From Where I'm Standing [12] - SOKY 2013

After attending the Southern Kentucky Book Fest for the first time last year (which you can read about here), I knew I was going to keep this event permanently inked on my calendar.

Not only was I excited to return because it is an awesome event, but this year some of my favorite authors were in attendance, and one of which I had not yet gotten to see. So with my friend Caitlyn in the passenger seat, off to Bowling Green we went.

Like most things I go to, we were just a bit behind schedule, but we made it to the room where the YA Fantasy/Science Fiction panel was about to take place. We found seats next to my blogger buddy Lauren of The Housework Can Wait and settled in.



On the panel were authors C.J. Redwine, Jessica Khoury,  Myra McEntire, Julie Cross, and Les Johnson.

The authors were asked the usual questions about their writing process, how they research for their stories, and about their books. Myra McEntire and C.J. Redwine were as funny as ever and it was nice to hear from Jessica Khoury and Julie Cross as I had not seen them at an event before. Les Johnson had a fascinating background as his science fiction work was based in actual science, seeing that he works for NASA.

After the panel, Caitlyn and I headed to the giant room of authors and tables upon tables of books. We talked with several of the YA authors and I finally got to meet one of my absolute faves, Julie Kagawa. We also got to see the exploding TARDIS that Lauren's husband made (find more of his stuff here) and we couldn't help but play with it. After picking up several books, and having them signed, both for ourselves and our friends whose babies were keeping them at home, we took a break and went for lunch.

We came back in time for the YA Paranormal panel that featured Julie Kagawa and the wonderful Kelly Creagh, whom I met for the first time last year. They are both great and we had fun listening to them speak about their books. After, we returned to the big room and chatted with the authors a little while longer before getting on the road back to Tennessee.

While SOKY was our main objective on this trip, Caitlyn and I also had plans to stop in Nashville for a little shopping. First, we went to the huge used book store, McKay's, and bought even more books, then we went to Opry Mills to visit Hot Topic. What we were in search of there was some My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic merchandise (specifically a vinyl Dr. Hooves) but they didn't have what we were looking for (I had to pretend the table full of Dr. Who merch wasn't there or I probably wouldn't have left at all). Then we had some food court treats and went home.

All in all, it was a fantastic day, until we got back to our town and my car promptly died. It turned out to be a major issue, and I felt it a bit more because I had just gotten all those books, but it all turned out okay in the end. Suffice it to say, nothing can keep me from these awesome events and all those amazing books. I have at least three more events I'm planning on attending, so until next time quirks!