More Than Just Magic

Last Thursday I was lucky enough to be invited to a specail “Penguin Blogger Party”. Now it’s always a good time when us Toronto area bloggers get together (or bloggers in general for that matter) but this event was especially exciting because not only did Penguin provide some absolutely gorgeous cupcakes, but they also invited authors Morgan Rhodes (Falling Kingdoms) and Adrienne Kress (The Friday Society) to join in the fun.

Once we arrived we were greeted by the lovely people of Penguin Canada, who provided us with pizza and the prettiest cupcakes ever.

On the screen at the front of the room, they had slides of our blurbs for Falling Kingdoms and The Friday Society. I was excited to see my name up there for both books! You can check out the reviews those blurbs came from HERE and HERE.

Once we had all been fed, and had a chance to catch up with one another. Morgan and Adrienne came out for a question and answer period. They were being interviewed by Faze magazine, but we were encouraged to add in our own questions. We learned a lot of great things about both ladies and I’ve compiled some of my favourite facts for you below!

Adrienne Kress!

• Though Canadian, she did live in London for 3 years. But she still had to do a lot of research for The Friday Society. But there are certain locations in the novel that she did frequent and couldn’t help but put in.
• She came up with the idea for The Friday Society after watching the trailer for Sucker Punch. Originally jealous that she didn’t think of the idea first. But when saw the movie and hated it she thought about what she would have done differently.
• The characters she loved writing were Officer Murphy and the Great Rahim.
• Before writing The Friday Society, she read a lot of YA but now she’s reading a lot of adult contemporary.
• She assured us that there will never be a relationship between the girls and their bosses. It would lead to a weird power dynamic shift <— I know I was really happy to see an author take this position.
• There IS a sequel to The Friday Society but no contract (yet!)
• Considers herself a reluctant reader (and has a great blog post about it)
• Some recommended reads: The Pattern Scars by Caitlin Sweet and Falling Under by Danielle Younge-Ullman  <— Both Canadian adult speculative fiction!

Morgan Rhodes!

• Has a series bible for Falling Kingdoms, with all her characters names, descriptions, places etc.
• Moved into high fantasy because she wanted more characters to play with and a bigger tapestry to place them in.
• Her favourite characters to write were Magnus and Cleo <— who happen to be my two favourite characters to read about!
• She enjoys killing characters! She knew who was going to die from the beginning. The decision to kill someone were very pragmatic but when she got to scenes they were every emotional to write.
• She’s currently reading The Indigo Spell and Delirium
• Falling Kingdoms will have not one, not two but THREE MORE BOOKS!

HUGE Thank You to Penguin Canada, Adrienne and Morgan for the fabulous event!