New York Comic Con 2018 – Thursday, Oct. 4 – Part 2

After the Harry Potter and the Cursed Child panel I went to the live stage to see Ashley Eckstein talk about Her Universe and The Clone Wars being saved.

I took video of the 10 minute interview, but I am having some trouble uploading right now and will edit this post with a link to the video sometime soon.

I liked the part when she said she had to keep the secret about the Clone Wars being saved since January when she got a call from her agent and she didn’t believe it so she had to call up Dave Filoni to confirm it.

After, I roamed the Exhibit Hall and picked up these giveaways.

I’m Thinking of Ending Things by Iain Reid from Simon & Schuster.
From the Penguin booths:
The Passage by Justin Cronin
Green Rider by Kristen Britain
The Winter of the Witch by Katherine Arden -> I asked a few people at the booth if they had this ARC before someone found it in the back. I have all 3 now! More about this in Sunday’s post.

I also went to the Audible booth where they were having a special event all weekend for the 20th Anniversary of Harry Potter. The line was so long – about a 45 minute wait on Thursday and one hour on Saturday. You pick a character’s bottle for the “Pensive” (really just a headphone station) to hear a scene of theirs from the audiobook.

What is funny is that since July 31 I have been listening to the audiobooks and am now up to Deathly Hallows.

There are six characters to choose from Harry, Hermione, Ron, Dumbledore, Snape, and Voldemort. I would have liked to collect all 6, because you got to keep the bottle with their name, but I only got to do it twice. I picked Hermione first then Ron on Saturday. Hermione’s scene was when she slapped Malfoy. Ron… I think the machine malfunctioned, even though a repair man had just been there doing something to it, because the scene was when Bellatrix is torturing Hermione. And my sister went before me and she picked Harry and heard the exact same scene. So, yea, the machine was still busted, we think.

My sister went again on Sunday and picked Dumbledore. She heard the part when he tells Harry of the Prophecy and Voldemort’s need of it.

Another part of the Pensive experience was that you wave a wand in front of a camera, they add some smoke to the video and you send it to yourself to share on social media.

But the best part was the code they gave to redeem at Audible. I got a free credit and downloaded The Shining. Only allowed one code though, even though I went twice. My sister tried to add the second code and was told she already did it.

 

Cool cars!

 

I also went to the booth for The Colorful Geek.
I bought
– this Luna Lovegood notebook
-a baseball tee that says, “Don’t let the Muggles get you down”
-a sweatshirt that says, “Wingardium Leviosa”
-a t-shirt that says, “Mornings are for coffee and contemplation.” Even though I don’t drink coffee Hopper is my favorite on Stranger Things.

Speaking of Stranger Things, Penguin Random House had a replica of Mike’s Bike and was having a give away. I mostly went for the 3 Musketeers. I was so hungry. But I also recieved an excerpt from a book coming out in 2019, a Hawkins Library Card, and a photo of Hopper with his phrase “Mornings are for coffee and contemplation.”

The last panel of the day was for Pierce Brown. He discussed his Red Rising series, and the upcoming book Dark Age, with Peter V. Brett, bestselling author of the Demon Cycle.

This wasn’t just for people with NYCC badges. Those without badges had the opportunity to get tickets to it for $40. They got some swag with it: a pre-order of Dark Age, a Red Rising tote, pins, and one of Peter’s books.

The full panel was posted by Penguin Random House on youtube.

I’ll just sum up my favorite parts:

-Pierce talked about the difference between writing one POV and multiple POVs. Matching the interior arcs, the exterior arcs, the themes, and the climax of the story. An LOL moment was when he said – it sounds weird – but if all 3 or 4 of the POVs climax at the same time, it is a busy book.

-Peter and Pierce talked about their differences in writing. Peter writes 200 page outlines. Pierce doesn’t outline but he did once and it was 40 pages. When he looked back on it and compared it to the finished product only 3 characters’ names were the same. He gets irritated by characters and then kills them off.

-Random House was nice enough to compile a list of his characters, what page they were introduced on, and a list of Red Rising made up terms.
To me this sounds like the start of an Red Rising encyclopedia for the fans to buy. Hint, hint, wink, wink, nudge, nudge.

– Pierce has legal pads in his garage and leaves notes all around his house to never been seen again. If it’s an important idea it will stick. He likes to plan his day on paper, leave it and then go free form. He doesn’t want to get obsessed with the list.

– A part I really loved was when Peter asked if Eo would be proud. I totally agree with Pierce’s answer that she would be part of the Vox Populi.

-Another great discussion was about how Lyria has no agency. She is used by the people around her. Her journey is realizing this and lifting herself up. By the end if she didn’t have a conscience she would have made a different choice.

– There are some fun discussions about working with their translators, the cover art in different countries, and the fandom… A man who dressed as Darrow for Howler fest had lost an eye and had one made with a laser light in it. Pierce was so amazed he was poking the man’s laser glass eye. LOL

-There will be an announcement soon for the TV series.

-Pierce jokingly told the studio that in his contract there is a clause that he is playing Darrow. Which is funny because when my sister reads the books she pictures Pierce as Darrow.

-Audiobooks!! Pierce had less time with the new book to find narrators. There was some thought that Tim Gerard Reynolds would do all four characters, but then all the POVs sounded the same and an Irishman being a 16 year old girl is creepy.

Although he listened to samples of their work, an author never knows how they will interpret the character. Pierce felt that he portrayed Lyria as pissed off, but then she sounded breathy and whiny on the audiobook.
I only read Iron Gold so far and she sounded very angry to me. I will listen to the audiobook before Dark Age is released, but have heard others complain about her voice.

Peter sits in on a session when his books are recorded. He’ll discuss the character with the narrator and go over the pronunciations of words.

And that was Thursday!