), Scifi TV, and other things, and ate entirely too much!

The next day it was up and off to Fort Daniel, where I met Librarian Beth Martinez. Beth showed me the fantastic artwork on their hallway wall depicting students' favorite scenes from  Frostborn . I was really impressed, and, as you might imagine, honored and flattered. Then I presented to the fifth grade students (about 120 kids), followed by a signing of Nightborn (Their Frostborn order hadn't come in yet so I signed bookplates for that).

Afterwards, we had a lunch break - Domino's Pizza! - where I ate with Beth and about ten or so of her students. It was a very fun meal with some very bright kids (and one budding actress). Then I presented again to the fourth grade (about 115 students) and had another signing. Thanks so much to Beth Martinez and all her students for a great morning.

After a quick trip to the Barnes & Noble at the Mall of Georgai, and an obligatory recovery period at Starbucks, it was off to Dacula Elementary for their after-hours Scholastic Book Fair. Paul wisely planned my visit to coincide with their Literary Carnival, thus ensuring that there was a large turn out of parents and students. I was seated at a table with a big display of the Scholastic edition of Frostborn and my Thrones & Bones boardgames "travel set." I got to talk casually with parents and kids from 4pm to 7pm, after which I did a short presentation on my Thrones & Bones series. Having an author present during a book fair was great, and having a Literary Carnival there too was even better. I signed a LOT of books. And I got to meet Clifford the Big Red Dog!

Thanks very much to Librarian Paul Carey and all the parents and teachers.

Finally, after a fantastic day in Georgia, it was time to make the three hour drive home. But if you live in Gwinnett Country, don't worry. Like Frosty the Snowman, I'll be back again one day!

Pelham Reporter: Author thrills RMS students with ‘Thrones and Bones’

Today, I am interviewed by the Pelham Reporter in an article entitled "Author thrills RMS students with ‘Thrones and Bones.’ The occasion of the interview, which was conducted by Jessa Pease, was my recent visit to Riverchase Middle School, though the article is also about my Thrones & Bones series and school visits in general. Please check it out!

Here's an excerpt:

“I wanted to write a strong, strong female and a clever boy instead of what’s usually done,” he said. “I wanted to write a fantasy that would encapsulate all the things that I loved about the fiction I read growing up, but that would have parts for girls and parts for people who are not white. I wanted to write a fantasy for today’s kids.” - See more at: http://www.pelhamreporter.com/2015/10/30/author-thrills-rms-students-with-thrones-and-bones/#sthash.WSuUti6x.dpuf

Reflections from the Road: Vestavia Hills Elementary Central

Yesterday, I got to visit with the students at Vestavia Hills Elementary Central. I arrived in the morning, walking into a busy project-in-progress in their library, but was quickly swarmed by kids wanting their Scholastic Book Fair edition of Frostborn signed and personalized. This library is clearly the heart of the school, with a lot of activities and interesting things ongoing on tables throughout the room and students taking advantage of it throughout the day. The library even has a 3D printer, and I got to see student-designed fabricated creations!

Then I had a nice lunch with Librarian Elizabeth Hester and several school staff and teachers. The brownies were delicious! After lunch, Elizabeth took me around the school on a whirlwind visit to most of the thirty-three classrooms, to pop in for quick hellos and pictures with students.

Finally, it was off to the gymnasium for two back-to-back presentations, one to the fourth grade and one to the fifth. These were shorter presentations than my usual, but we hit the highlights and you could tell the students were eating it up.

All told, I got to speak to a lot of VHEC students, both around the school and in the short Q&As after each presentation, and I was very impressed with their engagement, the quality of their questions, and how enthusiastic and polite they were.

Thank you to Media Specialist Elizabeth Hester, Principal Marian Humphries, and all the wonderful teachers and students for a great visit to VHEC!

I'm Coming to FaerieCon 2015: International Faerie Convention

I'm very excited to announce that I have joined the amazing guest lineup of FaerieCon 2015, held in Baltimore, MD on November 6th-8th!  Come see me and a host of other guests, including Holly Black, Kami Garcia, Kelly Armstrong, Melissa Marr and Einar Selvik, founder of the band Wardruna, who provide the music for the show Vikings! 

This year's convention has a strong Norse theme. Hmmm, wonder why they invited me?

Reflections from the Road: Liberty Park, Riverchase, and Berry Middle Schools

This week was an incredibly fulfilling but Herculean tour of three schools in three days, across which I spoke to a total of approximately 2, 193 sixth to eight grade students about my Thrones & Bones series.

On Tuesday, I visited Liberty Park Middle School in Vestavia Hills, Alabama. My visit started off by speaking to all 470 students in their gymnasium. After this, I went to their library to sign books at their Scholastic Book Fair. It was tremendous to once again see the awesome sign that Scholastic has made for their edition of Frostborn, the first time I've seen the sign in action (as when I saw it last that school's fair had already ended). Then I had a bit of a break, during which I lunched with the teachers and talked about all things geeky. After lunch, I conducted a writing workshop in the LPMS Library for a small group of students who were all up and coming storytellers. The whole day was very nice. The students and teachers were great. I was very impressed by the students' questions after my book presentation, and I'm sure I've met the next generation of talented authors who will one day give the rest of us a run for our money. Thanks to everyone at Liberty Park, especially Librarian Jean Deal and Assistant Principal, Roger Dobnikar. On Wednesday, I spoke to 523 students at Riverchase Middle School in Birmingham, Alabama, divided into five separate groups, with a book signing after each presentation. This was a day long undertaking, with books on hand courtesy of Little Professor Book Center.  The most talking I've ever done in one day before was four back-to-back sessions and that left me exhausted, but I've got a lot more experience presenting to schools since that time and this was both a blast and a breeze. The kids were great and had fantastic questions. Highlights were being asked "Are you a feminist?" (after I described my reasons for writing Thianna the way I did) and meeting a girl who introduced herself as "the shortest person in my school" who said she felt an instant kinship with my half-sized giant character. Thank you to Librarian Kathy Collins, and all the teachers and students, for a wonderful day. 
Yesterday, I returned to Berry Middle School. I'd visited them during their Fall Scholastic Book Fair in September, but I came back to speak to all 1,200 students in there gymnasium across three sessions of 400 each. I did all three presentations back to back, speaking to the sixth, seventh, and eight grades separately. Once again, great questions from the kids and their enthusiasm was just tremendous. One girl is obviously the Berry Middle School resident expert on mythology and fantasy, as she answered four of my questions in a row! Finally, we ended midday with a lunch with a student, several teachers, Media Specialist Ginger M. Hewitt, and Principal Dr. Chris Robbins.  Thank you to Ginger Hewitt, Dr. Robbins, and everyone at Berry for another great visit. (And to The Heavenly Donut Co.! Mmmm!) 
Talking with students about the world of my books has got to rank up there as one of the most fun things I've ever done. I'm grateful to everyone at Liberty Park, Riverchase, and Berry for such a fantastic week! 
Next week is three more schools on the Nightborn tour. I'll be back with another report then.

Podcast: Let's Get Busy

Today, I am a guest on the fabulous Let's Get Busy podcast, hosted by super librarian Matthew
C. Winner, aka The Busy Librarian. I've been a big fan of Let's Get Busy for a while now, so I was very excited to get to talk to Matthew. He's a great host, and he got me to talk in depth about all the world building that went into the writing of Frostborn and Nightborn.We also talk about gaming, and whether the cornucopia  of technological resources available to kids today are a distraction or a boon (you can guess where we both fall). I'm very proud of the interview, and I hope you'll check it out.

Reflections from the Road: Oak Mountain Middle School and the Southern Festival of Books

Last week was a double whammy. On Thursday, October 8th, I spoke at Oak Mountain Middle School.  The school has approximately 450 sixth grade students, and we broke them up in to groups of around 90 kids at a time, which meant I did five sessions in one day! Frostborn was on hand as part of the Fall 2015 Scholastic Book Fair. And Nightborn was provided through Homewood, Alabama's wonderful independent, Little Professor Book Center.


The kids were great, and very enthusiastic. I got to see the wonderful promotional display poster that Scholastic has made for their edition of Frostborn, and I was honored by the great fan art a couple of the students produced as well. Thank you Whitney Howton librarian and to Crape Myrtle's Cafe for the Grilled Fresh Fish Sandwich.

Then on Saturday, October 10th, I traveled to Nashville, Tennessee for the second time this month to attend the 27th Annual Southern Festival of Books. The festival is held in the Legislative Plaza of Downtown Nashville. I drove up that morning, lunched quickly at the excellent Crepe A Diem Food Truck, gave my presentation at noon, then did a book signing where I was delighted to meet, among others, two very enthusiastic fans that told me September was far too long to wait for book three. Afterwards, I snuck away from the festival for a bit to walk to Germantown and the Nashville Oktoberfest Street Festival,  where I heard some interesting music and had one of the best hot chocolates of my life at  Tempered Cafe and Chocolates.  Then it was back to the festival to attend a private authors reception and call it a night. Thanks to the festival organizers, and to Parnassus Books for facilitating sales of Frostborn and Nightborn .

And now, some more pictures from my visit to OMMS!

Southern Writers' Showcase

On Saturday, October 17th, I'll be participating in the Southern Writers' Showcase at the Barnes and Noble Patton Creek located in the Patton Creek Shopping Center, 171 Main St., Hoover, AL 35244. The event is from 11am to 3pm, and I'll be joined by host of southern authors. Here is the event poster and press release below. Come out and see us all!


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Sandra Foreman Phone:    (205) 682-4467
October Autographings & EventsAtBarnes & Noble171 Main St.Hoover, AL 35244
Date: Saturday October 17, 2015 @ 11:00AM-3:00PMEvent: Southern Writers Showcase featuring: Patti Callahan Henry, Lou Anders, S.L. Duncan, Hunter Murphy, Heather Jones Skaggs, Rebecca Cybulsky Walden, Catherine Pittman Smith, Kim Johnston, Shane Busby, Vita Coop, Mark Glick and Todd Gerelds.  Every hour authors will host a 10-minute quick talk about their latest title followed by a Q&A session and signing. There will be several author stations throughout the store so make sure to stop by them all!Link: http://stores.barnesandnoble.com/event/9780061721017-0 
Title List: The Idea of Love- Patti Callahan HenryThrone and Bones Frostborn- Lou AndersThrone and Bones Nightborn- Lou AndersThe Revelation of Gabriel Adam- S.L DuncanThe Salvation of Gabriel Adam- S.L DuncanImogene in New Orleans- Hunter MurphyImages of America Bluff Park- Heather Jones Skaggs Images of America Hoover- Heather Jones SkaggsImages of America Vestavia Hills- Rebecca Cybulsky WaldenImages of America Mountain Brook- Catherine Pittman SmithHaunted Shelby County, Alabama- Kim JohnstonHaunted Talladega County- Kim Johnston and Shane BusbyHearing Colors: The Birth of Anniston- Vita CoopSerpent Kind- Mark GlickWoodlawn- Todd Gerelds 

***ALL EVENTS ARE FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC***

Southern Festival of Books

This coming Saturday, October 10th, I'm excited to be participating in the Southern Festival of Books in downtown Nashville, Tennessee. I'll be giving a solo presentation on the Thrones & Bones series from 12:00-1:00 pm in Room 30 of the Legislative Plaza. I've heard great things about this festival and cannot wait to discover it for myself. So if you are in or near Nashville, come say hi and check it out. I'll be signing Frostborn and Nightborn afterwards, courtesy of Parnassus Books.

Meet the Author: Lou Anders Interview with PSJA KTRI TV

Recently, I toured the southern tip of Texas in support of the release of  Nightborn . While I was there, I was interviewed by Celia Torres, Producer/Reporter for PSJA KTRI TV. That interview is now online at YouTube and Vimeo. The students I spoke with on my tour were especially wonderful, so please make sure to stay through the end of the interview, where kids from the schools I visited ask me questions!