HarperTeen kicked off the first week of summer with the Supernatural Summer Tour. This is a six day whirl wind tour that includes Kansas City, Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, Chicago, & San Diego with five of HarperTeen’s top young adult authors. 
When I caught up with the tour at Borders in Dallas, Texas, the participants for this stop were Kim Harrison (EARLY TO DEATH, EARLY TO RISE), Ellen Schreiber (VAMPIRE KISSES 7; LOVE BITES), Aprilynne Pike (SPELLS), and Kimberley Derting (THE BODY FINDER). Kelley Armstrong (THE RECKONING) would trade off with Aprilynne Pike starting in Houston. For at least three of these ladies, it was day three out of the six in the non-stop tour, yet they all greeted their fans with energy and enthusiasm. The evening started with all four ladies perched upon their signing table, giving short introductions of themselves and their books, followed by a Q&A session. Those in attendance got to find out a little about their favorite authors. Such fun facts were that Aprilynne was the only one of the four that actually went to school to be a writer but she felt she learned just as much working in critique groups and reading. Ellen’s biggest influence has been theater and acting as well as the director Tim Burton giving her acting experience credit for helping understand her characters. Kim was big on fairy tales and science fiction growing up, went to school for a biology degree, and felt her main influence was Ray Bradbury for mixing the real with the surreal. Kimberly Derting who was pre-med in college claims she wanted to write because she wanted to scare the pee out of folks; that to me is the best reason of them all. You would never guess her biggest influence was Stephen King. 
Eventually everyone lined up to have their favorite authors sign the books they either brought in, or bought on the spot. I will admit, I was there like many of the others in attendance for Kim Harrison, being a fan of not the young adults’ series but the adult Rachel Morgan series. I saw several copies of that series in waiting hands to be signed. However, I made it a point to read both books, ONCE DEAD, TWICE SHY and EARLY TO DEATH, EARLY TO RISE before attending the signing. I was not disappointed. Her new YA series was quick and sharp, as a YA series needs to be for its audience. However, even though I had my sights set on one author, I ended up leaving the event with three new authors in my reading shelf. From Kim Harrison’s dead/living girl doing bad things for good, to Ellen Schreiber’s vampires that don’t sparkle (yeah), to Aprilynne Pike who does fairies in a way you haven’t seen before (and will like, I promise), to Kimberly Derting’s young girl with a nose for dead bodies (not literally, but you know what I mean), HarperTeen has a great lineup of authors for any YA reader to enjoy during the lazy days of this Supernatural Summer. Loa Ledbetter
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