Dark Days of Summer 2014 Recap

 L to R: Kiera, Kelley, Kimberly, Danielle

So a few weeks ago, the Dark Days of Summer with Kelley Armstrong, Kiera Cass, Kimberly Derting, and Danielle Paige started with a bang right here in Dallas. The Irving Library staff do a phenomenal job at organizing the event and decorating (humblebrag time: I helped a little bit so *pats self on the back*), and the crowd brought an amazing energy to the event. I had a fantastic time helping out with the event, and I even had the opportunity to interview the authors! If you live anywhere near the DFW metroplex, and you have never attended an event at the IPL, you are seriously missing out. If you don't live here, I suggest you come visit us for one of our events. It's ALWAYS a great time!

 Swag table! There were individual pieces to take home for each book in addition to book cover buttons. Crowns for The One, dagger necklaces for Sea of Shadows, blue gingham or red bows for Dorothy Must Die and firefly wand for The Taking! Let's just say there was a lot of hot gluing going on before the panel! 

Everything is going under the cut because it was a long panel. Please understand there may be some spoilers, but nothing huge for the featured books. For instance, Kiera does mention a crazy event in The Elite, but she was very careful to avoid spoilers for The One so you are safe on that account. And just fyi, in typical me fashion, there is a giveaway at the end.

Just before the panel, I got to spend about five minutes talking to Kiera about her books and about two talking to everybody else, which was just enough time for a couple questions. Since I got a little bit more time with Kiera, I'm going to save my interview with her for a post all about The Selection series.

Q. With the push for series novellas with Harper Impulse, will you be writing any shorts set in these worlds?

Kelley Armstrong (KA): I have no time. I do have a short story due soon for a charity anthology.

Kimberly Derting (KD): Maybe. If so, I will write and release them online myself. I prefer free.

Danielle Paige (DP): I think there will be two more, before the other two novels are released.

Q. Danielle, can you say anything about Dorothy Must Die being optioned for tv?

DP: It was optioned for the CW by the same team behind Heroes.

Q. How did you research?

DP: I loved the books as a kid and the movie. I've read all the books and focused on those, but yes, I have read all the books and seen the movies. I won't see the new tv shows, like Once Upon A Time, which had an episode about Oz. I don't want to be influenced by it.

Mmmm, ever-present tower o' cupcakes!

After that, it was time for the panel!

Q1. Kelley, in your book, Ashyn and Moria have a really close relationship with their dogs, a really special relationship. Why use dogs?
KA: They are twin girls, the Seeker and the Keeper. Ashyn is the Seeker, Moria is the Keeper.. Their dogs are bond beasts, very special. They're reincarnations of great warriors. They're bonded to the beasts and to each other.

Q2. You have created an Oz where everything is upside down, backwards.
DP: I envisioned a goth munchkin in front of the yellow brick road. I wanted to take things from the books and explore them. I took the primary features of the characters and twisted them. The lion is on steroids; there's the tin man's heart, and he has a crush. That sort of thing.
Was there a character who was difficult to flip?
DP: Dorothy herself.

Q3. Kimberly, your main character misses out on five years of her life, but it was difficult for her to prove. You used the dentist to prove she hadn't aged. Where did that idea come from?
KD: I came up with that while I was at the dentist. My daughter had a cavity, and the dentist said it had worsened over six months. I asked if I could talk to him and asked if he looked at x-rays five years apart, would there be any way for them to be identical. He said the root growth would change, bite wear would be different. No way for them to be the same.

Q4. Kiera, how are you feeling? Was there ever a time things were difficult? 

Kiera Cass (KC): I am stupid in love with the book. You can't make everyone happy so I've been mostly hiding.

Q5. Danielle, the first thing Amy sees is punishment, that someone needs an official attitude adjustment. That seems pretty immature. How old is Dorothy?
DP: Time flows slowly in Oz so whatever age you are when you get there, that's where you stay. Dorothy controls time so she's probably about seventeen.

Q6. Kelley, you have some awesome bad guy characters. How did you create them?
KA: The very first season of Game of Thrones starts in the forest. There's a massacre, lots of body parts, and that's what sparked the idea. The theory is that they are a fog, smoke like entity. Somewhat zombie but somewhat not. I get to play with a different form of zombies. I read ahead in A Song of Ice and Fire to make sure I made mine different so they wouldn't be influenced by the Others/White Walkers.

Q7. Kiera, did you ever eliminate someone from the Selection that you missed writing about?
KC: Everybody knows what happened to Marlee. Everyone was upset she didn't get more "screen time." By the third book, there are only four of them so I got to look at them all differently. And there is a friendship that I was really happy to write in The One [aside: that is seriously one of my favorite parts of The One!!].

Q8. Whose story was most interesting during that time?
KD: The person I found the most interesting was her father. He had coached all her teams. The dad who goes to all her conferences and attends everything. He fell apart when she just vanished. Thought she was abducted by aliens since he was with her when she disappeared. It was completely heartbreaking. How would it be to lose your child and have everything differently?

