Today I had the bright idea of asking the Avon Editors what they were reading this summer. There were no parameters: these could be romances, not romances, Avon Books, books written by their sister’s best friend and printed on colored Xerox paper. I just wanted to know what was up with everyone.

So, here goes.

Me (because it’s all about moi!!) Right now I’m reading Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs. This is one of the most original young adult novels I’ve read in a long time (and I read a LOT of YA!). This is a gothic and atmospheric blend of narrative, very strange photographs (that I loved), time travel and discovery. And that’s all I’m going to say. Find out for yourself.

Esi is reading Loretta Chase’s Silk is for Seductionas well as The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.

This non-fiction title is getting a lot of interest, because Carrie Feron is reading it, too, as well as FAITHFUL PLACE by Tana French, Elin Hilderbrand’s SILVER GIRL and SOMETHING BORROWED by Emily Giffin (at last!)

Lyssa Keusch is going to tackle THE BATTLE HYMN OF THE TIGER MOTHER–very controversial, Lyssa! She got her copy of this book from May Chen, who is going to take a completely different turn and read MAJOR PETTIGREW’S LAST STAND. As for Erika, she’s off to read SILENT IN THE GRAVE by Deanna Raybourne, because Esi, Tessa Woodward and Amanda Bergeron have told her to.

And Amanda, when she’s not off tying the knot (there I gave it away!), will be reading DIVERGENT (good choice, I can attest!), THE WEIRD SISTERS and will get her romance fix by reading Sarah MacLean’s ELEVEN SCANDALS TO START TO WIN A DUKE’S HEART.I will catch up with Wendy Lee, whose reponse got sucked into the horror that is my email, and I’ll also get Tessa Woodward’s answers later. Tessa is off in LA doing what I hope is glamourous things!

What are you all reading this summer? Do tell!

True story. Saturday night I was at a party and I got the right answer to this question: Who sang “Ballroom Blitz”? (Answer: below.) I also knew the answer to who sang “Don’t Pull Your Love Out on Me, Baby.” (Other answer below.) What this says about me I don’t even want to know.

And, since we’re talking about Ballrooms, TODAY marks the Great Debut on a brand new blog!

Six authors: Katharine Ashe, Sabrina Darby, Tessa Dare, Gaelen Foley, Sarah MacLean and Miranda Neville. One blog: www.theballroomblog.com This is what I am now officially calling A SuperBlog!!

So bookmark this today! And be sure to let them know what you think of their new venture. Their motto is “Daring ladies, dashing lords, and deliciously juicy gossip.” I think it’s going to be fantastically fun.

Answers: 1) Sweet; 2) Hamilton, Joe Frank, and Reynolds.

I often get asked about what I do all day. Sometimes when I meet people they think I am a proofreader, and they inevitably say something like, “Wow, you must be a really good speller!”

Or they think I sit in a really great office, one with lots of windows and great views of the NY skyline. (Note: my office has windows and I look out onto a wall–see the photo in this post!) It is there that I make major deals and scare young editorial assistants into fetching me coffee.

Now, this is what I REALLY do: I answer emails. Lots and lots of them. I counted how many emails I “sent” last week. Keep in mind I was only in the office Wednesday-Friday. Here are the totals:
Wednesday: 74; Thursday: 92; Friday (a half day): 42. So have pity on the poor editor’s eyes…and wrists!

But did anyone care? Oh sure, there were some diehards around the office who tuned in…where they could find it. But it’s not as if we were sneaking into the boss’s office to watch the replay. (Yes, we did this for Kate and Wills!)

Oh and the stories: Princess Charlene, as she’s now known, bolting in a desperate escape bid! Rumors of a THIRD by-blow somewhere out there. (Seriously, Albert?!) I’d take my passport and run, too. Boy oh boy, look at her tight-lipped smile. I wish her luck. (GORGEOUS gown, however.)

Did any of you pay attention to this royal wedding?

PR Pam introduces Avon Presents mini-vids

We had some great panels — Jeaniene Frost, Marjorie M. Liu, Pamela Palmer, Jocelynn Drake, Margaret Ronald, and Juliana Stone let the fur fly at Friday’s “Fighting Like Cats and Dogs” panel. And we were amazed to see our room was SRO for Saturday’s much-too-early publisher spotlight session, focusing on what Avon/Eos (soon to be Voyager!)/Morrow had coming forth in 2010 and early 2011.

The "Fighting Like Cats & Dogs" panelists at ComicCon New York!

We all had absolutely amazing experiences — thought it would be fun to share our top moments with you, in case you wanted to experience #NYCC vicariously through your friends here at Harper! (And authors, please chime in and share — you had some funny-as-heck moments as well!)

Erika Tsang:
•Our Publisher Spotlight, especially after I said to Diana Gill, “People come to these?” And then to have the room already half full when we walked in 30 minutes before the start time…and for it to be standing room halfway through our presentation.
•Our authors filling out the raffle to win the giant stuffed animals at the “Fighting Like Cats and Dogs” panel…and each of their disappointed faces when someone else’s name gets drawn.
•The autographing where our authors had lines longer than the Hulk, the original Apollo, AND the Three’s Company gals combined.

