Yes, I know it's really early to be announcing guests for next year's show, but we have two recent additions that I thought you all might want to know about. We have Ashley Greene (Alice Cullen) and Kellan Lutz (Emmett Cullen) from the Twilight movies.

Let's cross our fingers for no cancellations, but you know it's early yet.

Hope everyone is doing well. Start thinking about what programming you'd like to see next year. We start gearing up for real in January. As always, I welcome your suggestions!

Regards,
Bev

After the "New YA Lit" panel at Dragon*Con I've been reading a lot of new stuff, so I wanted to put down my thoughts about what I've found.

The list (links lead to Amazon):

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Found by Margaret Peterson Haddix
Life as We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer
Rampant by Diana Peterfreund
Libyrinth by Pearl North


Reviews:

( Found by Margaret Peterson Haddix is the best Science Fiction I've read this season (sorry John Scalzi!). )

( Life as We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer is a little to realistic in the post-apocalyptic, which is both good and bad. )

( The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins was so good I finished it in one day. )

( Rampant by Diana Peterfreund is awesome. Who can't love killer unicorns!? )

( Libyrinth by Pearl North trips a bit, but it's going places, and I enjoyed the ride. )




Next on the shelf:

Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld
Fire by Kristin Cashore (companion to Graceling, which rocked!)
The Dead and the Gone by Susan Beth Pfeffer
Un Lun Dun by China Mieville
Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
The Looking Glass Wars and Seeing Redd by Frank Beddor (prep for ArchEnemy, which comes out on the 14th)
Sphinx's Princess by Esther Friesner (wrote Nobody's Princess/Prize, which totally changed my view of Helen of Troy)
Warrior Princess by Freewin Jones

X-posted to my personal LJ, yalitlovers, dragonconyalit

Thanks so much to all of the people who came to panels at our track this year! We had a great weekend and you guys rocked like woah fire! The following are links from some of our celebrity Q&A panels. If you have links you'd be willing to share we'd love to have 'em. As we get more we'll post them here. Cheers!

All links are used with permission from the original creators.

Friday Tom Felton Panel 9/4
Discussing Alan Rickman / Draco and the Malfoys / His favorite line from HBP / Creepy fan encounters from katilara
About his love for Daniel/Harry (about 30 seconds in) from fivedotnerds

Saturday Tom Felton Panel 9/5
Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5 - Part 6 - from lilyginny27 of feltbeats.com

Sunday Tom Felton Panel 9/6
Several Clips from hikaruchan
Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5 - Part 6 - Part 7 - from lilyginny27 of feltbeats.com

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5 - Part 6 - cloudyvisions aka _sin_attract
Wonderful Podcast Download (Right click, Save As) mp3 - cloudyvisions aka _sin_attract

Saturday Twilight Panel9/5
Short Clip from dark3princess

To all of the volunteers that helped us out for this year's Yule Ball! You people stepped up to the plate like crazy and had us up and running much faster than we thought possible! Thanks so much for just being darn awesome!!!!

Hello friends of the YA Lit Track,

I think this year was our best yet! If you came to any of our panels, games, or events, please let us know what you thought.  I'd love to hear your feedback.  I've seen some of you post your pictures to your Facebook accounts, but I'd also enjoy seeing your pictures on our track Facebook page.  I'd especially love to see your best Yule Ball pictures.  Tag away, friends.  LJ is my first love, but it's not especially adept at downloading pictures.  For those of you who enjoy both LJ and FB, please forgive the redundant messages.

I'd like to give a special shout out to the best staff at Dragon*Con.  To my Assistant Director, Mary Moline, thanks for everything.  I could not do this without you, nor would I want to.  To the rest of my exceptionally talented staff, Lydia Watson, Karen Smith, Suzanne Chatham, Karen Newsome, and Tara Smith, I love you all and thanks for your hard work moderating panels, interviewing guests, sitting on panels, buying door prizes with your own money, and always going above and beyond the call of duty for completely uncompensated volunteers. Tara, I know it's time for you to move on, but I wish you all the best.  Welcome to Mel Pichetto, newest staffer.  I know you'll fit right in with the crew. Thanks to Jill Maddox and Sheila Clift who are almost staff members.  You don't even have to do anything, and yet you always do.  Thanks also to Veronica Atkins and Traci Dammann from Atlanta HP for hosting "Are You a Death Eater."  I also have to give a special thanks to Jan Price and Aurora Celeste, our resident costume experts and overall great volunteers.  I love you, ladies.  Dragon*Con couldn't even run without wonderful volunteers like you.

As for our phenomenal guest authors, especially Kathleen Duey and Steve Berman, I can't thank you enough. You give us a reason to gather and talk: your gifts of words.  I love and respect your work almost as much as I love and respect you as people.  Thanks for being our Book Club guinea pigs!

