DragonCon news + a givaway!

Funny thing about DragonCon--the world-renowned pop culture convention is held in Atlanta every year on my birthday weekend, and yet, in the 9 years that I've lived here, I have never made it to the Con. Not even once. The closest I've come is drinking mimosas and then huddling on the curb to watch the parade one year (which is amazing--50+ storm troopers and some of the most incredible cosplayers you will ever see, all marching/dancing through the streets of downtown Atlanta). It's not that I haven't wanted to attend, but Labor Day weekend is without a doubt THE busiest weekend of the year for the city. You've got football games, baseball games, NASCAR races, parades, conventions, and one of the world's largest independent book festivals all vying for a chunk of your time. On the years that I haven't been speaking on panels or signing books at the Decatur Book Fest, I've wound up spending most of my weekend either sitting in the resulting gridlock traffic or hiding at out at home to avoid it.

But this year, y'all. This is my year.

I received an email several weeks ago inviting me to appear on a fan panel at DragonCon 2017 to discuss a series by one of my all-time favorite authors, Charlaine freaking Harris! I'll be joining several other panelists as we talk about her Midnight, Texas triology, which also happens to be a new hit TV series on NBC. To prep for the panel, I've been live-tweeting each episode of the show--so feel free to join me on Mondays at 10pm EST to join the conversation!

This is a *huge* honor for me! Charlaine has long been one of my favorite authors, and Darcy Harbinger, my protagonist in Death Perception, as partially inspired by her charcter, Harper Connelly, whose series is where Manfred Bernardo (from Midnight, Texas) actually originated. In fact, one of the best things about the Midnight triology is the fact that supporting characters from all of her others series appear in Midnight, tying Charlaine's entire universe together! Okay, okay, I'll stop gushing for now.

Oh, wait. One more thing: did I mention the panel is *on* my birthday? There couldn't be a more perfect way to make my DragonCon debut. I like to think of it as one big birthday bash thrown for me in a conference room full of strangers in awesome costumes. So, if you're in the Atlanta area, consider this your official invitation to my birthday party at 5:30pm EST on September 2nd (assuming you've purchased your passes to DragonCon, of course).

To celebrate, I'm giving away a prize pack with an e-copy of all three books in Charlaine Harris' Midnight, Texas series over on my Giveaways page!