Diana Gill:
•Meeting Richard Hatch (Apollo on the original Battlestar Galactica)—my entire family would watch the original BSG repeats when I was growing up, and I’m fairly certain that helped my love for sf/f. I still want a viper jacket too.
•As always, seeing my authors (this time, Richard Kadrey and Jocelynn Drake—thanks for coming!).
•Seeing friends I hadn’t seen in months because we were all at NYCC.

Esi Sogah:
•Pam Jaffee cozying up to Animal Planet’s Yeti (for a chance to win an iPad, she’ll do anything);
•The “Cats and Dogs” panel speedily and gleefully jumping into the gutter;
•Meeting Lou Ferrigno (aka The Hulk. Yes, he’s that big, still)!

Jean Marie Kelly:
•Personally my fave moment was when the hackey sack dude with the Mohawk tried to pick up Christine Maddalena!
•I think the Cats and Dogs panel was my favorite especially when Mer-sex was alluded to but never described. And the look on Marjorie’s face was priceless!
•The delight with which our shot gun shells were greeted and the many guesses at what they were: gum dispensers, whistles, kaleidoscopes…
•Watching folks as the “got” the “Eat Prey Love” title twist; they loved it!

Christine Maddalena:
•Watching people’s complete and utter fascination with the unprimed shotgun shells.
•Learning how to hackey-sack with my hands.
•Talking to the Avatar girls who were covered in blue body paint.

Pam Jaffee:
•Psychotically running across convention center, pulling a handcart filled with boxes of books from booth to autographing area..and in doing so, running past Joker and Harley Quinn; running OVER Robin. I apologize profusely, Joker looks at me, shrugs, and says, “He was dead anyway.”
•Hearing that Jeaniene Frost had a full frontal run-in with James Marsters (Spike from Buffy the Vampire slayer.). Jealousy!
•OR, having the audience at the “Fighting Like Cats and Dogs” panel scream in laughter – and anticipation – when one author referenced that an upcoming book will feature a shifter snake-man! Chaos ensued
•Back at the booth, seven-year old daughter (aka “Amazon Girl”) hard at work, shilling books. “Shapeshifter romance; get your shapeshifter romance. The new Pamela Palmer!”

It was great.  If anyone out there went, please let us know how ComicCon was for you!

Stop by the booth all weekend for free books and giveaways, plus the chance to meet the authors, plus a great scavenger hunt with It Books, A&E Television, and Royal Flush magazine

Plus don’t miss our fabulous panels! Full schedule below:

Friday, 10/8:

2:00 PM-3:00 PM, Javits Center/panel room 7 (1A22)

FIGHTING LIKE CATS AND DOGS: Shapeshifters and Paranormal Romance

In the furball battle for supremacy, what shapeshifter is going to claw, bite, gnaw and scratch its way to the top of the pack? In recent novels by novelists such as Pamela Palmer and Juliana Stone, paranormal romance fans have gone absolutely feral over the emergence of cat shapeshifters. Loping through the howling legions of the other side of the debate comes authors such as Jocelynn Drake, Marjorie M. Liu, and Margaret Ronald – who might argue that woman’s best friend is going to hound all the competition until they emerge triumphant. The argument may get catty, and the arguments over which breed of shapeshifter is sexier are going to be doggone good! Moderated by Jeaniene Frost.

Author Signings (Autograph Alley):

4:00 – 5:00pm JEANIENE FROST, JOCELYNN DRAKE, and PAMELA PALMER

5:00 – 6:00pm MARJORIE M. LIU, MARGARET RONALD, and JULIANA STONE

Saturday 10/9:

PUBLISHER SPOTLIGHT: HARPERCOLLINS 10:45 – 11:45 am Panel Room 5 (1A17-18)

Find out what’s happening with the best in urban fantasy and paranormal romance at Eos and Avon Books, and meet the authors themselves! Plus your chance to win a new Kindle e-reader, a copy of Kim Harrison’s upcoming PALE DEMON, and more!

2:15-3:15 PM: Autograph Alley Tables A4 and A5

Table A4: RICHARD KADREY signs SANDMAN SLIM and KILL THE DEAD.

Table A5: ROBIN BECKER signs BRAINS, the first ever zombie memoir

PANEL: DO ZOMBIES DREAM OF UNDEAD SHEEP?

7:45-8:45PM: Room 1A23

Join preeminent zombologists and zombie theorists in discussing where the zombie menace came from and where it’s going. Mac Montandon (moderator), author of The Proper Care and Feeding of Zombies (Wiley, 2010), which answers all your questions about the science of the living dead; Mira Grant, author of Feed (Orbit, 2010), in which blogging becomes an important way to spread news about a zombie invasion; Alaya Dawn Johnson, contributor to the YA anthology Zombies vs. Unicorns, in which many bestselling teen authors make arguments through fiction for the most awesome supernatural creature; Robin Becker, author of Brains: A Zombie Memoir (Eos, 2010), in which one mindless zombie is not so mindless, and starts a movement for zombie civil rights; Alan Goldsher, author of Paul Is Undead (Pocket Books, 2010), an alternate history version of the Beatles invasion, in which Paul, John, and George are zombies and Ringo is their ninja protector; and Richard Kadrey, author of Kill the Dead (Eos, 2010), in which supernatural investigator Sandman Slim deals with a zombie uprising in LA.