Discussion: #WLABBGoesPlaces - Obsidio Book Store Event

It's been a while, but sometimes, #WLABBGoesPlaces. Last week, I was lucky enough to attend the Obsidio tour stop in Princeton, NJ, and I must say, a good time was had by all.

A post shared by Sam Kozbial (@kozbisa) on Mar 14, 2018 at 6:34pm PDT

Once Jay Kristoff, Amie Kaufman, and Claire Legrand got settled, Mr. Kristoff welcomed the crowd with this heartfelt thank you. It was really lovely, and he talked about how "we" allowed them to quit their day jobs. I don't know about you, but I love a success story and seeing someone's dreams come to fruition, and of course, I shed a few happy tears.

Soon after, Legrand, who was an awesome moderator, polled the audience to see if there were any attendees, who had not read any of the books in the series. The reason? To prevent them from talking about spoilers. Can we give Claire Legrand a round of applause for that, because I will never forget the HUGE spoiler from the Cassandra Clare panel at BookCon (still bitter).

A post shared by Sam Kozbial (@kozbisa) on Mar 14, 2018 at 1:05pm PDT

In general, Kristoff and Kaufman are hilarious, and I loved the way they told their stories together. I laughed so much, and was totally entranced the entire time.

Highlights

• Kaufman and Kristoff told how the IRS and the W-8BEN form were responsible for bringing these two together. It was an amusing tale, and we laughed a ton. 
• They shared their co-writing process, which was really interesting, and it was mind-blowing how many things have to be considered with the way they told this story. 
• They gave us their X meets Y pitches for each book
• Illuminae - Battlestar Galactica meets 10 Things I Hate About You
• Gemina - Die Hard meets Alien
• The new series!!! - Guardians of the Galaxy meets Six of Crows 
• I was really excited to hear about the new series, because these two make magic together. In addition to the X meets Y pitch, Kaufman shared that "not the heroes we deserve, but the only ones in the room at the time." 
• They also talked about the astrophysicist, Brian Cox, who inspired their ideas for the new world. 
• A game of Tops and Tails was played for an ARC of Furyborn. I did not participate, since I already have a copy, but let me tell you, it was fun to watch. 
• Kaufman talked about her new book, Ice Wolves, and how she went to Iceland to research the book and how while there, she took wolf howling lessons. 
• I LEARNED SOMETHING REALLY COOL THAT NOBODY TOLD ME ABOUT. Apparently, if you take the jacket off any of the Illuminae Files book and hold it up to the light, you can find a message hidden therein. 

Overall, this was a wonderful event. I am sad that this is the last Illuminae Files book, but I am ecstatic that Kaufman and Kristoff are writing a new series together.

Have you been to any bookish events lately? 

Let us know in the comments!