Thanks to the other wonderful guests and panelists, including Chesya Burke, Bonnie Kunzel, Susan Fichtelberg, Kathryn Hinds, Mark West, Racheline Maltese, Maggie Stiefvater, Jackie Kessler, Heather Brewer, Todd McCaffrey, Jenny Blackford, Keith DeCandido, Kathleen David, Sandra Ann McDonald, Jennifer Cam, Michelle Weston, Ted Naifeh, Andy Runton, Diana Peterfreund, D.A. Adams, and Davey Beauchamp.  If I have inadvertently missed anyone, I apologize.

Thanks to you, the fans, who come out and support us.  I'd like to also give thanks to all of you who helped us set up for the Yule Ball.  There is no way we could have opened the Ball at 9:00 without your help. 

So, let us know how we did this year.  Everything we do, we do for you fans.  We want to do stuff that you want to come see.

Regards,
Bev Kodak
Director, Young Adult Lit @ Dragon*Con

Hey,
Did anyone else record the Q&A panels from con this year for our Twilight or Harry Potter guests? Something happened to our recording and they aren't showing up. If you have any footage either audio or video, could you please send 'em our way. I hate to think that we've lost all of this just because of a computer malfunction.

Hopefully yours,
Mary

Sorry this is kind of late but the post-con brain is finally kicking in!!!

Quick Announcement of the winners of each category of our vidding competition as well as the best in show winner (aka winner of iPod shuffle)

Best Action - Kung Fu Fighting by chamalla
Best Comedy - New Girl by e_transitions
Best Romance - The Pledge by chamalla
Best Drama / Best in Show - Sunburn by obsessive24

I will have your buttons made up by the end of this weekend but I wanted to make sure you knew who won. obsessive24 contact me via email with where you'd like me to send your prize. (countessmary at gmail)

Anyone have pics/video of me as Snape? My apologies if it is a faux pas to ask for pics here. I had such a blast at the Yule Ball- more fun than any other thing I went to at Dragoncon- thanks to everyone who suggested I attend and to those who made the evening so fun!

Here is pic for reference:

YA Lit Trivia has moved to Marriott A601-602. Same time, just slid it over. This is great for us because it's down the hall from our track room.

Just a heads up to those of you making out your con schedules. :)

Cheers,
Countessmary

If you want to volunteer for set up/ decorating please comment here with your email...

Heads up! We've got some changes to our schedule

http://www.yalit.dragoncon.org/schedule.html

The changes we've just had handed down to us.

Friday Twilight Panel - Peter Facinelli will not be attending so the panel will be with Justin Chon only.
Sunday Draco Malfoy Panel and Twilight panel have been switched.

Monday Twilight and Draco Malfoy panels have been canceled due to scheduling conflicts. Please make sure to have a look at our schedule as it should be the most up to date schedule. Also, when you're at con, check out the Daily Dragon as they will print all updates!

Thanks to the people who've submitted their videos to our contest! Thus far I've gotten the following vids. Please check to make sure that you're actually on the list if you've submitted. There are some SERIOUSLY awesome videos in the running this year and I'm jazzed beyond belief that we've got such great talent in our tiny little contest.

( And the Nominees Are... )

The winners will be announced at Yule Ball at Dragon*Con. I will send an email out either that night or the following morning (depending on how insane my dragon*con schedule happens to be.)

Thanks again!

Instead of playing Harry Potter Jeopardy, this year we'll be organizing a trivia contest.... encompassing any book in YA Lit. Mind you, we'll be picking many of the most popular books in YA but also books from our past and present author guests. If you have any questions drop me a comment and I'll try to answer. If you're interested in playing, simply show up Saturday at 7:00 PM in the Hyatt, International South!

Playing Rules

• All teams will be put together at con by picking numbers at random
• Scoring will be done as follows.
• We will announce the categories in round one and you can assign a point value of either 1,2,3,4, 0r 5 points for your answer. These point values can only be used once.
• Second third rounds will go the same but the point value of the second round will be 1,3,5,7, and 9 and the point value for the third round will be 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10
• Again, point values can only be used once.
• Final round you will be able to risk from 1-20 points based on how sure you are of your answer.
• All tallies will be done by our judges


• The rulings of our judges are final.
• Anyone can play. All ages are welcome as this is a team game!
• The winning team will be eligible to pick one prize per person from our prize stash!
• No outside help - Internet, cell phones, friends, bringing books with you, etc. If we find that you are, you will be ejected from the game.
• No shouting of answers. All answers must be written down and submitted. You will have one minute after the question is asked to turn in your answer. Any answers after one minute will not be accepted.
• The answer you submit must contain your team name/number on the paper. If we can't figure out who wrote the answer you won't receive credit for the answer.

