How to Arrange an Author Visit to Your School

I'll be hitting the road in September to promote the release of Skyborn, the third book in the Thrones & Bones trilogy. So far, I've visited 40 schools around the United States, the tours taking me to  Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Tennessee, Texas, Massachusetts, New York, and Washington. I'll be hitting Nebraska and Ohio this summer, and I'll be back in Texas in the fall. If you're a teacher, librarian, or student interested in having me visit your school in the Fall, please see the "For Educators" section of my website for how to make this happen!

Accolades for Frostborn include:

• A starred review in Publishers Weekly, who also selected it for the "PW Picks: Books of the Week" for the week of August 4th, 2014.
• A Bank Street College of Education Best Children's Books of the Year selection.
• An American Booksellers Association 2014 ABC Best Books for Children Catalog selection.
• A 2015-16 Beehive Book Awards nominee.
• A 2016-17 Golden Sower Award nominee.
• A 2016-17 Young Hoosier Book Award nominee.
• A 2016-17 Pennsylvania Young Reader's Choice Awards nominee.
• An Editor's Choice on Amazon for August 2014.
• An io9's "Must-Read Science Fiction And Fantasy Books For August."
• An Imagination Soup selection as one of the "Best Books for 10 Year Olds."
• Youth Staff selection for Best Books: Elk Island Public Schools PD Day 2015
• A Staff Pick at Book Shop Santa Cruz, Books Inc., Eagle Harbor Book Co., Edmonds Bookshop, Hoover Public Library, King's English Bookshop, Mockingbird Books, Politics and Prose, Powell's, Queen's Library, North Shelby Library, Santa Clara City Library F, The Springfield Missouri district library, The Waucoma Bookstore and Word Bookstores.

Reflections from the Road: Altamont and Hilltop

With Spring Break just behind me, I've been remiss about reporting on recent school visits for the Nightborn tour. But last month, I visited both The Altamont School and Hilltop Montessori School. This was my second time speaking to both schools.

On March 15th, I spent a day with students at Altamont. In the morning, I spoke to the entire middle school, then I had lunch in the library with a group of about twenty students. Then, in the afternoon, I drew on my ten years as an art director to give a presentation about how book covers are commissioned, illustrated, designed, and produced to the 5th and 6th grade English classes. It was a fantastic time with some great kids.

Then, on March 23rd, I visited Hilltop Montessori School during their Spring Scholastic Book Fair. I didn't speak this visit, but sat at a table at the end of day signing the Scholastic edition of Frostborn. The school had also purchased several copies of Nightborn for sale to the students, and I'm thrilled to say we nearly sold out of both books.

More school visits coming up later this month! Stay tuned. And if you are a teacher, librarian, or student interested in having me visit your school, see the "For Educators" page of my website for information on how we can make this happen.

Reflections from the Road: A Whirlwind Tour of Southernmost Texas

Last week, I had a whirlwind tour of nine schools in the southernmost tip of Texas. I drove home from Dragon Con and the Decatur Book Festival on Monday (September 7th), quickly laundered my clothes, repacked, and raced to the airport to catch a mid-afternoon flight. Which was a frantic day after an exhausting weekend. And I was just getting started!

Because next up was nine schools in three days! At three schools a day, I visited Garza-Pena Elementary School (San Juan, TX), PSJA Southwest, Early College High School (Pharr, TX), and Clover Elementary (San Juan, TX) on Tuesday, Lyndon B. Johnson Middle School(Pharr, TX), PSJA North, Early College High School (Pharr, TX), and Kelly-Pharr Elementary (Pharr, TX) on Wednesday, and Marcia R. Garza Elementary School (McAllen, TX), Alamo Middle School (Alamo, TX) and Cantu Elementary School (Alton, TX) and Thursday!

I arrived late Monday night, flying into the McAllen airport, where two girls holding up copies of Nightborn were waiting for me. It turns out my escort, the I-soon-found-out AMAZING Nora A. Galvan had brought her daughter and two granddaughters to meet me as well. Nora is the PSJA  ISD Library Coordinator for an enormous district. Her daughter is a librarian at one of the schools under her bailiwick, and her granddaughters are avid readers. They were all wonderful and made me feel instantly at home from the moment I arrived.

