On The Smugglers’ Radar: The Book Smugglers’ Comic-Con Roundup Edition (& Giveaway)

In which we roundup our favorite things from San Diego Comic Con, and offer up a giveaway of some of the goodies snagged from SDCC!

Last weekend was San Diego Comic Con–a ginormous annual congregation of literally hundreds of thousands of comics, tv, movie, and SFF nerds in sunny Southern California. SDCC is always an experience. It’s usually an uncomfortable one, given the many, many bodies, but there’s always a ton of cool stuff–including hugely important reveals of upcoming films and tv, and, a book lover dares to hope, awesome author meetings, signings, and con exclusives.

This year (as with the past 8-10 years), SDCC is all about the movies. A ton of awesome trailers were revealed, swag (including posters and a ton of google cardboard products) given… but the books were pretty disappointing. In particular, this fangirl was incredibly frustrated to learn that even though Ernest Cline was at the con, and it was the lead hyped title being promoted by Crown Publishing at the con, and the book published this past Tuesday 7/14, NO COPIES OF THE BOOK WERE AVAILABLE (neither for sale or for giveaway). But I digress–for all of the missteps (mostly publishers taking the “we’re here because we have to have some presence but this isn’t really our audience” stance), there were some great bookish discoveries at the show.

Here’s a roundup of my favorite trailer reveals, books found at the con, and a giveaway of some SDCC awesomeness!

The Trailers

ASH VS. EVIL DEAD TRAILER

Unholy necronomicon, people, ASH IS BACK WITH HIS BOOMSTICK! Also Lucy Lawless! Diverse cast! I cannot wait.

COLONY

It’s Josh Holloway reunited with Carlton Cuse in an invasion/occupation/rebellion story! I am a little leery of the way Sarah Wayne Callies is framed in the trailer (because she’s basically… Laurie), but I like the premise of the show and am willing to give it a try!

BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE

I feel obliged to include this trailer even though I am not a fan of Ben Affleck’s casting and I think the batsignal and sign look oddly boxy in this trailer. The reason it’s here: WONDER WOMAN. We finally get a glimpse of Gail Gadot as both Diana Prince and in her awesome WW garb. I WANT TO BELIEVE THIS IS GOING TO BE GOOD, PEOPLE.

VIXEN

More importantly: anyone else a fan of animated series? I haven’t been keeping up with many of them, but the new animated Vixen from DC looks awesome, doesn’t it?

FIRST LOOK: THE SHANNARA CHRONICLES

Did you know that MTV is adapting a television show based on Terry Brooks’ Shannara Chronicles? I don’t think I ever read more than the first book, and that was many moons ago–but with Jon Favreau at the helm, I’m hopeful.

THE EXPANSE

Speaking of book-to-screen adaptations, I am super bummed that I didn’t get to attend the panel at SDCC, but I am very excited to see more information about the show following last weekend. The trailer–and Google Cardbord VR–looks amazing. Time to catch up on the rest of the Expanse books!

DISTRICT 13 PROPO–THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY PART II

I confess that I had no idea what was going on when I first saw this trailer because it looks like a parody music video with dancing stormtroopers (remember at the beginning of Star Wars Rogue Squadron on gamecube?). But then I remembered, hello, Propos! I am so terrified and excited for Mockingjay II–it will be so painful to watch because it is so heartbreaking (PEETA! FINNICK! RUUUUUUUE!), but at the same time, I need to see it.

THE FORCE AWAKENS: BEHIND THE SCENES FEATURETTE

The most important trailer (well, featurette) from SDCC 2015 in my opinion is this. If you’re a Star Wars fan, you’ve probably watched it several times in the past week–and I’m not ashamed to say that I tear up every. Single. Time. The music, the obvious love and care and respect that go into every aspect of this newest episode, the blend of old favorites and costumes and sets and actors with new… it’s breathtaking. It’s a big deal.

The Books

Slim pickings, but here are a few keepers I was able to purchase or otherwise snag at the convention.

STEP INTO THE FOLD.
IT’S PERFECTLY SAFE.

The folks in Mike Erikson’s small New England town would say he’s just your average, everyday guy. And that’s exactly how Mike likes it. Sure, the life he’s chosen isn’t much of a challenge to someone with his unique gifts, but he’s content with his quiet and peaceful existence.

That is, until an old friend presents him with an irresistible mystery, one that Mike is uniquely qualified to solve: far out in the California desert, a team of DARPA scientists has invented a device they affectionately call the Albuquerque Door. Using a cryptic computer equation and magnetic fields to “fold” dimensions, it shrinks distances so that a traveler can travel hundreds of feet with a single step.

The invention promises to make mankind’s dreams of teleportation a reality. And, the scientists insist, traveling through the Door is completely safe.

Yet evidence is mounting that this miraculous machine isn’t quite what it seems—and that its creators are harboring a dangerous secret.

As his investigations draw him deeper into the puzzle, Mike begins to fear there’s only one answer that makes sense. And if he’s right, it may only be a matter of time before the project destroys…everything.

A cunningly inventive mystery featuring a hero worthy of Sherlock Holmes and a terrifying final twist you’ll never see coming, The Fold is that rarest of things: a genuinely page-turning science-fiction thriller. Step inside its pages and learn why author Peter Clines has already won legions of loyal fans.

No final cover for this one yet, but I cannot wait to read Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel.

An inventive debut in the tradition of World War Z and The Martian, told in the cutting-edge cadences of interviews, journal entries, transcripts, and news articles, Sleeping Giants is a literary thriller fueled by a quest for truth—and by a struggle for control of earthshaking power.

A girl named Rose is riding her new bike near her home in Deadwood, South Dakota, when she falls through the earth. She wakes up at the bottom of a square-shaped hole, its walls glowing with intricate carvings. But the firemen who come to save her peer down upon something even stranger: a little girl in the palm of a giant metal hand.

Seventeen years later, the mystery of the bizarre artifact remains unsolved—the object’s origins, architects, and purpose unknown. Carbon dating defies belief; military reports are redacted; theories are floated, then rejected.

But some can never stop searching for answers.

Rose Franklin is now a highly trained physicist leading a top-secret team to crack the hand’s code. And along with her colleagues, she is being interviewed by a nameless interrogator whose power and purview are as enigmatic as the relic they seek. What’s clear is that Rose and her compatriots are on the edge of unraveling history’s most perplexing discovery—and finally figuring out what it portends for humanity. But once the pieces of the puzzle are in place, will the result be an instrument of lasting peace or a weapon of mass destruction?

Advance praise for Sleeping Giants

“This stellar debut novel . . . masterfully blends together elements of sci-fi, political thriller and apocalyptic fiction. . . . A page-turner of the highest order.” —Kirkus Reviews

This book came out last month from Saga Press:

The novel is set in a Manhattan “shrouded in mystery” and follows a 17-year-old Catholic high school student who begins to acquire supernatural powers after being introduced to a book called The Calendar of Sleights by a strange classmate. The protagonist is then pulled into a long-running war among rival factions of magicians.

I hadn’t heard of this book before the con, and wasn’t particularly interested when I saw the cover. But the synopsis, that got my attention:

Sharakhai, the great city of the desert, center of commerce and culture, has been ruled from time immemorial by twelve kings—cruel, ruthless, powerful, and immortal. With their army of Silver Spears, their elite company of Blade Maidens, and their holy defenders, the terrifying asirim, the Kings uphold their positions as undisputed, invincible lords of the desert. There is no hope of freedom for any under their rule.

Or so it seems, until Çeda, a brave young woman from the west end slums, defies the Kings’ laws by going outside on the holy night of Beht Zha’ir. What she learns that night sets her on a path that winds through both the terrible truths of the Kings’ mysterious history and the hidden riddles of her own heritage. Together, these secrets could finally break the iron grip of the Kings’ power…if the nigh-omnipotent Kings don’t find her first.

Last but not least, I picked up this graphic novel from Image Comics and cannot wait to read it (all of the reviews cite it as terrifying and original–yes, please!):

Everything you thought you knew about witches is wrong. They are much darker, and they are much more horrifying. Wytches takes the mythology of witches to a far creepier, bone-chilling place than readers have dared venture before. When the Rooks family moves to the remote town of Litchfield, NH to escape a haunting trauma, they’re hopeful about starting over. But something evil is waiting for them in the woods just beyond town. Watching from the trees. Ancient…and hungry. Collects Wytches #1-6.

The Book Smugglers’ SDCC Giveaway:

We have a few goodies up for grabs from San Diego this year! Included are:

• SDCC exclusive version of The Elfstones of Shannara by Terry Brooks
• Red Rising by Pierce Brown
• Legendary Pictures’ SDCC Google Cardboard (download the Pacific Rim app. IT IS AMAZING. The Expanse app is pretty good, too.)

The sweeps is open to addresses in the US, UK, and Canada only. Enter by using the form below, and good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway