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Date: April 28, 2003 April 26 & 27, 2003 saw the yearly return of the L.A. Times Festival of Books. As always, the event drew large crowds of people to listen to the various panels and Q&A's by authors, editors and publishers on topics ranging from "The Art of Fiction" to "How to Get an Agent". Along with panels, there were plenty of book dealers selling their wares as well as autograph sessions all day long with authors and local TV and radio personalities. You could have books signed by everyone from Elmore Leonard to KISS's Gene Simmons to KABC's Larry Elder. The Festival this year included such bestselling author guests as Ray Bradbury, Michael Crichton and Mary Higgins Clark. Every genre of writing was well represented and it was a rare chance for fans to speak with such superstar writers. Perhaps because tickets for the various author panels went on sale on Easter Sunday this year and several of the regular Ticketmaster venues were closed for the day, there was an unusually large crowd who stood in line to get tickets. But though it took an hour to get up to the front of the line, the WriterGroupie still got the ticket she wanted for Saturday the 26th: the "Writing the Fantastic" panel featuring science fiction, fantasy and horror authors Terry Brooks, Greg Bear, Harry Turtledove and Laurell K. Hamilton. And though it turned out to be an all-around entertaining panel with topics of discussion from "How do you keep your fantasy writing so realistic?" (answer: research everything that takes place in the 'real world') to "Why do you write in the genre you've chosen?" (answer: it's what they want to read that hasn't been written yet), the WriterGroupie must admit she was most interested in hearing Ms. Hamilton speak. In the past few years, Laurell Hamilton has made an end-run around Anne Rice to become the vampire author of choice among horror fans with her exciting 'Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter' series of books. Her most recent novel is Cerulean Sins. Ms. Hamilton turned out to be incredibly bright, funny and inspiring in person and was a pleasure to meet after the panel at her autograph signing. If you haven't checked out Laurell K. Hamilton's books, you're definitely missing out. A caveat, as the series continues, the subject matter becomes more 'adult' in nature (a topic that was addressed at the panel) and therefore the audience for her books is appropriately, equally adult. As with any event this large, there are always compromises to be made. You can't attend every
panel or signing happening at once. But with such a plethora of options to choose from, you could
equally never be bored! Book fairs and book festivals are always exciting for the WriterGroupie
and the next event she hopes to attend will be Book Expo America in L.A.
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