Martel Cosplay and Book Signing Photos

I spent the past week at Seton Hill University for my fifth Writing Popular Fiction residency. (My time as a graduate student is almost over!) The residency was fanastic, as always. I learned a lot and came back with new story ideas.

Two events I looked forward to were non-academic: the book signing I previously announced and the costume ball, both part of the alumni’s In Your Write Mind writing conference. The costume ball ties back to a promise I made earlier this year, that I’d soon try my first cosplay.

This year’s theme for the costume ball was “comics.” So of course, I decided to do a Tales of Symphonia cosplay.

…There’s a manga adaptation! It counts!

I cosplayed Martel. Since the Church of Martel was very obviously inspired by the Catholic church, I made sure to take pictures in Seton Hill’s beautiful chapel.

(Edit: I have since realized I made an embarrassing mistake with my cosplay, so some day in the future I will have more accurate photos to share!)

I commissioned the costume from Cosplay1, and I was really happy with how it turned out. The wig, I bought from Amazon, and had the bangs trimmed at a local salon.

Yes, after one standing shot as Martel, I decided some praying pictures were in order. Who exactly does Martel pray to? Now there’s another question a Symphonia prequel could answer…

The costume was a big hit at the ball (I even won a prize!), too, although I haven’t included the costume ball photos here. Overall, I really enjoyed my time as Martel, and I’ll definitely do it again sometime.

Let’s backtrack to the day before the costume ball, when I attended the In Your Write Mind book signing with three of my books. That was also a success!

I completely sold out of my comedy The Accidental Zombie, which you can buy here. It seems the humorous misadventures of two NOT-mad scientists appeals to people more than my romance or horror story, although Love Under the Mistletoe earned several sales and a lot of attention (probably because of the cover).

“Rokurokubi” fared the worst, although that may be because the cover of Wicked Words Quarterly makes it less clear what sort of content is inside. If you’re interested in horror stories, such as my yokai horror story, do check it out.

In addition to the book signing itself (at which I bought books, as well, of course), the event was also a great opportunity because I got to meet Steve Saffel of Titan Books. That was really cool.

The entire residency was fantastic. I came home with stories, ideas, inspiration…

…and a long list of editing projects.

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