The Smart Chicks Kick It Tour launches

Smart chicks are coming to a city near you September 13-25!

Most author tours are scheduled by the publishers, picking the cities and bookstores where the author will appear. In the case of The Smart Chicks Kick It Tour, a group of authors have banded together to put on an author road show of sorts, featuring six to eight authors at each stop. Most are known primarily for their young adult fantasy and science fiction novels and that is the focus of the tour.  Whether you’re a teen or young adult who reads their books or a parent or older sibling of someone who does, catching a local stop on the tour is highly recommended.

Leading the group are Melissa Marr, Alyson Noel, and Kelley Armstrong, who will be appearing at each stop. Joining them for a few stops each are Cassandra Claire, Holly Black, Jennifer Lynn Barnes, Sarah Rees Brennan, Rachel Caine, Melissa de la Cruz, Kimberly Derting, Kami Garcia, Margaret Stohl, Jackson Pearce, Mary Pearson, Carrie Ryan, Jeri Smith-Ready, Jessica Verday, and Rachel Vincent. Also, it is not unlikely some other local authors may turn up unannounced or to hang out with them for the event.

As part of the tour, since a lot of the authors will be driving between venues, they are planning a Smart Chicks anthology with road trip stories by each the authors that will be published next fall.  At each venue, fans will be able to enter a drawing to have their name used as a character in one of the stories!  Full details are on this post on the Smart Chicks blog.

For those of us here in Arizona, the tour stops at the Scottsdale Public Library, 3839 N. Drinkwater Blvd. in Scottsdale, on Friday September 17th starting at 7 pm.  It is hosted by The Poisoned Pen, who will have plenty of books available for you to purchase.  Joining Kelley, Melissa, and Alyson in Scottsdale will be Holly Black, Sarah Rees Brennan & Kimberly Derting.

Melissa Marr is known for her Wicked Lovely series of novels (Radiant Shadows), Alyson Noel for her Immortals novels (Dark Flame), and Kelly Armstrong has her young adult Darkest Powers series (The Awakening) as well as her adult Otherworld series (Waking the Witch).  Holly Black is best known for her Spiderwick Chronicles series of books (which the recent movie was based on) and her novel Valiant, was awarded the Andre Norton Award for YA Fiction in 2006.  Her latest novel is White Cat, the first of her Curse Workers series and she also recently published The Poison Eaters, a collection of her short fiction.  Sarah Rees Brennan is an Irish author whose gothic Demon’s Lexicon series have been best sellers.  Kimberly Derting is a new author with her first novel, The Body Finder.

The full schedule for the tour can be found on the Smart Chicks website with more details and links for each individual stop.  They will also be blogging on the Smart Chicks Blog during the tour.  You can also keep up with them on their Facebook page.

The list of cities and authors appearing are as follows:

September 13th – 7 PM,  Austin, TX
Kelley Armstrong, Melissa Marr, Alyson Noel, Holly Black, Rachel Caine & Cassandra Clare

September 14th – 7 PM, Houston, TX
Kelley Armstrong, Melissa Marr, Alyson Noel, Holly Black, Cassandra Clare, Kami Garcia & Rachel Vincent.

September 15th – 7 PM. Houston, TX
Kelley Armstrong, Melissa Marr, Alyson Noel, Holly Black, Sarah Rees Brennan, Margaret Stohl & Cassandra Clare

September 16th – 6 PM,  Jackson, MS
Kelley Armstrong, Melissa Marr, Alyson Noel, Holly Black, Cassandra Clare, Jessica Verday & Sarah Rees Brennan

September 17th – 7PM, Scottsdale, AZ
Melissa Marr, Alyson Noel, Kelley Armstrong, Holly Black, Sarah Rees Brennan & Kimberly Derting.

September 18th – 6 PM, Menlo Park, CA
Melissa Marr, Alyson Noel, Kelley Armstrong, Melissa de la Cruz, Margaret Stohl, Kami Garcia & Kimberly Derting

September 20th -6 PM, Pasadena, CA
Melissa Marr, Alyson Noel, Kelley Armstrong, Rachel Caine, Melissa de la Cruz, Rachel Vincent, Margaret Stohl & Mary Pearson

September 21st – 6 PM, San Diego, CA
Melissa Marr, Alyson Noel, Kelley Armstrong, Mary Pearson, Rachel Caine, Rachel Vincent, Carrie Ryan, Margaret Stohl & Kami Garcia.

September 22nd – 7 PM, Naperville, IL
Alyson Noel, Kelley Armstrong, Melissa Marr, Jackson Pearce, Jennifer Barnes & Carrie Ryan

September 23rd -7 PM, Dayton, OH
Alyson Noel, Kelley Armstrong, Melissa Marr, Jackson Pearce, Jennifer Lynn Barnes & Kami Garcia.

September 24th -7 PM, Cincinnati, OH
Alyson Noel, Kelley Armstrong, Melissa Marr, Jennifer Lynn Barnes, Jeri Smith-Ready, & Margaret Stohl

September 25th – 2 PM, Brampton, ON
Alyson Noel, Kelley Armstrong, Melissa Marr, Melissa de la Cruz, Jeri Smith-Ready, Jennifer Lynn Barnes, Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl