Last Friday, I went to another Waterstones Piccadilly event – and on Saturday, I went to a talk in Conway Hall. Both events were really fantastic, so I thought I’d do a little joint post about them!

Friday, Waterstones Piccadilly: An Evening with Samantha Shannon, Andy Serkis and Jonathan Cavendish

*runs around squealing* My dad found out about this event from the Waterstones website, and I’m so glad we were able to book tickets! Samantha Shannon is the author of The Bone Season- a fantasy début I loved so much, last year. And, to add more excitement to everything, the movie rights to The Bone Season were bought around the time the book was published- and it’s definite that there will be a film franchise of the series, coming from Imaginarium studios. The evening was Samantha Shannon in conversation with the two people behind Imaginarium Studios- Jonathan Cavendish (best known for Bridget Jones’ Diary movies) and Andy Serkis (Producer as well, and also actor- he played King Kong, Gollum from LoTR, and my all time favourite antagonist- Capricorn form Inkheart :D). I was so excited to see all three of them!

Samantha Shannon discussed lots of things, like inspirations behind the book and why she set it where she did. I found the inspiration behind her protagonist, Paige’s, supernatural ability really bizarre- Inspired by the author’s migraines during her A Level exams! I also loved what Samantha Shannon said about Oxford, and why she decided to set the book there: About the way it’s a city fixed in time, with such beautiful old buildings and an extensive history- clashing with all the scientific advances there being made by the University.

Jonathan and Andy also discussed why they decided this book would make such a great adaptation; and a favourite part of the evening had to be the casting discussion. Jonathan Cavendish reached out to the audience asking for casting advice- for who readers imaigned the characters to be. I had to agree with Tom Hiddleston being Warden, and Benedict Cumberbatch being Jackson. Just, yes. SO much yes. :’D

Overall, the evening was absolutely brilliant. Thanks to Waterstones for hosting it, and for Imaginarium Studios and of course Samantha Shannon for doing such a great talk! My brother even brought his Gollum toy along, which Andy Serkis signed for him. I was lucky enough to get nice signed things, too- so I now have a pretty arc of The Bone Season signed by Serkis and Shannon, and a signed Inkheart dvd, both of which are now probably the coolest things I own. Pics above! (:

Friday, Conway hall: Mike Carey in conversation with SciFi London Interviewer Alex Fitch

SciFi London is a really great festival with some great movie screenings and big events and parades and things, that happens every year. My brother and I went up to London the weekend before last to go see all of the Cosplay in the opening parade, which was very cool- you can check out my brother’s pictures on his blog here! Last Saturday, Mike Carey was doing a talk about all of his Sci-Fi work- and most of the family wanted to go, because MIKE CAREYYYY :D*squeee*

Carey most recently wrote The Girl with All the Gifts, which is a fantastic looking adult novel that I’m hoping to read very soon. He’s also very well known for lots of his writing for comics, namely X Men. I’m an X Men fan, so I was really looking forward to him talking about X Men: No More Humans, which is his latest graphic novel & is illustrated by Salvador Larroca. The event was even more brilliant- because they somehow had early copies of it! I think I bought the first ever copy of No More Humans, which is so cool- and I also definitely got the second ever signed copy (after my brother, who butted in…;D).

Sadly, not a huge amount of people were actually at the event- there were only a few of us- but still, it was a really brilliant talk and I’m really glad I came along! I didn’t realise how much Mike Carey had written, and what other comics he’d written, so I’ve made a note of a lot of series I must check out soon. There was also a lot of discussion about the writing processes of comics and things- it’s crazy how short the deadlines are for comic scripts! It’s definitely inspired me to consider writing comics- it sounds like a really fun job. Mike also did a reading of the first chapter of The Girl With All the Gifts – slightly edited, because kids in the room 😉 – and it was fantastic. It’s made me want to read the book even more now, it’s so haunting and beautifully written.

After the event, Mike signed books and things! Pictures, again, above, of him singing and of the pretty looking book. (: Thanks to SciFi London for organising that event- and to Waterstones for the event on Friday (: