Forever signing in Williamsburg

Winding down her Forever Roadtrip, Maggie Stiefvater stopped in Williamsburg at Barnes & Noble on Merchants Square. I didn't make it to the launch party in northern Virginia, so I hit this event on August 5 with Louise from Between the Covers. I couldn't miss it you see, but I'd been there for events for the first two Wolves of Mercy Falls books, and I was going for the trifecta!

I got there about a half an hour early and Maggie was already there, caffeine in hand. She was hiding among the stacks talking books and Nooks and sharing roadtrip anecdotes with bookstore employees working the event while waiting for her introduction.

About fifty people showed up, filling the little upstairs seating area at the bookstore. She didn't do a reading of Forever since she'd already read the first chapter online a few months back. Instead she talked about writing Shiver because she wanted to make people cry themselves ugly, complete with snot bubbles, and hopefully ruin their evening in the process. She also confessed that she hand been french kissed by a real, live wolf. See eveidence here.

She chatted a bit about her forthcoming novel, The Scorpio Races (Scholastic, 10/18/11). It's a standalone novel that Maggie described as Deadlist Catch meets My Little Pony. 'Nough said. It's got blood, beaches, and kissing, people! Oh, and there might be a giveaway for a copy at the end of this post...Maybe.

As always, Beau did a great job organizing the event. Beau and Maggie both raffled off books and gift cards. Two of the gift cards were to Wythe Candy, the store that inspired the candy shop in Shiver. (Yes, it does smell that delicious.)

She said that when she went in to buy $10 gift cards the shop clerk questioned her. "Are you sure you want $10 certificates?" Maggie replied, "Should I get $25?" Clerk: "$10 is a lot of candy." Ultimately, she and Maggie had to agree to disagree.

After all the prizes were raffled off, everyone who came got to take one thing  off the swag table. There were heart-shaped "Forever Maggie" keychains, USB drives and foreign editions of Maggie's books. The table was absolutely ravaged by night's end.

Then it was time for cake! There has been a cake at every Wolves of Mercy Falls event held in Williamsburg. All of them have been amazing, not only because they are near perfect replicas of the book cover, but because they are preservative free and thus Maggie-friendly.

Maggie was particularly excited about this year's cake...

When the signing started I got a chance to catch up with some friends who drive hours just to be at the event. Kaila, who created the original Shiver shirt, came down from NYC and picked up her friend Sara in Pennsylvania along the way. Of course, Kaila also made a shirt for this event.

And after Maggie signed the bag full of books I'd brought for myself and others, I had to get a pic with her. As always, she couldn't behave for the mere seconds necessary to take a photo. I suppose, after so many unique photos that a "normal" one with Maggie would just seem out of place here, huh?

GIVEAWAY

Fill out the form below to throw your name in the proverbial hat for your chance to win a signed copy of The Scorpio Races, which releases on October 18, 2011.