BEA 2011 - Day One

Well my first day at my first BEA has come to a close.  All in all, I enjoyed it.   I expected it to be much crazier than it was and the attendees to be more aggressive (I'll tell ya, it was no Comic Con).  I had read some accounts of pushing and shoving at previous events but for the most part I found people to be friendly-ish and well behaved.  The worst thing that happened was the woman in front of me in one of the book lines allowed her friend to cut.  I let it go.  Life's too short.  Just 'cause she's a douche doesn't mean I have to be a dick.


I was not a greedy pete.  Although I came home with quite a few books, I didn't take a book unless I had an interest in reading it.  So, just about everything I got falls under the broad band of spec fiction.
The one book I was really hoping to get and didn't was Sophie Littlefield's Aftertime.  Originally, for the month of June, I was planning to review a bunch of graphic novels that have been in my TBR pile for way too long.  But since I am currently reading Rhiannon's Frater's The First Days and I just received some zombie themed novels at BEA, I'm thinking the theme for June should be zombies.  I guess I'll have to get a copy of Aftertime to fill out the selections.

I also went to the panel, The Legacy: Feminism in Fiction Today, with Francine Prose, Karen Russell and Julie Otsuka which was sponsored by Granta in honor of their spring issue, The F Word (Feminism).  Before the panel began, I overheard a fellow behind me tell the woman next to him that he was at this panel because his book club used to read a woman author who's book featured a strong female lead until (in his words), the author turned her into a slut.  The woman asked the name of the author.  Any guesses on who it was?  If you guessed Laurell K. Hamilton, you'd be right.  I laughed out loud when I heard this guy's answer.
The panel turned out to be very interesting.  I was exhausted and had a pretty bad headache by this point but I had no problem paying attention.  Moderated by John Freeman, the editor of Granta, the women discussed such things as the ways women become readers growing up and the characters and the books that resonated with them.  The F Word (Feminism) comes out June 21, 2011.

Sp tomorrow, I'm hoping will be an easier day.  Today I spent a lot of time getting a general sense of the convention.  Tomorrow my schedule will be more defined, with some time to wander if I want although I have a feeling I'll be spending more time sitting when not waiting on a line.  I'd like to get books from Victoria Dahl, Melissa Marr, Erin Morgenstern, Jeremy Wagner and Mira Grant, all of whom are doing signings.  I also plan on attending the panels Book Banning 2011 and SciFi Fantasy: Tor Authors.  If you happen to see me, say hello.  I'll probably mumble awkwardly, incoherently explain my blog and forget to give you my business card before making my escape.  That's how I roll at large events.  But know that I will then spend the next 1/2 hour castigating myself for being such a dork.
See you at BEA!