All right...the list of tour stops is now 99.9% complete! I'm hitting the road to visit a good chunk of North America over the next couple of months -- will I see you at one of these events?

THE SISTERS TOUR!!

Books will be for sale at every event. Events are free unless otherwise noted. Ticketed events may sell out quickly, so be sure to reserve soon!

Sept 13-14 Small Press Expo (SPX) :: Tickets $15/Sat, $10/Sun, $20/Weekend Marriott Bethesda North Hotel & Conference Center Bethesda, MD My table: H1-H2 My spotlight panel is on Saturday at 1pm!

Monday, Sept 15 One More Page Books Event with Dave Roman Arlington, VA 4:30pm

Saturday, Sept 20 Princeton Book Festival Princeton, NJ 11am-4pm

Monday, Sept 22 Oblong Books Event 6422 Montgomery St. Rhinebeck, NY 4:30pm

Thursday, Sept 25 University Bookstore Event with Kazu Kibuishi Seattle, WA 7pm

Friday, Sept 26 Seattle Public Library Event (sponsored by Secret Garden) with Kazu Kibuishi SPL Northeast Branch 6801 35th Ave. N.E Seattle, WA 6:30pm

Sunday, Sept 28 North Vancouver Event (sponsored by Kidsbooks) :: BUY TICKETS with Kazu Kibuishi Highlands United Church 3255 Edgemont Blvd. North Vancouver Info: 604-986-6190 7pm

Monday, Sept 29 Vancouver Event (sponsored by Kidsbooks) :: BUY TICKETS with Kazu Kibuishi West Point Grey United Church 4595 W 8th Ave. Vancouver Info: 604-738-5335 or general@kidsbooks.ca 7pm

Thursday, Oct 2 Chapters Brampton Event Brampton, Ontario 7pm

Friday, October 3 Brookline Public Library Event (sponsored by Booksmith) Brookline, MA 3pm

October 4-5 MICE (Massachusetts Independent Comic Expo) Boston, MA Special guest! Look for my program on Sunday, and find me at my table the rest of the weekend signing books!

Monday, Oct 6 Wellesley Bookstore Event at the Morse Institute Natick, MA 7pm

Wednesday, October 8 Best American Comics Event :: BUY TICKETS The Strand Bookstore NYC 7pm

Thursday, October 9 Graphic Novelists PICTIONARY with Jarrett Krosoczka, Sara Varon and Frank Cammuso McNally Jackson Booksellers 52 Prince Street, NYC 7pm

Saturday, October 11 Sheboygan Children's Book Festival Sheboygan, WI Here are four places to find me on Saturday!

Saturday, October 18 Vegas Valley Book Fest Las Vegas, NV Program and signing Saturday the 18th!

Wednesday, Oct 22 Alameda Free Library Event (sponsored by Books Inc.) with Kazu Kibuishi Alameda Free Library Alameda, CA 6:30pm

Friday, Oct 24 Pleasanton Library Event (sponsored by Towne Center Books) with Kazu Kibuishi Pleasanton Library Pleasanton, CA 7pm

Saturday, Oct 25 Reading Bug Graphic Novel Event with Kazu Kibuishi San Carlos, CA 2pm

Monday, Oct 27 Anderson's Bookstore Event at Wentz Hall with Kazu Kibuishi Naperville, IL 7pm

Wednesday, October 29 Delaware County District Library (sponsored by Fundamentals) with Kazu Kibuishi 83 East Winter Street Delaware, OH 7pm

Thursday, October 30 Joseph-Beth Booksellers with Kazu Kibuishi Cincinnati, OH 4pm

November 20-23 Miami Book Fair Miami, FL

November 23-25 NCTE Washington, DC

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Don't see your city on this list and still want a signed book? My local indie bookstore, The Astoria Bookshop, will ship one to your door!

This boggles my mind: SMILE just hit the two-year mark on the New York Times Graphic Books Bestseller list. Two years!!! Without a movie tie-in, without being part of a series, and while competing with books like Batman and The Walking Dead. This would not have happened without the support and enthusiasm of booksellers, librarians, teachers, bloggers, and most of all, readers. So thank you, readers! You've made my day/week/month/year! *****

I had a nice time at Book Expo America and Book Con this past week and weekend. It's exciting to see so much support for Sisters, before it's even published. Here are a couple of photos:

The enormous, lit-up Sisters banner at the Scholastic booth!

Signing books before my Book Con panel.

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So a couple of weeks ago, I got a neat surprise: Mark Tatulli, who is best known as the creator of the syndicated comic strips Lio and Heart of the City, decided to write a week's worth of HotC basically celebrating Smile and the awesomeness of graphic novels in general. Here are the strips:

To say I was flattered was a huge understatement!!

I got a chance to meet Mark at Book Expo, and he is just as nice as can be. Thanks again to Mark for this incredible shout-out! I hope some of my readers will check out his comics in return.

My next graphic novel, SISTERS, will be out one year from today! I know that seems like a long time, but I'm still drawing it. I'll finish up the art around New Years, then the book goes into production (more about what that means here and here), and the finished product will be in stores on September 1, 2014. I hope to announce book tour dates sometime late next summer.

I've been posting process shots over on Facebook and Instagram (@goraina). Here's just a little bit of the work in progress that is making a 200-page graphic novel...

I think it will be worth the wait!

Anyway, all is not lost! I've got short stories in several anthologies coming out between now and Sisters' release date:

Fairy Tale Comics I wrote and drew an 8-page Rapunzel story. In stores September 24!

Explorer: The Lost Islands I drew a 16-page story, written by Dave and colored by Braden (who is also coloring Sisters!). In stores October 15!

Funny Pages: Recess I wrote and drew 14 pages for this anthology. In stores July, 2014!

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