Marissa Meyer, author of the bestselling Lunar Chronicles
that started with Cinder, announced
at her blogsite that she would be signing books at Third Place Books.
Considering her in-depth knowledge of fairy stories, I definitely decided to
go.
After she and three other young adult authors did a Q&A
session, people rushed to line up for autographs. I ended up towards the end of
the line, but it was worth it. They were autographing coloring books featuring
themselves and other authors on the book tour. Coloring books!
You can read the autograph, which is what's important
(You’ll see how lifelike when you scroll down.) Marissa was
glad to see me. Want to know why? Google my name and the word Cress and you’ll
see. It’s important to have something intelligent to say, not just, “I really
like your books.”
So after the picture, since she does a wealth of research on
folklore, I asked her opinion on which country had the original Cinderella
story. (It was not originally a European tale.) She said that the earliest
written account was in China, but she thought the earliest account of all would
have been an oral tradition in Egypt.
I asked, “You mean with the fur slipper?” and she said yes.
(There is an ongoing controversy as to whether the first
European writer of the story actually meant to write verre, which means glass, or vair,
which means a fur used for clothing.)
That was an enjoyable conversation. If you hear that Marissa
Meyer is doing a signing in your area, you really should go see her.