Audience questions:

Q9. What is your weirdest google search?
KC: What happens when you're caned. I wrote the scene and then pushed my laptop away.
KA: The world based on medieval Japan. The weirdest thing was undergarments for guys. What sumo wrestlers wear is really what they wear. There are videos and pictures how to put them on...
KD: For The Body Finder, I was always researching serial killers. Oh my gosh, I hope the FBI never looks at my computer. I looked up things like how hard you must saw through someone's neck to kill them.
DP: I just read the books [the originals]. But I did used to write for soaps so I had to research if a car could start with a defibrilator. Just so you know, it can't be done, but the director wanted to do it anyway.

Q10. Kiera, why did you write the scene where girls compare how far they've gone? 

KC: Sometimes we–mistakenly–think physical intimacy equates emotional intimacy so I wanted to explore that. It's not how it works. It was important for these four girls to weigh in, and they were able to see more or less where they ranked physically with Maxon when we could almost always see how they ranked emotionally as well.

Q11. Kelley, was there a sister you liked writing better than the other? 

KA: No. Sea of Shadows is dual narrated so I had to make sure I liked them both. There's the fighter and the quieter one, who feels overshadowed. And the character arcs, the quiet one needs to learn to stand on her own and the fighter needs to come down a little.

Q12. [Apologies! I missed this question!]
KD: I do it in all my books. Mom remarried, new stepdad she doesn't know, new little brother she doesn't even really like, and her dad is in this trailer talking conspiracies. He is not the dad she knew. I wanted to take a relationship that was super solid. The writer in me wanted to break it apart, knock them down, and see if they can build it back up.

Q13. [I missed this one too!]
DP: Amy can't believe you can still be queen bee if you're pregnant. She feels like she has no power in her high school, but in Oz, she has the tools.

Q14. How would you do in the Selection?
KC: I would bomb. Let's be real. I would fail. Etiquette wise, my flirt level...
 

 I forget the actual number, but 250+ in attendance!

Q15. Will there be a fifth Body Finder book?
KD: I don't think so, but I think I will do some short stories in the world and possibly a spin-off from Chelsea's point of view. She's very outspoken, and I think it would be fun to explore her a little.

Q16. I haven't finished Sea of Shadows, but I heard about a place in Japan...
KA: Yes, that's where the title came from. It's based on the sea of trees in Japan. It's the number two place for suicide in the world; first is the Golden Gate Bridge. Volunteers go in with yellow tape to find their way out, to bring peace to the families.

Q17. I'm a fan of Darkest Powers. You said there will be a short story for Chloe. Anything else?
KA: There will be an online novella about Derek and Chloe after The Rising. I have ideas for stories. They're relatively safe for now, but in a couple years, they face a difficult choice. The question is really if readers want it. It's the same universe as Otherworld, but that time has passed where they are. They would be 20, so yes, they would age up.

Q18. Dorothy Must Die has been optioned for a tv show. Do you have a dream cast?
DP: Absolutely Lindsey Lohan for Dorothy. If she can pull it together.

Q19. In the Selection Stories, you said many of the girls' names are rejected baby names. What are your favorite and least favorite?
KC: I loved America. Hubby said no, and we named our kids Guyden and Zuzu so go figure. I also loved Emmica and Amberley.

Q20. Kiera, are your characters based off anyone?
KC: The boys are both based off my husband. [awwws from the audience] Maxon's nerdiness and romantic; that's Callaway. [and again, I apologize, but I missed the traits she said that Aspen portrayed. However, you've all read the book so you know his good parts. ;)]

Q21. Who would you pick as your co-author for a novel?
KD: I don't know if I could write with anyone else. I know people who do that, but I'm too much of a control freak. Some writers write over the top of each other. It would freak me out.

KA: Melissa [Marr] and I do NOT do that. We alternate chapters. We edit our characters' dialog in each other's chapters.

Q22. Danielle, do you feel hatred toward Dorothy?
DP: It would sound like it, but I have love for her. I think if you have a villain, you have to love them.

That concluded the panel, and it was then time for the extraordinarily long signing line, but the line was fun because I got to stand around and chat with everybody in it. Seriously, everybody. I was the line guard. ;)

Giveaway: 

Those of you who have been with me at least since February know that this is my second Dark Days tour of the year as I also attended the winter tour when it hit Nashville. So I'm doing a combined giveaway for both tours. There will be two winners (US only). The first person I pull up on Rafflecopter will have their choice of either a signed Winter or Summer prize pack. What's in those packs? Glad you asked.

Winter prize pack: signed copies of Sophie Jordan's Uninvited, Kiersten White's Perfect Lies, Veronica Rossi's Into the Still Blue, and Tahereh Mafi's Shatter Me.

Summer prize pack: signed copies of Kelley Armstrong's Sea of Shadows, Danielle Paige's Dorothy Must Die, Kimberly Derting's The Taking, and Kiera Cass's The One.

Check out my recap of the Winter tour HERE.

a Rafflecopter giveaway