Photos: Wordstock and the PNBA Nightcapper Events

Wow, what a busy weekend! On Sunday, we were at Portland's terrific Wordstock Festival of Words, where we read from Smash: Trial by Fire, answered questions, and signed books. Then we were off to the Nightcapper event for the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association's annual conference, where we signed and handed out copies of Smash to booksellers and librarians from around the region. We were overwhelmed by all of the enthusiastic responses to the book, to say the least!

Bolton Bros Wordstock Kyle and I pose in the iconic Wordstock red chair.

Bolton Bros PNBA At our table at the PNBA Nightcapper event, waiting for the doors to open so we can unleash our powers.

Green Bean Huge thanks to Jennifer and all the folks at Portland's Green Bean Books for providing copies of Smash for sale and for signing at Wordstock!

Kyle Phone Kyle checks his notes before the Wordstock reading.

Bolton Bros Q&A Answering questions after the reading.

Kyle Signs Kyle autographs a copy of Smash at the signing table.

Bolton Bros Pose The Bolton brothers, posing with a young fan.

Smash Girl 1

Smash Girl 2 Girls love Smash, too!

Fill-in Panel I had the unexpected honor of being a fill-in moderator for the Visual Narrator panel, featuring some wonderful comic artists: Gene Luan Yang, Colleen Coover, Shannon Wheeler, Nicole J. Georges, and Mark Russell. It was great meeting them all!

Chris and Stina Sitting with one of our colorists, the amazing Christina Mackin!

Bolton Bros Fight

Bolton Bros Fight 2

Bolton Bros Fight 3 This is how most of our story conferences look. Kyle and I always make sure to respect the other's opinion, hear each other out, and come to a reasonable compromise.

Bolton Bros Make Up And, no matter how tough it gets, we always make up afterward.

Bolton Bros Nightcapper Arriving at the PNBA Nightcapper event.

Bolton Bros PNBA Before Before the event, books piled high.

Bolton Bros PNBA 1 From the minute the doors opened, booksellers showed up to tell us how excited they were for Smash!

Bolton Bros PNBA Line The line started long...

Bolton Bros PNBA Line 2 And got longer...

Bolton Bros PNBA Line 3 And longer...

Bolton Bros PNBA Line 4 And stayed long...

Bolton Bros PNBA After Until we were completely cleaned out!

Smash Fans PNBA Enthusiastic Smash fans!

Smash Wordstock We had a fantastic time at both shows, and can't wait for next year! Thanks for checking out our photos.

Day #3 of the SMASH Blog Tour!

First off, Kyle and I want to take a moment to thank everyone who came out for our reading last night at Powell's Books in Portland, OR. It was a truly amazing way to launch our book, and we're both incredibly grateful to have shared it with you. We'll post more pictures soon, but for now, just a taste...

Bolton Bros

Here's Kyle (on the left) and I during our PowerPoint reading from Smash: Trial by Fire. The Magus looks down — approvingly? Eh, probably not.

Smash Pop

What could possibly be better than a delicious Smash cake pop..?

Smash Mob

How about a whole mob of delicious Smash cake pops?!

It was a wonderful night with a fantastic turn-out. Kyle and I truly couldn't be happier!

Today in the Blog Tour, the Book Bitch blog has something special for you: an interview with none other than Smash himself! (And there may be a surprise guest... but we aren't spoiling the secret!)

Presenting...the SMASH Blog Tour!

Tuesday is the big day! Hard to believe it's almost here after so much time and anticipation. Not only are we celebrating Book Launch Week, but we're also kicking off...

The 2013 SMASH Blog Tour!!

Smash Cover Small

"What's a blog tour?" you ask. Well, it's a lot like a book tour, but instead of physically traveling to stores for in-person readings, we've written and drawn pieces for some of the best book blogs I've had the pleasure to lay eyes on.

Here's the schedule:

Monday, 9/9: Random Chalk Talk — Guest Post on the evolution of SMASH from webcomic to book.

Monday, 9/9: Powells.com Book Blog — Guest Post on the birth of Smash, featuring the scandalous true story how we designed and created the character.

Tuesday, 9/10: Who R U Blog — Q&A with Kyle and me talking about what it's like to work together as brothers and other titillating tales.

Wednesday, 9/11: Book Bitch — Exclusive interview with none other than Smash himself! (Plus a surprise guest.)

Thursday, 9/12: Cynsations — Guest Post, "Graphic Novel 101" — how we make the comic.

Friday, 9/13: Green Bean Teen Queen — Guest Post about the magic of libraries and how they helped create a certain pint-sized superhero.

Saturday, 9/14: Charlotte's Library — Guest Post featuring a comic titled "The True Origin of the Brothers Bolton." Yes, it's all true!

Monday, 9/16: Hooked On Books — Guest Post featuring the SMASH playlist, for the perfect soundtrack to accompany the book!

Tuesday, 9/17: Bildungsroman — Q&A with Kyle and me.

Whew! In case you lost count, that's an entire week of SMASH bloggy goodness! We can't wait to share them with you — and we'd love to hear what you think. It's going to be an amazing week...