It's Armchair BEA, baby! Intros First!

*cheers* Have you HEARD? The cool peeps over at Armchair BEA are providing us penny-pinchers and foreigners with a way to actively get excited for BEA all the way from home. That's riiight. That means you can post and get a taste of the BEA experience all in the comforts of your own home, even while cursing a nagging pain in the lower back and posting at nearly two in the morning! Which is COOLNESS, if you ask me. YOU CAN DO ANYTHING and still be part of BEA with fellow non-BEA-goers (we even have a button, guys and Stacey! It just doesn't get any flyer than that) to party about books from our chairs.

So, what the WHAT is all this INTRODUCTION BUSINESS, you ask? Well, considering that this year's theme is ALL ABOUT THE COMMUNAL LOVE we Armchair BEA participants have been kindly asked to answer five out of ten interview questions to get the meet and greet requirement out of the way. Which is probably going to be my favorite part of this WHOLE FLIPPING AWESOME EXPERIENCE.

Which then brings me to my first Q + A:

Q. What is your favorite part about the book blogging community? Is there anything that you would like to see change in the coming years?

Well, if you haven't ALREADY GUESSED, it's the interesting and exciting bloggers themselves. I love that we're made up of an ever-spun web of passionate, enthusiastic book lovers all UP ON that reading experience. Fans can congregate and "meet up" without ever having to set foot in other states, other countries even. We get to break out our GO TEAM t-shirts and geek out over new covers and fresh releases. Have an online orgy of EXTREME spazz attacks and fandom over a shared love of amazeball authors. I like that I can go on Twitter, let's say, and can hit up peeps WHO KNOW WHAT I'M GOING THROUGH about ex. a long-awaited book release, a too-large TBR, the drama, the stress and the fun. Who other than bloggers would know better?

It's the friendships that count, yo. And there're brand new opportunities to make friends every day just by popping over to someone else's blog for a change. I wish we could all find more ways, like Armchair BEA, than what's out there to reach out to each other.

TRUE STORY.

And if you're wondering who this humble and enthusiastic blogger (me) is, then CHECK IT

Q. Who are you? How long have you been blogging? Why did you get into blogging?

BETCHA YOU DIDN'T KNOW
I COULD DRAW TOO

Why, I am Asher Knight, though that's not my REAL HONEST-TO-BOB-LIKE-ON-MY-BIRTH-CERTIFICATE-NAME (this IS the internet, you know). To take a page from my About Me, I'm a lover of Twilight (and if I had dogs instead of cats I'd've named them after Jacob and his silly shirtless friends) and darn well not ashamed (we could meet up on the pavement outside if there's a problem). I've got a lot of pent-up nervous and easily excitable energy, which I utilize to read an overabundance of books at all hours of the night. And my mother wonders why I don't do well on tests *scoffs*

I'm turning eighteen this summer and will be - HALLELUJAH - graduating high school this June 22, for which I'm eternally grateful to, you know, God and the universe. I've got two sisters who happen to be twins (UN-FREAKING-FORTUNATELY), a mom who TOTALLY GETS the book addiction and doesn't obnoxiously write it off as "just a phase," and I wish my life was a Stephanie Perkins book. And if that failed, I would fall back on L. J. Smith. Because it's much easier to believe the Salvatore brothers will fall in love with you than a St. Clair or a Cricket (no, not the bug, YOU NINNYS). Or, NO, wait, Lisa T. Bergren. Because in 16th century Italy they'd probably appreciate the fact that I shave and wash my hair regularly way more.

I've been blogging since October 2010, and I was inspired by The Story Siren and Kristi's In My Mailbox vlogs. I'd never seen someone talk so FREELY, I guess is the word, and CONFIDENTLY about books and have a (pretty) place to show them off. It was a culture shock, let me tell you. Being among non-readers other than my immediate family all my life was worse than being the Avatar amongst an entire flock of non-benders. Imagine the isolation I was feeling here. So I basically said to myself, IF KRISTI CAN DO IT, YOU BET YOUR BUTT I CAN TOO. And the rest is history, dear ones.

Since becoming a part of the blogging community, I would say my tastes have evolved, so

Q. Have your reading tastes changed since you started blogging? How?

Before I started blogging, I was reading strictly Rachel Hawthorne and paranormal romance books. I sneered and defamed any books to the contrary. I was ABOVE all that other stuff. I knew what was what.

Then, blogging happened.

And my eyes were like

And then I was like

Because the truth was simple: I KNEW NOTHING. I WAS IGNORANT. And, worse, RESISTANT ALL THIS TIME for NO REASON. I came to find that I liked a bit of everything with inclinations toward fantasy of all kinds and contemporary romance AND paranormal books.

And that brings me to

Q. What are you currently reading, or what is your favorite book you have read so far in 2012?

Since I asked so nicely, I'll tell myself and YOU. I am currently, as in RIGHT THIS MINUTE, reading Dark Kiss by Michelle Rowen, in sticking with my love of all things paranormal. And this week I have plans to read Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas and Hemlock by Kathleen Peacock.

What's more exciting to talk about, however, are my current favorites of this AWESOME-IN-BOOKS YEAR. There have been so many AMAZING books, some of which I STILL HAVE TO BUY, and they are



FINALLY, I thought, originally, to ask myself to tell other people one non-bookish thing about myself that no one knows. I tried to think of any open secrets I might have. And came up EMPTY. Then, I realized that I wouldn't feel adequate with an ordinary answer for a question that demands you say something like 'I organize petitions on behalf of the chihuahuas who loathe being stuffed in purses' or 'I collect pennies for homeless book lovers with nothing but the clothes on their backs and their e-readers,' and since I do neither, I decided to go with

Q. If you could eat dinner with risk kidnapping any author or character, who would it be and why?

Since Stephanie Perkins hugged me at a book signing recently, I'D FEEL REALLY BAD if I turned around and attempted a kidnap, you know?

But I'd probably go after Leigh Bardugo, Lisa T. Bergren, Richelle Mead, Tahereh Mafi, and Alyxandra Harvey. I'd start out by luring them with a very important dinner invitation. Then, I'd trap them when they least expected it. I wouldn't let them go until they told me all their secrets for their next books, wrote me in in at least one of them (in front of me), and, after autographing every one of my copies...

I'd make them hug me.

Here's that button! :D Image credit: Nina @ Nina Reads

And that's all the witticisms and stick figure drawings I have in store for you my fellow non-BEA-goers! Are you a fellow participant? Drop a link to your post in the comment section below.

Got something specific in mind? Dare I believe I might NOT have covered something you wish to know? If so, let me know down in the comments section. Don't be shy!