Hello!

Last year's Alt Sexuality in YA Lit panel netted a bunch of recommendations. Personally I've been completely lax in tracking down any of these books and reading them, but there's still time before the con! Some of the best parts of last year's panel were the short discussions of the merits of the books-- whether the gltbq characters and themes in the book were positive or negative or neutral. So if anyone planning on going to this panel has a chance to read some of last year's recs, please do!

For those of you still considering putting something together for the contest... let us sweeten the pot. We've just received a donation of a prize!!! In addition to the fact that your vid will be shown at the Yule Ball in front of hundreds of people the vid that places Best in Show will win a free 4 GB iPod shuffle!

( Clickety for the pretty picture of your new iPod )

The deadline has also been moved back to give you a little more time to work on your vids. All vids are now due August 15th! Please consider submitting something for the competition. It's going to be totally fun and you could win a free iPod.

More info at our Twilight Vidding Contest Page

Cheers,
Countessmary

My name is Mary Moline and I'm the Assistant Track Director for the Young Adult Literature track at Dragon*con. There have been A WHOLE HEAP OF YOU asking questions about getting Wizard bands at con this year. Here's some info about that.

First and foremost... this is not up to us. Which bands are accepted to con is entirely up to Dragon*con. (This is true for all guests... authors, actors, etc.)They have a committee to choose which people get passes to the convention. The band committee is an off shoot of that and they have their own rules and specific requirements. If you have a band who would like to perform they need to submit their information to the con on the following page.

http://www.dragoncon.org/dc_performer_app.php

Secondly, if accepted as a band for con they will be given free badges for the weekend for the band. THAT IS IT. I don't say this to be harsh, I just want you all to have accurate expectations of what bands will get from the con. Dragon*Con is such a good opportunity for most bands to sell their stuff. It makes it so D*Con doesn't have to give out hotel rooms, travel expenses, or anything of the kind. Literally, just badges for the weekend. You would save just the $75 per person depending on when you buy your badge.

I know that this doesn't sound like very much when it comes to paying for coming all the way to Atlanta. Dragon*con is just insane with the random nerdy love. If there's something you're into, chances are you'll find many more people at the con who love it just as much as you do... if not more. 30,000+ people came to con last year... that's your audience.

I would very much love to finally get a Wizard Wrock band at con. It's not going to happen in the 2009 convention setting because we've already got a more than full schedule and no bands were accepted for the show. I would very much suggest that any band wanting to apply to perform for the 2010 show do so as early as possible. The closer we get to con, the harder it is to be accepted as a guest.

Please let me know if you have any questions. I'll try to answer them to the best of my ability. If I don't know, I'll direct you to the person who will.

Hey guys, I have a friend who is working with the Atlantic Station Regal Cinema.  They need Harry Potter costumers still for the Half Blood Prince premiere tomorrow night, and also for some showings next week.

Anyone interested in a free ticket to the midnight showing in exchange for a little costuming goodness, please email Joe at dc_consuite@att,net

Thanks!

Bev
Director
YA Lit @ Dragon*Con

To all of you who just have to hear this that or the other thing... this is where to request your dance grooves for Yule Ball. Leave a comment with song title and artist... Ask for what will get you on the dance floor!!

I promise to do my best to include what people ask for! We've got a limited amount of time but make your voice heard. We're also looking people who DJ professionally to put together 20 minute sets for the ball. Those of you who know what you're doing with two turntables and a microphone... shoot me an email at countessmary at gmail.

Any questions, let me know. :)

Countessmary
Assistant Director/Yule Ball DJ

EDIT: The music you ask for doesn't have to have ANYTHING to do with YA or Harry Potter! :)

Crossposted in Dragoncon

This year, my three friends and I will be attending the Dragon*con Yule Ball. We are three girls, Myself as Luna Lovegood, as well as Moaning Myrtle, A Slytherin, and a Hufflepuff.

We would like to endeavor about finding gentlemen whom would like to escort us to the Yule Ball.

All ask is that you be 21+ as all of us are in our mid to late 20's.

I would like a canon character as well as Myrtle, however, that is not required.

I just thought it would be fun to do. We will probably attend in our school uniforms as I won't have time to concoct Luna's ball gown in time.

I do hope someone responds and the Nargles don't cause mischief with the posts.

You can reach me at lovegoodlogic@aol.com if you are interested.

Thank you.

PS. This is in no way a "date". I just think for the sake of pseudo realism, it might be fun to show up with a gent on our arms. It's all in good fun. We don't even expect flowers and chocolates.