The time it was about SDCC 2018

SDCC is a yearly thing that we love to go to. I don’t even know how many years we’ve been going now because I can’t count that high.

Preview Night  aka: Wednesday

Our ritual is to meet up at Lolita’s and get some delicious carne asada fries before heading into the convention center for preview night. We got finished and headed over. I needed to get my prop checked, so we looked into that before making our way to the upstairs area. {There is an entire story about the security guy “checking” my bat, but mostly deciding that Michelle and I were trustworthy because we were helpless girls.  I do not have the time or ambition to type that out.}

We got onto the floor just after 6pm and headed to the publishing area. Of course we headed to Mysterious Galaxy first to hug our favorites. We ended up going to S&S to look at their booth schedule and I legit screamed when I saw a sign they posted. If you bought a copy of Becoming, you got an arc of Reckoning.

So, obviously I did that. The ladies in the booth said the arcs had just come from the printers and I was the first one to get one. I can’t tell you how much of a fool I made of myself.

We kept making the rounds. Spoke a secret phrase and got the arc of The Wicked King. And then we headed over to Tor…

The booth is filled with all sorts of lovely Victoria Schwab things. They had the Vicious and Vengeful totes and I asked how to get one. The ladies at the booth said that they came with a purchase of Vicious. I said I had 3. One of them asked if I had a special edition of ADSOM. I told her I had 4 of them. And then I showed them my Lila Bard tattoo one of the ladies said to the other, “Well, we have to give it to her now, right? I mean, without a purchase, right?” And the second lady agreed.

From there we wandered a bit more, but it was insanely crazy. We sort of burnt out quickly.

Thursday

The morning had me going into work beforehand. We were running late late late, but we were still  able to get right into the ballroom 20 line without issue.

We weren’t waiting too long before they let us into the ballroom. We were able to get third row and I basically died.

The first panel we watched was for a documentary called Into the Bridge.  It was moderated by Greg Grunberg and the sweetest moment was when Nichelle Nichols {aka the original Lt. Uhura} won a lifetime achievement award and was surprised with it during the panel.

Next up was the panel for the reboot of Charmed.  We got to see the entire first episode before the five woman panel started.  I was a huge fan of the original Charmed and I wasn’t entirely sure about this reboot happening.  The episode was equal parts interesting and super cheesy…I might give it one more episode before I make up my mind.

The next panel was for a show called Tell Me a Story.  It’s some sort of fairy tale retelling with a modern twist? And yes, that’s a question.  To be honest, this panel didn’t really interest me…

And finally finally finally, it was time for A Discovery of Witches.  They showed us the trailer before bringing everyone out and then throughout the panel, they would show little clips. Everyone was so excited and enthusiastic about the show. I just can’t wait to watch.

Of course, I was in it for Alex Kingston. I still haven’t had a chance to meet her, but this was the closest I’ve ever been to her.  The banter between Alex and Valarie Pettiford was fantastic and I cannot wait to see them on screen as Sarah and Em.

Theresa Palmer is delightful.  I loved hearing her talk about playing Diana, the chemistry she had with Matthew, and learning how to properly handle books in special collections. They even brought Ashmole 782 with them.

After the panel, Michelle and I ran to see if we could catch the end of the signing for Maggie Stiefvater, but we were told we couldn’t get in the line. Even though Maggie was sitting on the end and no one was at her. :(

We headed to the press room to get some lunch, but we missed it, so we ended up sitting in there for a few minutes and catching a charge.

Eventually, we grabbed some snacks and headed over to the line up for a signing with Victoria Schwab, Laini Taylor, and Susan Dennard. We were able to start lining up immediately.

I got to Victoria first. She laughed and said that I couldn’t possibly have more for her to sign. I had the wooden panel from the Vicious box and I told her I brought a mega sharpie with so she wouldn’t ruin hers. We chatted about how we both love the UK cover. Then I told her we were off to go get the comic. She asked if she would see me tomorrow and I said yes, that we’d probably see her every day whether she liked it or not. And she said she loved it.

