Top 10 Authors I'd Like to Meet (Top 10 Tuesday)

It's that time of the week again: Top 10 Tuesday with The Broke and The Bookish. This week's theme is Top 10 Authors you want to meet. 

Seeing as I live in the backend of nowhere, I haven't met a lot of big time or international authors. On the other hand, I have a bunch of Michigan author meetings. Regardless, most of the authors I really want to meet are dead, which is slightly more backend of nowhere than West Michigan.

Well duh

I'm still waiting on the TARDIS, so while the Doctor is off saving the universe, I'll just content myself with a list of living authors I want to meet.
 If any of you have read previous top 10s of mine, you can probably name at least two of them. So I'll start with one that is not Neil Gaiman or Robin McKinley (though their inclusion is inevitable):

1. Matthew Pearl

If you can't actually time travel, there are a few authors that make you feel like you can. Matthew Pearl is one of them. I love his historical fiction. I'm reading The Last Bookaneer right now and it's really good. I am so impressed with his ability to incorporate historical figures and events into his story without changing or contradicting them. The Dante Club is my favorite.

2. Erik Larson

Larson is Pearl's nonfiction equivalent. Erik Larson writes about history like it's a first-rate thriller, weaving events together in a way that only a master of research and words can do. With my keen interest in the past, I love any book that makes you feel there, and Larson's books always do. I would love to learn about all of the things he's researched for his books. (My favorite is Devil in the White City)

3. J. K. Rowling

Do I have to explain? Is there a reader/writer out there who wouldn't like to pick Rowling's brain? Frankly, I'd like to know more about her rejection letters, some of the responses she got from publishers, and why she kept plugging on. I know she's under a lot of popular pressure now that she's crazy famous, and it would be interesting to know if she ever misses anonymity.

This is an awesome Zelda cosplay, btw

Naturally, my favorite is Harry Potter.

4. Marissa Meyer

When I randomly picked up Cinder (confession, it was the cover) and saw that it was a cyborg Cinderella, it was a rare insta-buy moment for me. I hadn't heard anything about it, but you can't get more up my alley than a cyborg, fairytales, and space combo. The anime influences were a bonus. I'd like to meet Marissa because we like a lot of the same things, and she seems like such a cool person, so open and fun. I'm not sure which one of the Lunar Chronicles I like best, but I am very excited about Winter, and I can't wait to see what Meyer comes up with next.

5. Neil Gaiman

Awesome picture credit here

I envy every one of you that lives in a major city, because you've probably had a chance to meet Neil Gaiman. Honestly, I'd rather have tea and chat with him than most authors. He is fabulous on the radio, so funny and engaging. I love his novels, and I would be honored to "talk shop" with him. But I'd settle for just meeting him and telling him what an impact his words have had on me (I'm sure that gets old, but what can you do?).

6. Jonathan Maberry

This picture is epic

Jonathan Maberry convinced me to read not one, but 5+ zombie novels. I liked every one of them. That was a major accomplishment. The mixture of action, thrills, philosophy, humor, heart, and wonderful characters in his novels got me (even though I don't care for zombies). I would like to hear more about why Maberry likes zombies (who knows, he might convince me?), his thoughts on real-world Bushido and samurai history, and I'm not sure if I want to thank him or curse him for Tom Imura.* 

7. Robin McKinley

Even if you are a very casual Robin McKinley reader, I dare you to not enjoy her blog. She is a fabulous writer, and her wry sense of humor is in full force on her blog. 

As for her novels, there isn't much I haven't already said: I love them. They are lifelong favorites, and I'd love to tell her that in person. My favorite is still The Hero and the Crown, although Chalice is a close second.

8. Susanna Clarke

Susanna Clarke, of course, wrote one of my all-time favorite novels, Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. If no one has convinced you to read it, then read this lovely BBC article and reconsider. Susanna Clarke is funny and smart, well read, loves magicians, and is very interested in history. Why wouldn't I want to meet her?

For more of his work click here

9. D. M. Cornish

Though he is currently in between projects (I think), I love the layered world of Cornish's Monster Blood Tattoo series.

In addition to writing a fantasy series with a rich world and fascinating characters, D. M. Cornish can draw. The series ( a bit like Oliver Twist with monster hunters and the moors of a Bronte novel) is completely illustrated by Cornish. Which is awesome.

10. Megan Whalen Turner

I don't really know much about Megan Whalen Turner besides the basics. What I do know is that she wrote one of my favorite series in the history of the world: The Queen's Thief series. I love her characters, her writing style, and again, her love of history. I'd like to sit down and get all the details on the series, the characters, and her inspiration. 

So that's all for this week. Did you have any of the same authors, or have you met any of them? Which authors would you like to meet and why?

Cheers!

Footnotes:

*

I'm Still Kicking . . .

