Where No Author Has Gone Before

On January 27, Rachel Searles celebrated the release of her debut novel, The Lost Planet (Feiwel and Friends), at Mysterious Galaxy in Redondo Beach, Calif. Searles, who lives outside of L.A. and is a big fan of Star Trek, Star Wars, and Battlestar Galactica, also has plenty of insider knowledge about space. Until recently, Searles’s husband served as v-p of avionics at SpaceX, the first privately held organization to send a commercial capsule to the International Space Station. Here, along with SpaceX engineers, Searles (center, at microphone) acts out a scene from her sci-fi adventure story. The event marked the launch of a three-city tour, with school visits planned for Los Angeles, San Francisco, and San Diego.

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On a (T)roll

Three far-flung Scholastic authors reconnected in Seattle during Winter Institute 9. On January 22, Lucy Christopher (The Killing Woods), Sara B. Larson (Defy), Natalie Lloyd (A Snicker of Magic), took a break between stock signings at Queen Anne Book Company and Third Place Books to visit a local attraction, the Fremont Troll sculpture. Christopher (seated) hails from Wales and is on tour in the U.S., Larson (standing on top) lives in Salt Lake City, and Lloyd (standing at bottom) lives in Chattanooga, Tenn.

Fan Fair

Graphic novelist Noelle Stevenson, who illustrated the cover of Rainbow Rowell’s Fangirl, swooped into the annual Anime, Cartoons, and Video Games Convention, which took place January 25-26 in San Francisco. Stevenson’s debut YA graphic novel, based on her web comic, Nimona, is scheduled for a summer 2015 release from HarperCollins. Here, Stevenson (center) is joined by two fans, who came dressed as Nimona characters – Cindy (l.) as Dr. Meredith Blitzmeyer and Emily (r.) Lord Ballister Blackheart.

Love-Craft

Salina Yoon, whose third book featuring her black-and-white avian character, Penguin in Love, was published by Walker in December, attended Pajamarama at Barnes & Noble in San Diego on January 24. There were about 20 pajama-clad kids there, ranging in age from three to eight, including Yoon’s son, Mason. Yoon read from Penguin in Love and Penguin and Pinecone, and (shown here) modeled a craft activity for the group – knitting using their fingers while thinking about someone they love. Yoon launches a new picture book series in April with Found.