Nora is an amazing person (let me say that again), and I would be hard pressed to name another person who worked harder at fostering a love of reading and learning in students than she (though the nine librarians I met on my tour came close). She spent a lot of time with me in a three day period, not only driving me to all nine schools but also taking me to lunch and dinner, and consequently, I got to see her work on the phone and in person as I received a taste of how enormously busy she is and how much she does for the librarians under her supervision and the "kidos" at those schools. I'm really, really impressed and really heartened the kids of Alamo, Alton, Pharr, McAllen, and San Juan have someone like her in their corner.

And the kids! Wow. What an incredible bunch of students! I went to five elementary schools, two middle schools and two high schools. Every time I walked in I asked "who has read or started Frostborn?" and nearly every hand in the room went up. There were pictures advertising my visit everywhere. Some schools showed me artwork the students had made. Others had posters concerning elements of the book. All of them were eager and excited and engaged and asked me tons of questions about the characters and world of Thrones & Bones, the process of writing, and the reasons that lead me to create the books I did. It was so obvious at every stop how hard each librarian had worked to instill this love of literature and learning in these kids and it showed. Every stop on the tour held a welcoming and enthusiastic crowd, and I had an absolute blast. And check out this diagram of the plot and thematic structure of Frostborn was created by a student named Bianca at PSJA North. I was thrilled to see it and really enjoyed talking writing with her.


Meanwhile, I'm afraid to step on a scales thanks to the Mexican breads, the huge gift baskets, and the restaurants I was treated to during my visit, not least of which was the enormous "botana" from Costa Messa Restaurant!

Huge thanks to Nora Galvan, all her librarians and students for an amazing week. And thanks to Celia Torres, Producer/Reporter for KTRI TV, and her team for taking the time to interview me for the local district channel. I'm told they'll be YouTube and Vimeo videos in a few and I'll post links to that when it goes live.

Here are some more pictures from my visit!

Nightborn on Tour: Books of Wonder and Sci-Fi & Fantasy Fest

This past week plus has been a busy one. Sunday, July 26th, I participated in a middle grade author event at Books of Wonder in New York City, where I got to talk up Nightborn on a panel alongside Newbery Honor Award Winning Author, Gail Carson Levine, celebrating her recently released Stolen Magic, and Sarah Mlynowksi (of the Whatever After series). Then I spent a week in New York City with the family, seeing the sights, eating the food, taking in a Broadway play, and introducing them to the good people I work with at Penguin Random House.

Home on the following Friday, I took off work to spend the day playing a Fate Core RPG game with my son and nephew that we set in the world of Thrones & Bones. Which, by the way, is amazing fun!

Then Saturday, August 1, the Hoover Public Library hosted their first Sci-Fi & Fantasy Fest, a celebration of books, games, films, and television, headlined by Katherine Harbour, Bobby Nash, and Van Allen Plexico. I participated in a wonderful RPG panel, alongside veteran gamer Mark Owens and Excelsior game store owner Ken Oswald. Then in the afternoon I was on a second panel with authors Stephen Duncan, J.F. Lewis, and Ingrid Seymour (and moderated by Jared Millet). Thanks to the organizers and to Barnes & Noble for handling book sales. The event seemed well attended and I hope the Hoover Library will host it again next year.

Nightborn on Tour: The Nightborn Launch Event

Last Saturday, July 18th, was the launch part for Nightborn. We held it in the afternoon at the Barnes & Noble at the Summit Shopping Center in Birmingham, Alabama. Despite the best efforts of the weather--there were reports of hail!-- we had a great turn out. Thanks to all the booksellers who worked to make this happen and to everyone who came. Here are some of the pictures from this wonderful event.

Reflections from the Road: Read.Write.Draw

Last Saturday, April 18, 2015, was the first ever Read.Write.Draw Children's Book Festival at the Hoover Public Library. A free, day-long event, the festival featured picture book authors, Jeff Mack and Lori Nichols, middle reader author Amber McRee Turner, young adult author Sharon Cameron, and Yours Truly, on hand to talk about my novel Frostbornand forthcoming sequel Nightborn,books one and two of the Thrones & Bones series.

The Hoover Library has an amazing performance space! I've spoken before on the stage in their cafe space, but had no idea they had a full on theater downstairs. I came on in the afternoon, after a marvelous potato bar lunch (courtesy of Full Moon Bar-B-Q) and after Amber McRee Turner. The talk was very fun, with some great responses from the audience. Also, someone in the audience actually knew what a "draug" was (first time!)

