Author Field Trip: the Arthur Slade edition

So, last month Courtney, Kat and I headed out to Chapters Brampton ( read: the middle of nowhere ) to meet Arthur Slade who was in town ( all the way from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan) promoting the excellent novel, The Dark Deeps, book II in the incredibly amazing, breathtaking, action packed, brimming with verisimilitude, mindblowing, earth-shattering, Jules Verne meets Victor Hugo at tea with Sherlock Holmes with Robert Louis Stevenson serving scones HUNCHBACK ASSIGNMENTS series.

Slade remains my favourite YA author in the WORLD ( o.k. tied with Catherine Webb) and the only author ( with the exception of LM Montgomery via séance) I would trek to Brampton to see.

Courtney trekked from Cambridge and Kat and I trekked from Toronto. (Kat and I had the better end of the deal because we had a massive Ziploc full of JellyBellys)


Once there, we got to meet Arthur Slade and get books signed and stuff! Of course, we are ten years ( okay, MORE than ten years ) older than his usual demographic but WHO CARES! ??

I was also two or three times taller than all of the kids in front of me in line ( the curse of being an adult who loves kids’ books). Yes, we did let the children go first. It’s all about the children, don’t y’know.


MOMENTS: One little girl ( of the B.O.O.K.E.D series ) who was introducing Ye olde Slade mentioned that “Modo satisfies all my reading needs”. I promptly died of cuteness.

Ye olde Slade rambled about a book on submarines from a bargain bin ( he gets geeked out about stuff, apparently--- ).

It was a night of nerdy wonderfulness and quite well documented in LIVE TWEETS in REAL TIME by my friend, Kat. RELIVE THE MAGIC FOR YOURSELVES, reader-friends


· At Chapters in Brampton, fangirling over @arthurslade ! :) 6:46 PM May 12th via Echofon
(EDITOR’S NOTE: I don’t appreciate being called a “fangirl”, I prefer the term: learned book enthusiast)
· @rachkmc just asked @arthurslade a question. @moonsoar and I are amused! 6:46 PM May 12th via Echofon
(EDITOR’S NOTE: I did ask A.Slade a question: I wanted to know where he got his delicious character names)
· "Modo rhymes with Frodo." - @arthurslade 6:47 PM May 12th via Echofon
(EDITOR’S NOTE:not only is A. Slade a brilliant, Governor-General’s award-winning author, he apparently knows how to rhyme)
· Cheap books are not cheap, they're bargains! A la @arthurslade 6:51 PM May 12th via Echofon
(EDITOR’S NOTE: Apparently, A. Slade is also savvy with synonyms)
· @arthurslade totally just HOPPED down the stairs! Amazing! :) 6:52 PM May 12th via Echofon
(EDITOR’S NOTE: It was basically a breakneck-paced action film by this point. Like, someone get Bruckheimer on the phone. STAT.)
· @moonsoar just blanked on her question to @arthurslade . @rachkmc and I are amused! 6:54 PM May 12th via Echofon
(EDITOR’S NOTE: Courtney did rally. Besides, we were all speechless in the presence of brilliance: the kind of brilliance that talks about Star Wars ad nauseum)
· @arthurslade just hopped again! Best author move ever! via Echofon
(EDITOR’S NOTE: in summation, A. Slade is quite the animated author… either that or he thinks he’s a rabbit and his treadmill desk is keeping him in tip-top shape)
· @arthurslade 's fave character is #DarthVader ! Hot dog! ;) via Echofon
(EDITOR’S NOTE: see? I mentioned the Star Wars thing, did I not?)
· Ppl are getting their books signed by @arthurslade now. @rachkmc , @moonsoar & i will wait until it shrinks 2 almost nothing. We r patient. via Echofon
·
· Okay, we're in line. I wish I had my TP copy of Megiddo's Shadow for @arthurslade to sign. Curse you Amazon!!! Will get #Hunchback1 signed. via Echofon
·
· Free Starbucks samples in line waiting for @arthurslade to sign our books! Score! via Echofon
·
· Almost our turn! Special salute @arthurslade ! via Echofon
(EDITOR’S NOTE: upon arriving, A. Slade gave his audience a special salute for coming. Kat returned the favour)



Then we all went home and had to become grown-ups again with careers and deadlines and early mornings.

PFFFT!