The Cruel Prince + Sightwitch Tour Recap

Last month I had the pleasure of celebrating the release of Sightwitch with Susan Dennard and Holly Black at Mysterious Galaxy! I knew this event would be packed so I made sure to arrive early so that I could buy books and get a good seat. As I was waiting for the seats to be set up, I ran into someone I went to high school with and found out she’s a blogger too (hi, @laceliteracy)! 

The event was moderated by a booktuber, who brought a list of questions for Holly and Susan to answer, and followed by an audience Q&A session. Holly talked about how The Cruel Prince‘s world was in part inspired by this long, running story she and her husband would add to while driving. She also wanted to bring what she loved from writing cons to fae. One of the strangest things she did for book research was to ask Kelly Link to put her in the trunk of her car and drive her around. Holly said that other drivers could definitely see her in the back of the hatchback but that they did nothing about it. While researching the 1870s for Something Strange & Deadly, Susan came across the Grecian Bend, a fashionable pose for women, which she kindly demonstrated for us. This then inspired Holly to demonstrate the Reversal of Fortune, a move she came across once during research.

Susan was inspired by Croatia while creating Witchlands world. She studied ecology so she thought a lot about that while creating the world. The map of the convent featured in Sightwitch is the map Susan drew! She had sent it as an example for the artist to look at, but he literally copied the map she had drawn. The inspiration for the opening scene of Truthwitch came from Two Steps From Hell’s “El Dorado.” On what future goals both authors have, Susan says she would love to write the different storylines in a video game and Holly would like to write an adult book.When asked about switching back and forth between writing YA and MG books, Holly said it was a challenge but a relief since she can be fun in MG and dark in YA.

The signing line was long, but Susan needed to leave by a certain time in order to catch her flight so it wasn’t too bad of a wait. Sooz, as always, is the sweetest person ever and jumped up to give me a hug once I made it to the front of the line. It was so great seeing her again and so special that she remembers me (from the Air Clan/previous signings). Holly was also great! This was my first time meeting her and I am so excited to read The Cruel Prince now. A big thank you to Susan Dennard, Holly Black, and Mysterious Galaxy for a fun event!

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