Of the other attending authors, I only got to hear Sharon Cameron's talk, but her novel,The Dark Unwinding,sounds intriguing. The setting was inspired by Welbeck Abby in Britain, and its interesting history and vast underground chambers and tunnels. (Check out the history, then check out the novel.)

The day ended with a wonderful dinner at DoDiYo's for the authors and the library staff.  Thank you very much to Children's Librarian Jeremy Davis, all the staff at the Hoover Library, and the Patton Creek Barnes & Noble for being on hand to facilitate book sales.

Read.Write.Draw was a big success, and I hope it becomes an annual event.

Reflections from the Road: The Alabama Book Festival

This past Saturday was the 10th Annual Alabama Book Festival. Held in historic Old Alabama Town in downtown Montgomery, and featuring 45 authors of every genre, the festival pulls in book lovers of all ages from all over the state and across the Southeast. I was honored to be a guest of the festival, my first time attending, and it was quite a time. Two things in particular made it a very special day.

A log cabin in Old Alabama Town

First, the venue itself. Old Alabama Town is an 19th century village comprised entirely of actual homes and buildings from the period--although they have been restored not a one is a facsimile. They are all the actual structures from the time! Log cabins, cotton gins, grist mills, doctor's offices, and a general store are just a few of the well over thirty properties that comprise Old Alabama Town. It's an absolutely unique setting for a book fair, and it made the experience that much more enjoyable.

Second, April 11th, the date of the festival, was also International TableTop Day, and the Montgomery Area Gaming Society was on hand to celebrate with a day of board games. As the author of a book in which board games factor quite heavily, I was invited to host Thrones & Bones games as part of the celebration.


I had to drive through torrential rains to get to Montgomery on Friday night, but it was worth it for the reception at the John Blue Hill House adjacent to the Governor's Mansion that evening. Then Saturday morning kicked off with clear skies and a demonstration of Thrones & Bones at Haigler House. Thanks to father and son pair Mike and Alex for being the first to play, and to Alex in particular for a very challenging game. I've never played a Thrones & Bones game that went so long before the first capture! Even as its creator, I never cease to be fascinated by the endless permutations of play that the game allows!

Mike and Alex play a game of Thrones & Bones

Then it was off to the children's area to present Frostborn to a full house--or rather a full tent. My talk was well attended by enthusiastic kids and their parents (who asked very intelligent questions and were a great audience). And thank you to the kids in particular who joined me on stage for help with a demonstration of what a real Viking helmet looked like!

After the talk there was a book signing, the a nice lunch in the Green Room, and back to Haigler House for another round of Thrones & Bones play. And then the day was done.

A glimpse inside the blacksmith's shop.

A last thought: I miscounted when I said two things made the day special. Actually, three things did. The third is, of course, the people who put it on! Everyone connected with the Alabama Book Festival was wonderful and they put on a great event. A huge thank you to Co-Chair Gail Waller, Joe Birdwell, the master of all things gaming, and Capitol Book & News Company, who facilitated book sales and signings for all the authors.

I highly recommend this event and hope to attend again.

Thrones & Bones at the Alabama Book Festival

This coming Saturday, April 11th, I'm a guest of the 10th annual Alabama Book Festival in Montgomery. The festival pulls in thousand of attendees and features 45 authors. I will be speaking about Frostbornand Nightborn,the first two books of the Thrones & Bones series, in the North Tent at 11:30 am, with a signing directly afterwards at Capital Books & News' booth.

However, this year the festival also coincides with International TableTop Day. So in edition to talking about my novels, I'll be hosting two demonstrations of the Thrones & Bones board game at the Haigler House in conjunction with the Montgomery Area Gaming Society at 10am and 3pm.

I'm planning on leaving the original wooden Thrones & Bones sets at home and bringing my cardstock pawn sets instead. I've just made two more sets to take with me (bringing the total to five sets). These have color coded bases for ease of play. I also made five rules brochures, with thumbnails and book information on the back. The attached pictures show the new game sets and the brochure, and one of the pictures shows the brochures with front, interior, and back visible. Pretty neat, no?

