On Saturday, May 8, 1993, a new store opened in Clairemont Square, dedicated to the staff’s passion for books of “Martians, Murder, Magic and Mayhem.” Today, more than twenty years later, that passion continues. We invite you to join us on Saturday, May 7, for our annual all-day celebration, featuring some fantastic spotlight authors, a celebration of our still new to us location, and, of course, cake!
10:00 AM: Mystery Morning
Authors Gregory Harris, Linda O. Johnston, Kwei Quartey, and Lida Sideris
11:00 AM: Middle Grade Magic
Authors Cameron Baity and Benny Zelkowicz
Noon: Young Adult Author Panel
Authors Elizabeth Briggs, Jennifer Brody, Tobie Easton, Eric Laster, and Sara Wolf
1:00 PM: Discussing Dragons
Authors Marie Brennan and Todd Lockwood
2:00 PM: Suspense Spotlight
Authors Kelley Armstrong, Daryl Wood Gerber, Elena Hartwell, and Gavin Scott
3:00 PM: CAKE!
3:30 PM: Fantastic Speculations
Authors Marie Andreas, Gini Koch, Jonathan Maberry, and Sharon Skinner
10:00 AM: Mystery Morning
Authors Gregory Harris, Linda O. Johnston, Kwei Quartey, and Lida SiderisMaster sleuth Colin Pendragon and his trusted partner, Ethan Pruitt, leave their familiar cosmopolitan London for rural Sussex County, where the bucolic peace has been shattered by the murder of a monk
At the request of his father, Pendragon and Pruitt travel to the town of Dalwich, where a gruesome crime has desecrated the hallowed halls of Whitmore Abbey. The abbott has been slaughtered in his cell with multiple stab wounds and his tongue cut out. Although Father Demetris, the local bishop's associate, has faith that the killer must be an outsider from the village, Pendragon considers no man above suspicion--including the brooding brothers of the order.
But before Pendragon and Pruitt can make much progress in their investigation, a second corpse is found--a barmaid who has been mutilated in the same way as the monk. Now they must determine if there is a connection between the butchered Benedictine and the victim from the village. Whether the killer comes from within the walls of Whitmore Abbey or without, it will be up to Pendragon and Pruitt to illuminate--and unravel--a deadly mystery before more lives are lost.
10:00 AM: Mystery Morning
Authors Gregory Harris, Linda O. Johnston, Kwei Quartey, and Lida SiderisWatch out Southern California! There's a new entertainment attorney in town and she's got game. Only problem is, it’s not the one she should be playing. Corrie Locke belongs behind a desk, not behind a Glock. She should be taking VIP calls, not nosing around a questionable suicide. Instead, she's hot on the trail of a murderer.
Luckily, she's the daughter of a late, great private eye and she's inherited his love of sleuthing…and illegal weaponry. It doesn't help matters that her gene for caution is a recessive one. Corrie finds herself in the center of a murder case, unearthing suspects in shocking places. With a cold-blooded killer on the loose, Corrie will have to up her game, or die trying.
Noon: Young Adult Author Panel
Authors Elizabeth Briggs, Jennifer Brody, Tobie Easton, Eric Laster, and Sara WolfElena Martinez is a young woman without a future until Aether Corporation offers her a job, but it means traveling to the future and back. But the journey is nothing Elena expected and she wonders if she can save herself before it's too late.
Noon: Young Adult Author Panel
Authors Elizabeth Briggs, Jennifer Brody, Tobie Easton, Eric Laster, and Sara WolfOne thousand years after a cataclysmic event leaves humanity on the brink of extinction, the descendants of the chosen survivors take refuge in thirteen contingency shelters buried deep underground, at the bottom of the ocean, and in the far reaches of outer space. In the underwater 13th Continuum, sixteen-year-old Myra Jackson has heard rumors and whisperings all her life of a magical place called "The Surface where people could breathe fresh air, feel the warmth of something called sunlight on their skin, and see things known as stars and trees and mountains. Myra has never dared to ask whether the stories are true, since the act of speaking such words aloud is an offense punishable by death. But after she discovers that the air supply aboard her underwater colony is running out, she realizes that her only hope for survival is to find this mysterious place. To get there, she must first recover the only guide to the Surface the Beacon, an ancient device that also connects her to Captain Aero Wright, a dashing young soldier from one of the only remaining space colonies. With the fate of all humankind depending on them, Myra and Aero must escape the tyrannical forces that rule their colonies, journey through the black depths of the ocean and across the cold void of space, to find each other on the Surface that their ancestors once called home.
