i heart fan art!

i'm alive!
you say, of course you are cindy,
why wouldn't you be? well, i did
in fact indeed verily survive the release
of my second novel, Fury of the Phoenix,
AND a super duper mega grandiose book
tour with my gay twin, malinda lo, and our
Diversity in YA fiction signings! more on that
on my next post here at the underground!

today, i wanted to share some fan art with you.
there are many many wonderful things about
being an author, but one of the raddest ones
(i'm working on bringing the RAD back, why
does awesome get to have all the fun?) is fan art.
not only are they wonderful to receive, but the
best part probably is knowing that what you've
made up in your head and written has inspired a
reader artistically. i don't get much fan art but i
treasure each and every one of them!!

**click for full image! 8)

*here is li rong by philomela!

*and a portrait of my heroine ai ling, by annie in calgary.

*a really cool interpretation of ai ling twined with
a chinese dragon by haricha in the uk.

*another portrait of ai ling. i love the loose lines
but how it captures her so well in the expression
and the eyes, by marie.

*and finally, a personal favorite because not only
is it stunning, it shows my hero chen yong with
my heroine, ai ling. =) by the multi-talented
natalie. i was VERY lucky in that natalie parted with
the original and this is now a framed piece in my bedroom!

now you can see why i treasure each and every one
of these unique pieces created by my readers. i hope
you enjoyed them as much as i do.

till next time, super undies!! =D

fun at san diego comic-con international!

hello supernatural book-loving fans! i thought i'd spend this month's posting opportunity by sharing some fotos and experiences from this summer's comic-con festivities! i was only there for two days-- as i find the con quite overwhelming! i went on friday in costume then on sunday to moderate a YA ANGST panel with some awesome authors!

*me and megan whalen turner, author of newbery
honor The Thief, Queen of Attolia, King of Attolia
and A Conspiracy of Kings. one of my favorite series
and one of my favorite people! we're at the harpercollins
booth. you can see merrie's awesome debut poster for
Afterlife behind us. i was bummed i missed out on her
paranormal panel.

*my pirate soulmate saw me in costume and
asked for a foto! he lent me his gun as he thought
i was weaponless, but i had a dagger in my right
boot. (you can see the tip of it in this foto. =)
i take my costumes very seriously!

*the day ended with a fancy party thrown
by penguin called "fangfest". it was a lot of
fun and although i was there only briefly,
i got to catch up with margie stohl and
kami garcia (Beautiful Creatures and Beautiful
Darkness) as well as meet heather (The Chronicles
of Vladmir Tod series) and her son.

*sunday was my comic-con panel and i had
awesome authors on it! [me, james owen, emily
drake, nancy holder, kathy reichs, d. j. machale,
neal shusterman and michael spradlin.] foto
courtesy of liz's blog.

i managed to end the panel on time after some great
discussion and questions, and herded the audience
and authors to the open signing area without a hitch.
*pats self on back* =D

*the calm before the signing.

*a view of our line and the readers waiting
patiently.

we managed to get a group foto after it
was all said it done. the signing was run
by mysterious galaxy and i always have fun at
their events--it was such a pleasure meeting
these new authors. i've been introduced and read
many great books because of this! [kathy reichs,
me, james owen, d. j. machale, michael spradlin,
nancy holder and patrick from mysterious galaxy!]