Friday, June 7, 2013

BEA Day 3: Why Are Those Girls from Brave Dressed as Ninjas?

I was pretty much over BEA when I left the Javits Center on Thursday.  I'd already shipped a box of books home and had no desire to ship anymore or try to carry them on the plane.  But Octavia Spencer was going to be signing her new book on Friday and I didn't want to miss her, especially after I saw that she'd favorited one of my tweets.

 Yes, people.  Academy Award winning actress Octavia Spencer is also author Octavia Spencer.  Her first foray into the world of writing is a series aimed at the middle school crowd, Randi Rhodes, Ninja Detective: The Case of the Time-Capsule Bandit.  I hadn't seen the book cover before receiving my copy, so when I saw a bunch of short women wearing red wigs, I kept wondering, "Why is that little girl from Brave dressed in all black?"  I've not seen Brave and I can't tell you what the girl wore in it, but it wasn't until I realized all of the actresses were wearing ninja outfits that it dawned on me.  They were supposed to be Randi Rhodes!

Unlike the other authors that I met at BEA who took time to talk to readers, Ms. Spencer really didn't have time for that.  Her signing started at 11 a.m. and when I got on line at 10:40, I was number 41 and the line quickly got longer.  With just an hour to sign, there was no way she could stop and chit chat with everyone that came through or personalize each book.  She did smile and ask how I was though.  I've seen her promoting Sensa in her tweets and I could definitely tell that she'd lost weight, so you know, got get your Sensa on if you feel the need.

Since I was back at the Javits that day, I went to check out another author whose publicist had reached out to me about her book before the conference.  Her website described her as Chelsea Handler-like, and while I liked one of Chelsea's books, I don't care for her overall, so I was hesitant about picking up On My Knees by Periel Aschenbrand.  I was expecting an obnoxious, abrasive, loud and opinionated woman, but Periel was sooooo nice...and hot.  No, really. One of the first things she said to me was that she was hot, then she pushed back from the table and I could see why.  She was pregnant, very pregnant.  We commiserated about summer pregnancies and other things.

Once I escaped the Javits, it was only appropriate that I get my tourist on.  We hopped on one of the 'Hop On, Hop Off" buses and headed uptown...where we ate...Popeye's.  I swear we did.  Yes, we have Popeye's right here in St. Louis, so don't ask me why I was all excited to be eating at one in Harlem like the chicken was going to be more authentic or something.  I was impressed by their fancy new soda machine and their five wing meal deal, since we only get three wings here and pay just $ 1 less than they do.

A few of the books I picked up
So yeah, we tried to do tourist stuff, but that didn't work out so well.  We had a great dinner at Ruby Foo's that night and I finally got to meet @kevinrfree and he is <Oprah voice> fabuloussssssss.  Kevin is an actor who also narrates audio books.  I'm really fascinated by the whole audio book process so I peppered him with questions until the other dinner guests started giving me the, "girl, would you shut the hell up" look.  Kevin has agreed to let me interview him in the near future for the blog, so if you have questions you'd like him to answer, be sure to send them my way.

More books
I can't say for sure if I'll do BEA again next year.  For the amount of money I spent on registration, plane tickets, hotel and meals (not to mention cabs), I don't know if it was worth it for the 20 or so books I came home with.  I'll have to see how I feel about it next year.


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