Gotham gal
I'm back from New York! The city of Batmanly love.
On our quick trip, we managed to get down to Battery Park City and see the Irish Hunger Memorial. If you can tell from this picture, it's like a huge, floating island, as if a piece of Ireland landed on Manhattan, sitting upon a metal and cement pedestal. It's fantastic. 
To get onto the island, you have to walk through this tunnel, lined with quotes about Ireland, hunger, and the devastating potato famine. Through the speakers plays a marvelous sound piece, with music and interviews with people and stories--it's difficult to describe, but all so moving and passionate and fascinating. And it was done by my artist best friend, Ms. Rosi Hayes. I'm so stinkin' proud.
Major highlight--I got to see Ms. Libba Bray again! (and her ADORABLE son Josh, too) Sigh. How I miss my Libba. We were only together for about an hour and it just wasn't enough. I wish someone would invent a pocket-sized Libba for travel. But she'd have to be three ounces or less or I'd never get her past airport security. It's a little bit irksome how she's all, "My husband and kid and house are in New York so I can't come live with you in Utah, Shannon." Whatever. Where's the friendship? Where's the love?
At Comicon, I met a really cool six-year-old girl named Trixie (her dad is Mo Willems or something, whoever he is) and she signed a copy of Knuffle Bunny for my kids! I saw lots of storm troopers and superheroes. I did a panel with Holly Black. (If you said "Holly who?" then go read either The Spiderwick Chronicles or Tithe, depending on your age.) Holly is, as always, gorgeous, funny, insightful, and still somehow unaware that we're BFFs. Weird. I love this photo--you see the fantastic Sarah Beth Durst in the background? And I'm holding a Ken doll with paper wings, a gift from the fabulous Libba. She used this incarnation of the creepy winged guy from the music video of "Total Eclipse of the Heart" to take the place of me when she did a book event in Brooklyn. I'm so honored to now own this creepy icon of 80's bizzaro masculinity. He sings to me. In the night. And enfolds me in his rock n' roll wings.
I had dinner with a group of fantastically cool librarians. Librarians just plain rock. There's no two ways about it. And I got to hang out with my hubby sans children for the first time in, like, forever. Great trip. Quick trip. Effulgent love to my brother and sister-in-law for loving Max and Maggie all weekend.
I have so many books I want to read! I have a stack of Must Read Nows on my bedside, including The Host. (Yeah, I hung out with Stephenie Meyer last weekend and she gave me a copy of The Host. It's no big deal, we're such close friends I won't even bother to mention it...what, you mean I did mention it? Whoops, silly me!) One series I've been dying to dive into is Fablehaven, by the very cool Brandon Mull. I started the first book this week and so far I'm loving it. Great storytelling, fun and fascinating fantasy, where normal life meets the unusual, fantastic, and eerie. If you're in the Salt Lake area, this Friday he's having a big book release party at the Cottonwood High auditorium at 6:30--free event with an improv comedy troupe starting off the fun at 6 pm. Should be a riot.