A big “thank you” to everyone who came to the book signing in Washington D.C. last weekend! You were all so enjoyable to meet! For those of you who weren’t there, pictures of the book signing can be seen on our Manga Hero Facebook page.

Last weekend, I was accompanied by Matthew Salisbury (the author of Paul: Tarsus to Redemption Volumes 1&2) in flying 2,700 miles to D.C. where we rendezvoused with our editor Jonathan Lin. Even the artist Sean Lam was there, coming all the way from Singapore for the event, even though he suffered from food poisoning the day before the flight – talk about dedication!

Our display tables were positioned outside the bookstore of the National Basilica, where we signed books and handed out limited edition posters at the commencement of the March for Life.  

As Matthew and I perfected our autographs, Sean hypnotized many fans by drawing sketch after sketch of popular characters from the books, and passing them out to lucky customers and passer-bys. I was surprised at how many fans were aspiring artists who wanted to share their artwork, show their progress, and ask Sean for advice on how to improve (Sean’s answer of course was always “lots of practice”).

Similarly, many of you asked me big career questions like what inspired me, or if I had any tips for you in your pursuit of writing – answers to which will be revealed, or at least expounded upon, in future blog posts.

Many fans were also excited to enter our sweepstakes to win a free iPad. Not gonna lie, if it wasn’t cheating, I’d totally enter the sweepstakes too…

We had a surprising amount of fans with requests for what stories they wanted to see published next. The most frequently mentioned were Esther, Tobit, Maccabees, Ruth, and the Archangels. Although I am unsure which of these will ultimately be chosen, I can say that the latest book I’ve been working on is an adaptation of some of Jesus’ parables.

Funny. I always forget to tack on “should be” to the words “working on.”

Don’t get me wrong, the next script is going pretty well. I bring my laptop and script everywhere I go in the hopes that I’ll have a sporadic hour or two to work on it throughout the day. I just didn’t get much time to work on it over the weekend – until the flight home, that is. I hope you’re all getting excited about it, because I am!

I can’t give away too many spoilers, but I will say that my next book contains a little steampunk flare for those hardcore manga fans out there.

In summary: more awesome stories are on the way, our visit to D.C. had a great turnout, and the book-signing was a marvelous success. The bookstore managers Luke, Lee and Amy even told us we set a store record for the most books sold by an author in one day, but it wouldn’t have been possible without them and you!

God Bless,

Gabrielle