Noon: Young Adult Author Panel
Authors Elizabeth Briggs, Jennifer Brody, Tobie Easton, Eric Laster, and Sara WolfLia Nautilus may be a Mermaid but she’s never lived in the ocean. War has ravaged the seven seas ever since the infamous Little Mermaid unleashed a curse that stripped Mer of their immortality. Lia has grown up in a secret community of land-dwelling Mer hidden among Malibu’s seaside mansions. Her biggest problems are surviving P.E. and keeping her feelings for Clay Ericson in check. Sure, he’s gorgeous in that cocky, leather jacket sort of way and makes her feel like there’s a school of fish swimming in her stomach, but getting involved with a human could put Lia's entire community at risk. So it’s for the best that he’s dating that new girl, right? That is, until Lia finds out she isn't the only one at school keeping a potentially deadly secret. And this new girl? Her eyes are dead set on Clay, who doesn't realize the danger he's in. If Lia hopes to save him, she’ll have to get closer to Clay. Lia’s parents would totally flip if they found out she was falling for a human boy, but the more time she spends with him, the harder it is for her to deny her feelings. After making a horrible mistake, Lia will risk everything to stop Clay from falling in love with the wrong girl.
Noon: Young Adult Author Panel
Authors Elizabeth Briggs, Jennifer Brody, Tobie Easton, Eric Laster, and Sara WolfWhen Curtis Brooks starts receiving phone calls from his older brother Wilt, who s been dead a week, he s sure it s to help him find evidence that will lead to a murderer s arrest. But Wilt claims he wasn t murdered; his calling, meant to help him adjust, is standard protocol for newly deceased at the Aftermarta kind of inescapable, ever-expanding Walmart filled with discontinued products.
Wilt s death ruled a homicide, Curtis embarks on a dangerous plan to find the killer, which soon has him scheming against a billionaire and floundering toward love with his brother s ex-girlfriend Suzy, all while struggling through high school and his single mom s poor choices.
Why does Wilt help Curtis win over Suzy, even as he organizes a rebellion at the Aftermart? Who d wanted him dead? Curtis risks his life to answer these questions, in the process forging a bond with his brother unlike any they ve ever had.
Noon: Young Adult Author Panel
Authors Elizabeth Briggs, Jennifer Brody, Tobie Easton, Eric Laster, and Sara WolfSeventeen-year-old Isis Blake hasn t fallen in love in three years, nine weeks, and five days, and after what happened last time, she intends to keep it that way. Since then she s lost eighty-five pounds, gotten four streaks of purple in her hair, and moved to Buttcrack-of-Nowhere, Ohio, to help her mom escape a bad relationship.
All the girls in her new school want one thing Jack Hunter, the Ice Prince of East Summit High. Hot as an Armani ad, smart enough to get into Yale, and colder than the Arctic, Jack Hunter s never gone out with anyone. Sure, people have seen him downtown with beautiful women, but he s never given high school girls the time of day. Until Isis punches him in the face.
Jack s met his match. Suddenly everything is a game.
The goal: Make the other beg for mercy.
The game board: East Summit High.
The reward: Something neither of them expected.Previously published as "Lovely Vicious," this fully revised and updated edition is full of romance, intrigue, and laugh-out-loud moments.
2:00 PM: Suspense Spotlight
Authors Kelley Armstrong, Daryl Wood Gerber, Elena Hartwell, and Gavin ScottIn the new Cheese Shop Mystery from the Agatha Award-winning author of "As Gouda as Dead," an extra-sharp tongued cheese critic is cut down during a summer cheese festival.
It's time for the annual Cheese Festival in Providence, Ohio, and Charlotte Bessette's cheese shop is packed with homemade specialties. Meanwhile, her friend Erin is prepping her dairy farm and inn for cheese makers, marketers, journalists, and one surprise guest Lara Berry, pretentious cheese whiz, pompous bestselling author, and pungent critic whose extra sharp tongue can crumble a reputation.
Even though any love for Lara by her friends curdled long ago, Charlotte is surprised when the foodie is smothered to death in her room at Erin's inn. Accusations start flying, but the one laying blame on Erin strikes Charlotte as a crock. Now, to clear her friend's name, Charlotte has to sift through Lara's ex-lovers, former business partners, and unforgiving enemies to find a killer before Lara's past casts a tainted pall on the festival's future.
RECIPES INCLUDED.
3:30 PM: Fantastic Speculations
Authors Marie Andreas, Gini Koch, Jonathan Maberry, and Sharon SkinnerThe President and First Lady, aka Jeff and Kitty Katt-Martini, don’t get any downtime once the Mastermind has been revealed to the world. Not only do they have myriad high-level government positions to fill, but the scrutiny and pressure on this Administration has gone into overdrive.
The sudden reappearance of a long-forgotten adversary turns out to be the tip of the iceberg. New robots and androids attacking, old enemies making new alliances, and new aliens with interesting abilities almost overshadow the fact that the U.S. still has to host a peace summit at Camp David between Israel and Iraq. It’s clear that while the Mastermind may be down, there are plenty of others ready to take his place—and all that stands between them and success are Kitty and Company.
Kidnappings, rescues, creepy hideouts, a hidden black site, and a domestic dispute that could end Jeff and Kitty’s marriage are nothing compared to finding not one but two hidden labs where dangerous and deadly things are brewing.
But when the President and his entourage finally get to the peace talks, things are no better. Mossad rightly suspects something’s wrong with both their Prime Minister and the President of Iraq. A hidden in-control superbeing, an android replacement, and an army of Fem-Bots turn the peace talks into a Battle Royale that the team might not actually survive. And if they don’t make it, Earth won’t make it, either.
But no pressure.
3:30 PM: Fantastic Speculations
Authors Marie Andreas, Gini Koch, Jonathan Maberry, and Sharon SkinnerWhat do you do when the power goes off?
Terrorists have acquired a terrible new weapon that can crash the power grid and plunge America into a new dark age. A coordinated attack is planned to shut out all lights and emergency services to ten major cities. Planes will fall, hospitals will go dark, no help will come.
And in that terrible darkness a dreadful plague will be released. If the lights go off, nothing can stop the bioweapon from killing millions.
At the same time the intelligence services are being torn apart from within by a plague of betrayal, murder and suicide. Even the Department of Military Sciences is stumbling in its response to the growing threat.
Time is running out. And Joe is being hunted by a terrifying new kind of assassin. A team of remote viewers have the ability to take over any person and turn ordinary citizens into killers. Where can you turn when there s nobody left to trust?
Joe Ledger faces his deadliest challenge as friends and allies become enemies and all of the lights begin to go out.
3:30 PM: Fantastic Speculations
Authors Marie Andreas, Gini Koch, Jonathan Maberry, and Sharon SkinnerThe dead rose. We fell. The survivors are trapped in a world of monsters who prey on the helpless. Some of them are zombies...but they are not the only predators who feed on pain and suffering. DARK OF NIGHT is a story of worlds in collision. Three heroes who have survived the apocalypse are in a deadly race to save a busload of children from ravenous zombies and ruthless human scavengers. This brand new novella brings together three of New York Times bestseller Jonathan Maberry's award-winning novel series. Captain Joe Ledger (PATIENT ZERO and CODE ZERO), Officer Desdemona Fox (DEAD OF NIGHT and FALL OF NIGHT), and Rachael Elle (BITS & PIECES, a Rot & Ruin novel) are caught between an endless wave of the living dead and an army of corrupt men who want to enslave the last human survivors. Jonathan Maberry teams with debut novelist Rachael Lavin to tell a sweeping story of adventure, horror, and heroism. In the midst of a midlife crisis, Todd is haunted by Chloe, the lover who died not long after their relationship ended. When Chloe escapes Hell in search of the peaceful rest that has eluded her, a demon named Samael is on her trail and she needs Todd's help. While on the run Todd and Chloe face demons real and personal, soul-threatening danger, and their long-buried feelings for each other.
3:30 PM: Fantastic Speculations
Authors Marie Andreas, Gini Koch, Jonathan Maberry, and Sharon SkinnerIf we turn our backs on who we are, who knows what danger we ourselves may become?" Determined to discover the truth of her heritage, Kira resumes her journey. Together with Milos, and accompanied by her loyal companions, Kelmir and Vaith, she sets sail for the strange land across the Faersent Sea. But when she arrives in her mother's homeland, what awaits her is not the welcoming arms of loving relatives, but a land filled with political strife, dark intrigue, and a family secret that could shatter everything.
3:30 PM: Fantastic Speculations
Authors Marie Andreas, Gini Koch, Jonathan Maberry, and Sharon SkinnerAfter surviving two previous encounters with ancient relics of mayhem and destruction plus saving her friends and her whole damn city, archaeologist Taryn St. Giles thinks she deserves a beer and a break.
Then her world starts to tear itself apart, literally.
Earthquakes are unheard of in quiet, sleepy Beccia, but sadly, doomsdays are not, and Taryn is getting uncomfortably familiar with both when she discovers the existence of more pieces of the dangerous relics. With old friends and even older enemies -- and friends who might be enemies after all -- Taryn races against bloodthirsty relic hunters and nightmarish monsters to find a legendary creature carved from a single, giant gemstone.
The upheaval rattles her team, tears apart her city, and unleashes a creature that should have stayed dead and buried. And that wants Taryn's blood. Now she'll unearth her biggest adventure yet.
