Those Red Rising fans fortunate enough to get to Los Angeles for HowlerFest, an event to kick off the arrival of Iron Gold. Author Pierce Brown was in attendance to meet and greet the VIPs and sign copies of Iron Gold.

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And I was anywhere else, like so many Red Rising fans across the globe, unable to travel to the West Coast for the event. