Cassandra Clare and Holly Black Signing!

11:00 PM

This past Friday night (Nov 5), I had the opportunity to attend the Cassandra Clare and Holly Black signing in Toronto, and it was such an awesome event with so many people coming out to meet the dynamic pair!

I arrived at Chapters Queensway at around 5:00 p.m and quickly grabbed a seat because even though I managed to make it there two hours early, there were already many people waiting as well! I ended up striking a conversation with two other girls, and we talked most of time about our love for Jace and The Mortal Instrument series, plus how much we loved reading YA in general. It was a total bookworm moment! As time passed, more and more people arrived, and soon a line was zigzagging though the aisles.

I met The Paperback Princesses and it marked the first time meeting some of my fellow bloggers! I also had a chance to talk with them about books and I have been convinced that I must try listening to an audiobook some day! It was really funny because they overheard me chattering away with the other girls and handed me their card, and I was like, "Wait a second... I think I follow you!" lol.

When Cassandra and Holly appeared shortly after 7:00 p.m., they were greeted with loud applause and even some screaming! They came out all smiles and you could tell just how happy they were to meet some of their Canadian fans!

They began by telling us about the hands-on research they've done for their novels, which included Holly being locked in the trunk of a fellow author's car (which is actually more comfortable than you would think!) and Cassie accidentally taking a picture of a naked man while she was England, doing some research for Clockwork Angel. Then, they proceeded to teach us all a con which somehow involved a stuffed toy octopus being a dog and how they could some cheat some poor store-owner out of some money. Aren't they such a good influence on the younger generation, lol? There were lots of laughs and I loved how they kept the audience so engaged.

Next, Holly read a bit from White Cat which was released earlier in May and is the first in the Curse Workers series (the second novel, Red Glove, will be released April 5, 2011). I haven't read it yet because I'm probably going to wait for the paperback, but it sounded good! Next, Cassie made sure everyone turned their cameras off because she had a special treat for us- she was going to read from City of Fallen Angels! This cued many excited squeals and the scene was over way too soon, but it was basically a short scene between Simon and Isabelle. I absolutely can't wait for CoFA, which will also be released on April 5, 2011. 

After that, Holly and Cassie answered questions from the audience which had been written down and submitted before they appeared on stage! One of the weirdest questions was probably, "Is Magnus Bane fully gay?" with the answer, of course, being that he is bisexual. We also learned that Church is based on Holly's cat Fizgig because she wrote much of City of Bones in her home, and that she never knew just how popular he would be! Team Jace fans were also told that they had a bumpy road ahead of them. *cue nervous gulps* Cassie also said that for those who thought Jace and Will were too similar, they're supposed to complement each other that way since they are distantly related. She also said that if she were to write another Shadowhunter novel after The Mortal Instruments and The Infernal Devices were over, she'd probably center it in Los Angeles.

Holly also answered questions, including the inspiration behind White Cat which she said is actually loosely based on the fairytale The White Cat. Since many of us had never heard of it before, she quickly launched into a retelling of it! Everyone was enthralled and smiling as she spoke of a prince who somehow falls in love with a cat while trying to complete a few seemingly impossible tasks for his father. It was pretty funny to hear and involved nuts, and when I later asked her where I could read it, she told me to simply Google it and I would easily find it (and she was right!).

After the questions were finished, it was time for the actual signing! Since I was in the seated section, I was part of the first group to go up and meet the authors! At this point, there were over 500 people in line waiting to meet them, so it was with great credit to the store employees and Simon and Schuster Canada reps that they made sure the line moved along so efficiently and quickly while everyone patiently waited for their turn. You can't tell in the pic, but the line stretched through the aisles as well as to the very back of the store. 

It seemed in no time at all, I was at the front and having my fan-girl moment. I was so nervous and excited at the same time! A guy was taking people's cameras from them to pics, so I had to hand my camera off... but the guy who took these next two pics for me had some resemblance to Jace! (I kind of giggled about it with those two girls I earlier mentioned, tehehe.) So thank you blonde stranger!

Cassie is signing the stack of books I brought along with me. Can you see Cassie's Teen Read Award for Best Hottie on the table?  She joked earlier how she liked to take it everywhere to protect herself from muggers since it's so heavy.

What a trooper both them were though! I had heard there might be restrictions but nope! Holly and Cassie were signing every book of theirs which a person brought along!

That just goes to show how awesome both of them are! I only had to wait in line for maybe an hour before I met them, but I heard on Twitter that both Holly and Cassie continued to sign novels and meet their readers until well past midnight, which is well past when the store even closes! They met everyone that turned out for the event and I'm sure they made all their readers very happy people!

It was such a fun evening and I hope to one day attend another signing featuring the pair of them! Thank you so much Holly and Cassie for coming to Toronto and meeting with all of us!

Share This Story

Tags: , , ,

I'm a Canadian girl with a passion for reading! When I'm not escaping reality with a new book, I love to listen to Korean pop music or get addicted to Korean/Chinese dramas.

You Might Also Like

6 comments

  1. SonjaNovember 8, 2010 at 11:54 PM

    Sounds awesome! I went to their signing last year with Scott Westerfeld but couldn't make it this time. Sounds like everyone had a fantastic time. By the way, I am very envious about that teaser you mentioned between Simon and Isabelle...

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownNovember 9, 2010 at 5:22 AM

    I was there! At that one, wearing a Mortal insturments, Malec, Magnus Bane t shirt. :D

    ReplyDelete
  3. ChrystalNovember 9, 2010 at 9:08 AM

    Wow sounds like it was a really great signing. Wish I could have made it and I hope they come back again too. :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Jenny N.November 9, 2010 at 7:09 PM

    Looked like a great signing and its awesome that you met some fellow bloggers too. I know that these two came to Vancouver last year before I was seriously into YA and I hope they plan to come back soon.

    ReplyDelete
  5. LauraNovember 11, 2010 at 5:48 PM

    I was there too! I kinda got shoved around when the signings started and ended up way near the back of the line so I was one of many who was there past midnight :P But it was my first signing with my friend and it was a fun night :]

    ReplyDelete
  6. Midnight BloomNovember 11, 2010 at 10:44 PM

    Keisha- Oh, nice! I wish I had some sort of skill to make a cool fan t-shirt like that!

    Chrystal- I'm quite sure they'll be back in Toronto one day! *fingers crossed*

    Laura- I'm glad you had a great time with your friend!! :)

    ReplyDelete