Out and About: Book Signing with James Frey + Giveaway: Endgame: The Calling

Out and about is a feature here on Fragments of Life for events, book launches and movie adaptations.

This time around, I am sharing my experience about the #JamesFreyInPH event.

The Basics:

Who: The author is: James Frey. The Organizer is: National BookStore.

What books:

The books!

Book Description:

Hardcover, 477 pages
Published October 7th 2014 by HarperTeen

Twelve thousand years ago, they came. They descended from the sky amid smoke and fire, and created humanity and gave us rules to live by. They needed gold and they built our earliest civilizations to mine it for them. When they had what they needed, they left. But before they left, they told us someday they would come back, and when they did, a game would be played. A game that would determine our future.

This is Endgame.

For ten thousand years the lines have existed in secret. The 12 original lines of humanity. Each had to have a Player prepared at all times. They have trained generation after generation after generation. In weapons, languages, history, tactics, disguise assassination. Together the players are everything: strong, kind, ruthless, loyal, smart, stupid, ugly, lustful, mean, fickle, beautiful, calculating, lazy, exuberant, weak. They are good and evil. Like you. Like all.

This is Endgame.

When the game starts, the players will have to find three keys. The keys are somewhere on earth. The only rule of their Endgame is that there are no rules. Whoever finds the keys first wins the game. Endgame: The Calling is about the hunt for the first key. And just as it tells the story of the hunt for a hidden key, written into the book is a puzzle. It invites readers to play their own Endgame and to try to solve the puzzle. Whoever does will open a case filled with gold. Alongside the puzzle will be a revolutionary mobile game built by Google’s Niantic Labs that will allow you to play a real-world version of Endgame where you can join one of the lines and do battle with people around you.

Will exuberance beat strength? Stupidity top kindness? Laziness thwart beauty? Will the winner be good or evil? There is only one way to find out.

Play.
Survive.
Solve.
People of Earth.
Endgame has begun.

When: February 1st 2015

Where: National Book Store, Glorietta 4

What I learned about James Frey and his books from the event:

• The ending of Endgame: The Calling had to be changed four times. In a way, this was hard for James. But generally, for him all books are the same - you go through the same process. The beginning was hard because you think of the hundreds of pages in front of you. "But the ending stinks." You have to get it right.
• The logistics of the book was complicated. There is a puzzle embedded in the book, and if you solve the puzzle, you win $500,000. The book was sold in various countries and was translated into 30+ languages. James' team had to make sure that winning the prize and the the overall set-up of the puzzle contest was legal in all the countries where the book is being sold.
• When it comes to movie adaptations, James would only help when he is called in for a specific matter. But aside from that, the big guys aka directors/producers have it all covered. ;)
• Endgame: The Calling will be a movie! (This is a surprise for me. It's the first time I found out about it.)
• There are no rules - this is the only rule in Endgame. No rules is a good place in a book because the writer gets a lot of freedom to twist and mold characters into how he wants them to be.
• In making Endgame, there was an extensive research. First, James' team searched for the oldest cultures of the world, old enough to be in contact with aliens, in theory, the ones with old, weird writings. The next step would be focused on the characters - deciding which ones would be good and which ones would be bad.
• The genre of Endgame is not dystopia. It is way cooler, more fun and is set in our own world.
• The end of book one was upsetting. Something happens to the love triangle. *spoiler alert*
• James wants to acknowledge the different cultures around the world, hence, the global characters representing the various races and cultures. He was tired of the typical novel centered on the white American. He knows that he has a global audience and wants to bring something fresh to the table.
• James has different reasons for liking his characters. He feels that there shouldn't be favoritism. He gives equal care to both the good and bad characters. If he takes care of one character more than the other, this would manifest in the book, and he doesn't want that.
• He wouldn't change anything in the book, aside from what was taken out in the editing process.
• The second book has no title yet. (They already had the title but his team decided that it had to be changed.)So let's wait for that announcement.

Me and James Frey and the signed book :)

#PHYABookBloggers

My blogger ladies, and erm...one blogger guy and Chad. :)

Big thanks to National Book Store for the awesome event! One lucky reader of Fragments of Life will win a signed (with a message) hardcover of Endgame: The Calling.

So this is open to PH residents only, but if you're based abroad and have a Philippine address to send the book to, you could still join. Enter below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway