Photos from the Calamity Jack party! Otherwise known as the Shannon, Dean and Nathan Show!

If you have never been to an event that features Shannon and Dean Hale and their trusty sidekick and illustrator extraordinaire, Nathan Hale (no relation), you are missing a show!

Folks who came to the event hosted by TKE at the Anderson-Foothill library were rewarded with a fabulously funny afternoon. Nathan Hale, seriously talented artist and illustrator of Rapunzel’s Revenge and Calamity Jack gave a multimedia presentation starting with how he got into illustrating all the way through how his original first drawing of Rapunzel and how he actually laid out Calamity Jack.

And then, oh yes, and then Shannon Hale, New York Times best-selling author of six award-winning young adult novels, and Dean Hale, her super-human husband and co-author of Calamity Jack, presented their interpretive dance: Cooperation. The room was filled with fans and everyone got a chance to meet all the contributors, get their books autographed in a rainbow of colors, and snack on Screaming Brownies and some Pixie Dust.

You had to be there, but if you weren’t and even if you were, here are a few pictures that help describe the scene.

Click on the photos to see in a larger view. Photos by Stuart Jensen

Full house

Cooperation

Rapunzel Roundup Pictures

Lots o’ Goodness

• The Rapunzel Roundup was awesome; two out of three Hales, plus one Zarr, agree! Pictures to come soon.
• Powell’s likes Carol Wiley Cassella as much as I do.
• Joyce Hinnefeld, who you will soon be hearing about if you haven’t already since her debut novel In Hovering Flight is the number one IndieNext List pick for September (a reward richly deserved for a great read), is psyched about indies.

The Next Big Thing: Rapunzel

Rapunzel’s Revenge, written by Shannon and Dean Hale and illustrated by Nathan Hale (no relation), is already making waves! Estella’s Revenge has featured it in their latest zine, with the following glowing recommendation:

In my house, it is very rare that my 8-year-old and 12-year-old daughters will agree on anything, let alone both agreeing with each other and with both of their parents. This miracle happened recently, however, by the time we all finished Shannon and Dean Hale’s most excellent graphic novel.

And Al Roker has picked it for his kids’ book club — a mighty coup.

Salt Lake, you are lucky we’re here. We’ve already planned a huge party to celebrate the release! Shannon, Dean and Nathan will all be there, plus six more fantastic local authors: Ann Cannon, James Dashner, Jessica Day George, Mette Ivie Harrison, Kimberly Heuston, and Sara Zarr, each of whom has a new book out. So mark your calendars for August 23rd at the Foothill Library, and keep your eye on the blog for posts leading up to the event, featuring each author and their new book!

[where: The King's English Bookshop, 1511 S 1500 E, Salt Lake City UT]

Author Update | Shannon & Dean Hale

Last night was quite possibly the funniest author events I’ve ever had the pleasure to organize and attend. Shannon and Dean Hale, in the store for First Kiss (Then Tell), had the crowd practically in tears. They deserve their own show. Maybe even a reality show! I would watch it, and I don’t even have TV. Rather than attempting to describe it, here are a few highlights from the evening:

Money Quote: [Shannon describing the strange coincidence that the illustrator of their graphic novel rapunzel's revenge, due out this fall, is also named Hale] “When I go on tour and people ask me about it, I tell them that Dean and Nathan are my two husbands. [audience laughs] And people believe me!”

Thing I Didn’t Know About Shannon: Before she was able to write full-time, she was an Instructional Designer [I'm not even sure what that is] and held computer trainings for corporations.

Thing I Didn’t Know About Dean: He writes absurdist horror stories on his blog, www.dreadcrumbs.com.

Best Anecdote of the Night: At their wedding, Shannon and Dean performed an improv skit in the form of a Telenovela (Spanish soap-opera, for those of us who don’t know), entirely in Spanish!

Here are some pictures. Dean’s shirt is covered with “bloody” handprints because it’s his Intramural Zombie Hunting League shirt, which he wore to counteract the extreme girliness of being published (for the first time no less!) in a first kiss anthology.

Congratulations to Kennedy (in the very last picture), who won our drawing for a free copy of First Kiss (Then Tell)! Tomorrow we’ll be posting our favorite First Kiss stories. Come by and submit your own in the comments!