Laini was next and after saying hi, i asked how her con was going. We chatted about that while she signed and then I handed her the wrap that was on the US arc. I asked her if she would sign it and she said that she had wished a wrap had been made for the arc of Muse. She then said there was something that could have been used and been perfect.

And then there’s Sooz. I gave her a copy of SSaD for a giveaway and as she took it, she told Laini and the other author sitting next to her {and I didn’t catch who it was} about the time she {Sooz} was at SDCC for her first time and I was the first person to ever come and get something signed. We chatted for a minute, talking about the chances we’ll see each other again while she’s there.

We left the autograph area and headed to Titan so we could get the ashcans of Prince of Steel. Now this is mildly amusing…

We know the man who owns Titan. We see him every year, usually spend about 20 minutes with him, chatting about all things, but mostly Doctor Who. Somehow we had no idea that the Titan who was doing the comic was the same booth we loved.

After Titan, we did a car drop. Michelle headed in one direction and we tried to get into the Brooklyn Nine-Nine panel. We got to the Indigo ballroom and the line was so long. We had planned on waiting, but the ballroom was completely packed and we weren’t sure if we wanted to wait for 90 minutes and not get in.

So this is as close as we got.

After that, we ended up deciding to leave early and head home.

Friday

Friday morning has us getting to the convention center early-ish. Michelle had a panel to go to with her husband, so Hubs and I wandered around the convention center.

We found some great cosplayers…

…and interesting things in booths.

Eventually we split up and I met up with Michelle and we went to the panel signing for Deborah Harkness. We weren’t able to line up right away, so we sort of pre-lined for a bit. Around 12pm, they let us into the corral. The authors came out around 12:20 and started signing at 12:30.

I got to Deborah and told her how I had seen the panel and the show looked amazing. She asked if I felt better about the adaptation now. I said that I wasn’t ever worried because it had always looked amazing to me.

We chatted for a second about my arc of Time’s Convert and how her nails matched the cover. And then she opened it up. She saw the post-it with my name on it and asked if I was book_junkee. I told her I was and she stood up and hugged me. She said it was so nice to see me and that she was thrilled that I got an arc.  After signing it, she said it was the first copy of Time’s Convert that she had signed with the tag line.

Inside I was sort of dying because why would Deborah know who I was, but I think {hope} that I didn’t make a complete fool of myself.

Michelle and I headed to the press room after that. Last year, they had all sorts of delicious cookies and pastry and mini hot dogs, so to be honest, we were looking for a bit of a snack. We were able to get a hot pretzel and some peanuts and iced tea.

We headed back to the car for a drop and saw more cosplay.

After headed back inside, we ended up at the Mysterious Galaxy booth and hung out for a bit to help. Well, I socialized. Michelle sold a few shirts and hand sold The Cruel Prince. We walked around for a bit longer before heading back upstairs to wait for Kerri Maniscalco.

The panel authors came over to the signing area right around 4:25 or so and basically started signing right away.

Michelle had a book for Marie, so I went right to Kerri. I got up to her and told her who I was and we hugged. I asked her about her gorgeous ring. We chatted about her panel and how it went, about Bethany Crandell and AG Howard, and I don’t think I could even tell you what else. I know I flailed, but I’m impressed that I was coherent.

Annnnd with that, we called Friday complete.

Saturday

Saturday morning  had me at the convention center around 8am. Michelle got there right after I did and we got set up with our Stranger Things cosplay. {yes, that happened}

We headed to the limited autograph line as we were looking for the signing booth tickets for Stephanie Garber. We double checked with someone working the line and they assured us we were in the right place. We only made it outside in the sun for about 15 minutes before we tried something else.