Okay, so I knew starting a blog was a bad idea :)

   What happened RIGHT after I started: I got a job, and worked about 50 hours right off. Then, I had a custom glove order (Awesome!) that needed attention. And then I got a great book idea and went deep into the abyss of inspiration. This was also good, but intense. So today I am revisiting everything I have neglected in September. It's a long list.
    So hello, I'm back.

    Shealynn, from Shealynn's Fairy Shop and Blog, kindly featured our work in a wonderful blog post here, where you can enter to win a set of Elven Handflowers, and a $10 gift certificate to VirvatuliDesigns.

   Anyhow, another thing I've been behind on is the 30 Day Drawing Challenge I started back in July. I got stuck on Day 6: Favorite Book Character, which is an almost impossible task. After much deliberation, I narrowed my list down to 23 pivotal characters that I loved. Then I decided to draw ALL of them, but as chibi, instead of as full blown out pieces. I selected two of them, one male, one female, to illustrate in Manga/Fusion style, which is, of course, a mixture of Japanese Manga and American/Western art styles. For these two, I selected Sabriel, from Garth Nix's Sabriel, which is one of my favorite books as well.

 It's the story of a young school girl who lives next door to an old kingdom filled with magic, among other things. Her father is the Abhorsen, an anti-necromancer, who puts the dead back instead of calling them up. Sabriel receives a message from her father, who is caught in Death (conceived as a giant river, with different gates and levels, sort of like Dante's hell meets the Greek underworld). He sends her his sword and his bells, the tools of the Abhorsen's trade.
   Though she's terrified, and worried, Sabriel goes into the Old Kingdom, and encounters one horror after the next on her way to her father. It's a great story, and the characters are awesome. I drew Sabriel just as she is confronting one of the dead.

  You can see the picture full size here

    The second picture is of Tom Imura, from Jonathan Maberry's coming-of-age/zombie apocalypse novel, Rot & Ruin.

Now, I never would have picked this book up if not for a review I read in a literary mag. Just look at the cover, and it's about zombies (boring) and coming-of-age (worse than zombies), two things I--as a reader--have never liked in my fiction. But this review said it was more heart, less gross, and that the central story was really about two brothers' relationship in a hostile world, and that the older brother was a modern Samurai. I was intrigued, so I gave it a shot. Now it is another one of my favorite books.

    So Tom Imura. He's not the main character, rather, he's the main character's older half-brother. He's a complex guy with a story that unravels throughout the novel, showing us (and his brother Benny), that Tom is not just a calm, peaceful man who kills zombies. He's a hero, self-sacrificial, and he's got quite a past. His parents were Japanese American, which makes his Samurai thing more believable, and is a standout for YA post-apocalyptic fiction.

   I depicted Tom as he is in a memorable part of the novel-dressed in pajamas, a rain slicker, and barefoot, with his katana-on a rainy night as he heads to rescue his brother Benny, and other townspeople, from invading zombies. The aftermath isn't humorous, but the idea was, and I am in serious doubt as to Tom wearing plaid pajamas, but who can choose their look after the apocalypse, really?

       Soooo, who were the rest of the 23 characters? Here's a list with links to the books they came from-and silly categories to excuse the fact that I couldn't narrow them down. Stay posted for their chibi portraits as I color and upload them.

1. Favorite Wizard: Gandalf, from The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, by J. R. R. Tolkien
2. Favorite Couple: Eowyn and Faramir from the above
3. Favorite Elves: Luthien and Nir, the former from the Silmarillion and the latter from In the Coils of the Snake, by Clare Dunkle
4. Favorite Drama Queen: Howl from Howl's Moving Castle, by Diana Wynne Jones
5. Childhood Favorite: Aerin from The Hero and the Crown, by Robin McKinley
6. Current Favorite: Sydney Carton from A Tale of Two Cities
7. Favorite Revolutionaries: Enjolras from Les Miserables and Cinna from The Hunger Games
8. Favorite Jane Austen Character: Elizabeth Bennet from Pride and Prejudice
9. Favorite Dark and Tortured Character: Edmund Dantes from The Count of Monte Cristo
10. Favorite Antihero: Mordred from The Book of Mordred, by Vivian Vande Velde
11. Favorite Character I Identify With: Sophie from Howl's Moving Castle
12. Favorite Assumed Vampire: Silas from The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
13. Favorite Thief: Gen (Eugenides) from The Queen's Thief series, by Megan Whalen Turner
14. Favorite Monster Hunter: Europe, Duchess of Naimes, from The Monster Blood Tattoo Series, by D. M. Cornish.
15. Favorite "Dreamboat": Corlath, from The Blue Sword, by Robin McKinley
16. Favorite "Odd Couple": Artemis and Butler, from the Artemis Fowl Series by Eoin Colfer.
17. Favorite Governess: Jane Eyre, from Jane Eyre

So there we have it, a list of a few of my favorite characters. All of the books they belong to are HIGHLY recommended reading, ;), so check them out.

      Anyhow, that's all for tonight,

                     Ciao,

                         Rebekah