comic con & texas & things

Spent last weekend at New York Comic Con, which was only my second Comic Con experience after San Diego in 2011, and it somehow managed to be calmer and yet just as overwhelming.

Friday we wandered up and down the floor and sort of stared at everything. One thing that seems to be a staple of Comic Cons, there’s so much to look at. We saw some fantastic costumes and caught up with my friend Eric at the Quirk booth and while we pawed through a great many boxes we were unsuccessful in our quest for volume 4 of the deluxe Ex Machina, so the hunt continues. (We have 1-3 & 5! Why is 4 the elusive one?!)

Saturday was my signing and I was amazed how many people came by for it, I believe they cut off the line after 100 people because that’s how many books we had to give away. Thank you to everyone who waited and put up with my circus tent stamping shenanigans. My apologies for anyone who wasn’t able to make it or missed the line cut-off!

Afterwards we did one more little baby loop of the floor and got a Portal 2 t-shirt (combustible lemons!) and I made a friend and had to take him home with me.

new friendHe’s a puppet, his head moves up & down or side-to-side with a hidden cord. He’s from Imaginarium Galleries, they had a fantastic booth covered with all sorts of marvelous creatures and of course I couldn’t resist even though we were attempting to have a rule about no more creatures in the apartment. Ah well.

I was recovering from a head cold already, so of course I caught the con plague. It’s almost entirely gone now, though I was asleep for a few days there.

Luckily I had enough time to recover because I am off to Texas tomorrow for One Book Odessa which sounds like it should be absolutely splendid. They’ve been up to circusy things all month and now there’s a gala tomorrow evening (music! magicians! tarot reading! costumes! I still don’t know what to wear!) and then I’m doing an onstage interview & signing on Friday. If you are in the area do please come, more information at all of the links.

Also, after this I will not be doing events for a very, very long time, because I have to write. Right now I have nothing public scheduled for the rest of this year and I’m trying not to schedule anything for next year, either. I need the hibernation time. I’m sorry, I love to go see people and I’m getting really good at signing my name but I still haven’t been able to focus the way I need to on new writing things. Still figuring this whole thing out as I go along.

flax-golden tales: the leaf painters

the leaf paintersthe leaf painters 

Sometimes the leaf painters are overly enthusiastic.

(They only get to paint once a year, after all.)

Sometimes fragile leaves are covered with so much color that it overexcites and overwhelms their already temporary leaf natures.

Some freshly painted leaves let go too soon, seduced by the promise of a dance with even the gentlest breeze.

For other leaves the new colors are so bright and hot and strange that they burn out like flames.

They fall to the ground, crisp and brown, faded and exhausted and confused.

(Leaves are sensitive things.)

But once in awhile the painters get everything right.

Reds and russets and oranges and golds gently applied and perfectly balanced, dancing with the lingering greens, not too much or too bright or too fast.

And the painted leaves just glow, warm and surprised and delighted.

 

About flax-golden tales. Photo by Carey Farrell. Text by Erin Morgenstern.

nycc

This is an announcement regarding New York Comic Con.

Saturday October 12th I will be signing copies of The Night Circus from 4pm-5pm at the Random House Booth. #2205, I think. Books will be free (as far as I know) until there are no more books and then I will still likely sign whatever until there are no more pens or until we have to go home.

On Friday October 11th I will be running around the floor doing fangirl type things and trying to find Volume 4 of the deluxe edition of Ex Machina. Feel free to say hello if you see me.

flax-golden tales: pumpkin picking

pumpkin pickingpumpkin picking

You must pick a pumpkin.

You are not allowed to leave without one.

(And trust us, you don’t want to stay here.)

The pumpkins are more or less identical, relatively similar in size and shape with subtle deviations in stems and shades of orange.

Their contents… vary.

Three contain fulfillments for wishes which must be wished immediately or the previously pumpkin-contained opportunities will vanish into the autumn air, forever lost.

A few are occupied by tiny creatures, each unique and some more tamable than others.

One holds instant death.

Take your time, but you have to pick one.

That’s the rule.

 

About flax-golden tales. Photo by Carey Farrell. Text by Erin Morgenstern.

flax-golden tales: broken horses

broken horsesbroken horses

broken horses are still wild
only worn and wounded by time
no amount of harm can diminish their passion
their spirit will remain even if hooves and hearts and memories are lost
being trapped in stone is not the same as being tamed
it simply makes them stronger
changing form cannot change nature
even broken horses run
so fast and swift that the pain
disappears in the wind

 

About flax-golden tales. Photo by Carey Farrell. Text by Erin Morgenstern.