California | K. L. Bone

Tag Archives: California

November 4, 2017 · 5:31 pm

San Diego Comic Con

A few months ago, I had the amazing opportunity to attend San Diego Comic Con (SDCC). This was an incredible event and I had an amazing time attending!

SDCC began with a flight down to one of my favorite cities and I was able to spend a few hours writing on the beach before the event officially began.

The first day of SDCC began with an evening entrance. I was very grateful to have had my tickets provided by Dabel Brothers Publishing who were there promoting their recent publications of Sherrilyn Kenyon graphic novels, along with other numerous additional publications.

Guided by my personal assistant, Gladys, who arranged for me to attend the event, I spent the first day walking around the con, seeing some fun sights which included having a picture taken from a set of the upcoming Star Wars Episode VIII.

Walking through the Star Wars and Marvel model section of the con.

Sitting in the captain’s chairs from Star Trek.

And of course, my favorite part, viewing the incredible cosplay which also comes with a comic con event!

For those who have never been, SDCC is one of the largest with a reported 130,000 people in attendance over the extended weekend. Events span beyond the conference center to multiple hotels along the marina.

Exhibits, cosplay, and super-hero themed drink and food specials fill the entire area for the entirety of the events and there is always something fun to experience.

The next day was spent between exploring further and standing in line for Hall H, which is the largest room in the conference center. Inside are held some of the biggest events and speakers. In order to get into Hall H, one has to acquire a wrist band, which are handed out to those in line the night before events. These lines generally begin days in advance, with people camping out in order to secure entry to see their favorite stars and panels. Though we did not stay overnight at the venue, we stood in line approximately 13 hours in order to acquire our bands and then were back in line the next morning by 5am.

The wait was completely worthwhile! The panels we attend:

Fear the Walking Dead & The Walking Dead:

Game of Thrones:

As a huge fan of both Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead, it was an incredible experience and I loved getting to listen to the speakers and panelists talking about the shows.

The last day I managed to attend a couple of panels. One on YA fantasy and another on writing dystopian novels and then had a fun time visiting with the always amazing Christopher Rice.

For those unfamiliar with Christopher’s work, his newest novel co-written by Anne Rice, Ramses the Damned: The Passion of Cleopatra, will be released later this month. He was kind enough to sign a copy for me and is a novel I would highly recommend!

I also had the incredible opportunity to meet Sherrilyn Kenyon who was kind and generous with her time. I must admit to be a touch star-struck to meet her and she could not have been kinder.

Overall SDCC was an incredible experience for which I am very grateful to have had the opportunity to attend!

Hawaiian Luaus to California Dreams

This has been an incredibly busy spring consisting of several trips, book releases and exciting news to come.

Events began in April with a trip down to San Diego, California for the Pacific Cultural Association/American Cultural Association national conference where I was a presenter on a panel concerning the works of bestselling novelist Anne Rice.

Along with three other presenters, we discussed the nature of Rice’s work on the field of gothic literature and the evolution of the vampiric figure in contemporary novels. The panel was an enthusiastic group of scholars from all over the world; Romania, England and Ireland, just to name a few places. The panel created a lively discussion on not only Rice’s work, but the vampiric figure. While we may not agree on all aspects of literature, we did come to one conclusion, Rice’s work has had a profound and last influence upon the gothic field.

The conference itself was an amazing event. It showcased a wide variety of topics, running multiple panels on a multitude of subjects dealing with popular and American culture. When I was not engaged with the vampire panel, I also attended several presentations on Tolkien, mythology, film, television, creative writing, and children’s literature.

In addition to the conference, I also had an opportunity to spend a wonderful afternoon visiting with dear friends and fellow artists, including the always amazing Becket, author of the Key the Steampunk Vampire Girl series, his incredible wife Christina, and artist-extraordinaire Raven Quinn, the illustrator for the map in both my Black Rose Guard and Rise of the Temple Gods series.

We had a fun afternoon visiting and discussing upcoming projects, and testing different flavors of ice cream on what turned out to be a beautiful sunny afternoon.

I was also fortunate enough to have my brother accompany me on the California trip, so we took day off to have some fun visiting some both theme parks and vineyards in the Temecula Valley.

In addition, I also had the opportunity to meet one of my narrators, Cassandra Richardson, in person. We have worked on multiple audiobook projects together, including all three of the books in the Rise of the Temple Gods series, the recently released Shadow of the Rose, and the upcoming audiobook version of my science-fiction novel, Indoctrination. It was wonderful to meet her in person and I cannot recommend her amazing talent enough!

In June, I took a vacation trip to Hawaii, a gift from both of my grandmother’s for my birthday. Though it was my second time visiting the islands, the pervious trip had been nearly a decade before.

My grandmothers, who visit the islands almost ever year, graciously showed me around, taking me on a road trip to see the important sights, namely the Pearl Harbor and the U.S.S Arizona. While I had been to this site previously, it was no less a humbling and beautiful memorial.