James Ponti Author Event: Mission Manhattan

Last week I was lucky enough to attend an author event (my first one of the year) at RJ Julia's featuring James Ponti and Jake Burt. 

In the shop window:

The event was super fun - I cried with laugher several times. 

Jake Burt was a wonderful moderator. We all played a game plotter vs panser.

James Ponti is a panser - sort of. He knows the ending but not how we get there. He does like to plan three chapters ahead. 

He doesn't know how to play chess, so those scenes are hard to write. 

James talked about his love for indie bookstores and how he's proud to be a Kid Lit writer. 

One Easter Egg: He writes song lyrics into each book

Easter Egg #2 The head of MI6 is also in the Framed books (Which I still need to read)

He doesn't have a favorite character, because he doesn't want the books to become unbalanced. Each character has one of his qualities. But Kat is the closest to him. 

We heard a funny TOAST story.  

Here he is reading the first little bit of the book. 

Thanks to a goodreads review, he stats each book off with a bang. 

It was such a fun night. We didn't end up getting another picture together. This is from the last tour:

We talked a little bit about NYPL. I love the fun fact that is in the book. It's fascinating and no I'm not going to spoil it.

I was lucky enough to get an early copy of the book. I love this series - there's so much action, danger, and drama. You can read my review here.

Another great night! I was so happy I was able to attend. 

Outside the shop. How cute is that?