Reflections from the Road: Saint Rose Academy

This past Wednesday, I visited Saint Rose Academy and spoke to 81 students in the fifth through eighth grade. As she has done before, the wonderful Sara Gassman from Little Professor Book Center in Homewood, Alabama went with me to facilitate book sales for the signing. As she was setting up, a group of kids came running into the gymnasium where I would be speaking and mobbed her table. I came over and was instantly pelted with questions. I explained that they should save their questions for the end of my talk, but they informed me that they were all fourth graders and wouldn't get to hear me. So I answered their questions and gave them all Thrones and Bones trading cards.

Then I spoke to the fifth through eight grade. They were a great bunch of kids. Really enthusiastic and engaged, and the Q&A afterwards was very lively. Lots of questions about the forthcoming books in the series, other areas of my world, how history influences my fantasy, and, of course, the games!

I could have talked for hours--the questions didn't slow down--so eventually I called a halt myself. But it was a really fun time. Thank you to Administrative Assistant & Admissions Director Vivian Hults for arranging a great visit. And thank you to the students and faculty of Saint Rose.

Reflections from the Road: The Altamont School

Last Friday I spoke to 172 kids ranging 5th to 8th grade at The Altamont School in Birmingham. This is a private school with a history of literary achievement among its alumni. As you walk in, you pass between two glass cases showcasingall the books that former students have written. Several famous names, including Daniel Wallace(Big Fish). It made me wish that I had gone to Altamont, so that Frostborn could be there as well!

Their brand new theater space was one of the nicest I've been in in 19 or so school visits. Incredible stage, lights, acoustics, etc... (and thank you to Jack for handling sound and lights during the show!) It was an incredible 45 minutes, and I've discovered that I am happiest--and best--when you give me a wireless mic. I was running up and down the seats, asking questions of the audience like the most hyper active talk show host ever.

Then they put me in a conference room and let kids who had bought the book eat lunch with me, ask questions and get their copy signed. And the kids were great. Tons of questions about other locations on the world, the game, lots of "where can I buy this?" on the board and card game, lots of questions about future books etc... Also, these kids are sneaky - their boundless enthusiasm got me to open up about all kinds of secret details of the world, stuff I haven't told anyone yet.

They then took me to the lunchroom to eat with the teachers, where we had a very energetic discussion of writing and film. Altamont has a great cafeteria, and the conversation was fun. (The Avengers is too a perfect film, and I'm not changing my mind.)

Thank you to Mary Martin (Librarian) for arranging the visit, Thomas Goldsmith (Director of Admissions) for taking care of me upon arrival, Margaret Whiteside (Marketing & Communications) for the pictures, Altamont-parent and old friend Tad Lidikay for dropping by, and all of the wonderful students and faculty. I had a great time and it's so gratifying to hear you all did as well.

Reflections from the Road: Wilkerson Middle School

Yesterday, I was the guest speaker at Wilkerson Middle School's Dream Big Read! brought about by the Birmingham American Federation of Teachers with books donated from First Book. The morning event was designed to celebrate the joy of reading--a very important thing--but I almost didn't make it. Last Sunday, I came down with a horrible case of the flu, and while I apologetically tried to bow out, the organizers begged me to come anyway--even if only for a quick 15 minute appearance. I didn't want to let people down, so despite reservations and ill-health, I agreed.

And I'm so glad I did.

Birmingham AFT President Richard Franklin introduced the Dream Big Read! event by telling the students that they had been selected for this program because they scored the best in their category, not just in Birmingham, but in the state. As I understand it, Wilkerson has repeatedly been named a Torchbearer school. This is a special honor, as Torchbearer schools must meet a host of demanding state and federal criteria, and, despite coming from a high poverty area of the city and dealing with the related disadvantages, the amazing students of Wilkerson have managed to beat the statistics and perform marvelously on state and national tests. Franklin's speech was on the importance of reading, not only on your own, but also with your family.

Through First Book, the kids--slightly over 300 students--were given book bags that contained a Percy Jackson hardcover, a Spider-Man book, an Avengers book, some others... But my own publisher Random House Children's Books, when they learned last week of my visit, kindly donated 300+ copies of the Frostbornarc, which they rushed to the school so that the students could begin reading ahead of my trip.