We headed back inside and found the portable a/c unit and stood in front of it. A few seconds later one Star Wars guy came over and we adjusted one of the tubes for him. He left and then came back with his friend who moved the third tube.

We headed up to the press room to grab some coffee and snacks before the floor was opened and when we got to the room, they had just let the upstairs rope down.

We made it downstairs and were able to get tickets from the fierce reads booth. It was a good thing we tried going there because the programming was worded really confusingly. We wandered around a bit and then headed back over to the booth 15 minutes before. They didn’t have a line up area set up, so we just stood over to the side.

I saw Stephanie walk by and I called out to her. She came over and we hugged and chatted for a minute. I asked her about her time at con and if she was enjoying herself. A few minutes later, she went over to the booth.

We got up to her fairly quickly. She asked me what I’ve been reading lately and I said nothing because I have been binge watching Brooklyn Nine-Nine. She said she had wanted to watch it but didn’t know. I sort of lost my shit and started flailing about it and exclaiming how she needed to watch it. I even told her about the 30 day free trial on Hulu. *facepalm*

After Stephanie we had a few hours to kill before the next panel signing. We went with Jessica {who we found in line} to one of the staging areas to take some photos of our outfits before separating. Michelle and I then went back to the cars for a drop and we shed our jackets and rubber gloves. We walked the floor a bit and the grabbed some food.

We went back to the signing area around 1pm and we were waiting for Victoria and Maggie and Laini. There was a signing going on when we got there, but there was a line set up already, so we waited outside for a few before they let us in.

Because we didn’t have books to purchase, we ended up being able to skip a big portion of the line. I got to Maggie first and said it was great to see her and asked how her trip went. She said it was great and that after she decided she was driving out, she had a lot of volunteers to come with her, but that she was excited for 4 days alone and said no one was allowed to come with.

Victoria was next and I had comics for her. She flipped through them and showed an author next to her that they were mostly black and white, but that the colorist was doing amazing work on them.

After she signed my stuff, I ended up taking Michelle’s books to Victoria while she went to see Laini. Victoria asked me if we were going to be at her 3pm signing at the Tor booth because she heard there was going to be special swag. I asked her if the Vicious enamel pins were going to be there and she said she didn’t know, but could probably find some for me.

She said she figured I didn’t have anything left for her to sign, so I could just bring a piece of paper. {I just adore her.}

We ended up going down to Tor with Christy and she asked about the special swag. I asked them if they had any enamel pins and the woman remembered my Lila tattoo. One of the other women working the booth said that anyone who has an actual tattoo should get something special. They ended up giving me a tote bag from their party and it had a set of pins and some other goodies. Annnd then they gave me a little Kell keychain also.

We ended up walking around and catching random arc drops and then we ended up in front of the Hachette booth while Liz Climo was there. I had just found her on the internet {someone I follow on IG had reposted something and I was instantly in love} and had her on the list to see. However, she’s semi-local in LA, so it wasn’t a huge deal if I missed her.

We ended up getting there at the right time and I was able to get an early release of her upcoming book. When I was my turn, I said hi and thanked her for coming. She had someone with her and they commented on how sparkly my nails were. Then Liz saw them and said the same thing. I’m not entirely sure I said words back to her? Con-brain is real, yo.

Michelle and I planned on one more arc drop and we made it just as the line was forming. We only had to wait about 10 minutes before they started handing them out.

And after that, I called it a day.

Sunday

We never last long on Sunday.  It’s the last day and we’re usually super tired and sort of over it.  We got into the convention center and headed up to the press room for chocolate croissants and coffee.  Our only plan was an 11 am arc drop.  After we did that, Michelle went into a panel and we wandered around for a bit.

We saw Lana Parrilla and the Jurassic Park enclosure…

And even more cosplay…

There were so many people dressed up as the new Pennywise, I wish I could have taken a photo of every single one of them because they all looked amazing.

We made it until about 1pm and then decided to call it a day.

and now the countdown for 2019 starts…