Fiction for Fans of C2E2

Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo (or... C2E2!) is celebrating its 15th year this year! Held from April 11-13 at McCormick Place, C2E2 celebrates all things pop culture. Whether you're into comics, cosplay, gaming, TV, movies, or anime, the largest pop culture convention in the Midwest has something for you. At C2E2 you can meet your favorite authors and artists, attend a panel discussion on a variety of subjects, or even listen to actors talk about their experience being part of a beloved film franchise. While I love all things pop culture, I am a reader at heart and am so excited to be able to hear some of my favorite authors speak on panels at C2E2 this year. The following booklist highlights picks from some of the authors and fandoms that will be present at C2E2. Grab a book and read with me before the convention! 

Since getting dumped by her fiancé a week before their wedding, Eileen's been living life just going through the motions in A Novel Love Story. She spends her free time escaping reality by reading the romantic Eloraton series written by Rachel Flowers. Eileen's part of a book club of die-hard Eloraton fans who meet once a year to spend a week in a cabin in the Hudson Valley drinking wine, reading books, and paying homage to the series that abruptly ended when the author tragically passed away. Even more tragic, this year everyone drops out of the planned vacation, leaving Eileen to get up to the Hudson Valley on her own. When she gets caught in a rainstorm late at night, she takes the first road she sees and as she's drying off in the local bar Eileen realizes that everything feels familiar and she soon realizes that she's somehow found herself in Eloraton... complete with all the characters and quirks of the town she's spent the past decade reading (and rereading) about. Wouldn't you want to wake up in your favorite fictional town? Author Ashley Poston will be a panelist at C2E2.

In need of a short read before C2E2? Finna by Nino Cipri is the novella for you! An elderly customer accidentally slips through a portal to another dimension while shopping at a Swedish big box furniture store and it's up to Ava and Jules, two minimum wage employees of said company, to get track her across the multiverse and get her back! There's a lot to navigate in this multiverse: carnivorous furniture, eons of identical staff members, and worst of all: having to rescue a customer and travel across the big box furniture store multiverse while also having had just broken up a week ago. Yikes! There's a lot going on this fun, short read. Nino Cipri will be a panelist at C2E2. 

We had to include a Chicago-based title! Though, does it count when a large part of the story has to do with Slavic inspired underworld beneath the surface of Chicago? I think so! When Among Crows by Veronica Roth is a fun urban fantasy that begins in an old movie house that only plays horror films that turns out to be run by creatures of Polish myth who feast on human fears. Roth has created a beautiful fairytale world filled with monsters, stories of redemption, and apt commentary on cultural ties, immigration, and identity. If anything, you will wish this novella were longer! Veronica Roth will be a panelist at C2E2. 

Unlike with the prior titles, J.R.R. Tolkien will not be a panelist at C2E2 this year as he sadly passed away in 1973. However, the cast of the hugely successful Lord of the Rings film series will be reuniting at C2E2 to celebrate the legacy of all things Lord of the Rings! The Lord of the Rings is an epic high fantasy series set in Middle-earth that follows a young hobbit, Frodo Baggins, as he sets upon his task of destroying the powerful One Ring to prevent the dark lord Sauron from conquering Middle-earth. The trilogy explores themes of friendship, sacrifice, and the ever constant battle between good and evil. If you don't have time to read the first installation, The Fellowship of the Ring, before C2E2, don't worry; we have The Lord of the Rings, the Fellowship of the Ring for you to check out too!