The result was that when I walked to the podium, I saw that every one of the students in the audience was holding the Frostborn arc! I had been nervous, because this is the first talk I've given without my Powerpoint presentation and the aid of all the fabulous artwork it contains in support of the Thrones & Bones series, so having an already-receptive audience helped overcome the lack of pictures. But I needn't have worried. The students were great -- really enthusiastic, fun, polite, and as bright as I'd heard. About a third of them had already begun reading the book too! Far from doing just the minimal 15 minutes, I went a good 30-40 minutes and the organizers even had to cut our Q&A off with a lot of hands still in the air when I ran out the clock.

Afterwards, a few kids asked me to sign their arcs, and when others saw I would do this, well, the teachers had to quickly organize a line. I signed most of 300 arcs, which was wonderful because I got another point of connection with Wilkerson's great students. A pleasure to meet them all. I hope they enjoyed the day as much as I did.

I drove out on a rush of adrenaline. Which carried me through about lunchtime. After which, I was stupidly useless for the rest of the day! But I'm very glad I made the trip.

Many thanks to Terri Michal from Birmingham AFT, Birmingham AFT President Richard Franklin, and Wilkerson principal Ms. Trarsha L. Maddox, as well as the staff, students, and teachers of Wilkerson.

Reflections from the Road: Windycon 41

This past weekend, I was at Windycon 41, where it was my privilege to be the Editor Guest of Honor. no longer an editor.
I've enjoyed being the EGoH at quite a few cons over the last ten years, but Windycon will always have a special place as it marks the very nearly, almost certainly, surely absolutely last time I get to be a guest of a convention in this capacity, as I am

The convention was held at the Westin Lombard Yorktown Center in Lombard, Illinois. I arrived Thursday night, just in time for the guest reception dinner, then Stephenson--a dear friend that I haven't seen in five years, and who came from Los Angeles just to hang out--and I braved a brisk walk in the 27 degree weather to visit Beer House, where we sampled several varieties of brown ales and stouts.

The next morning, Stephenson and I headed into downtown Chicago for a visit to David Bowie Is, an amazing retrospective of my favorite musician's life and work, held at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. The exhibit was phenomenal, both for me as a huge Bowie fan and for Stephenson who is not. We came out of it with a real sense of how much drive the man has and how incredibly hard he works on everything that he takes on board, from acting to recording to costume and set design to artwork. Really an incredible show. Highlights for me was seeing a clip from his critically acclaimed run on Broadway in The Elephant Man, to seeing the Verbalizer (the software program he co-developed to aid and inspire writing lyrics) at work. Very moving morning for me, personally that I am grateful I was able to see.

Then, after a great lunch at Doc B's Fresh Kitchen, it was time to return to Lombard for the first panel of the convention. Fairy Tales for Children and Adults was a lot of fun. I especially enjoyed the comments from A. Lee Martinez on the panel and Gene Wolfe in the audience. Thanks to Rachel Neumeier for moderating!


Friday night we met up with three very dear friends, Eric Frederickson, Jill Frederickson, and Dave Roberson. I haven't seen any of them in eleven years, but we picked it up like no time past.

Saturday morning I did a Frostborn presentation (hi Wink! hi Dean!), then demonstrated the Thrones and Bones board game in the Gaming room. Here, Dave Roberson shows what a real Viking should look like when playing this game. Thanks to him and Eric Frederickson for help, and to Dean Kastle for a challenging game.

Then I visited Kid's Programming for a Kookieklatch, where I gave my Frostborn presentation to a group of enthusiastic kids (and a few adults). Then we all make Viking faces. (Thanks to Jim C. Hines for the photo!)

That evening a large group went to Greek Islands for a dinner organized by Mike Resnick, then I spent some time catching up with Tim Akers and his wife Jen, who had driven up not for the con but (kindly) just to see me. Then more time with old friends (though I didn't get enough time with Elizabeth Bear and Scott Lynch, sadly, who were just coming out when I was turning in).

Overall, Windycon 41 was a fun time made funner by friends old and new. Thanks very much to all the staff and volunteers, including but not limited to Deb Kosiba (Chair), Lisa Ragsdale (Children's Programming), Debbie Landmann, Rachel Landmann, Richard France, Cait Rupp, and Johnny Haberland (Guest Liaisons), Pat Sayre McCoy (Programming), and everyone I didn't meet but who worked hard to make it a successful and enjoyable con!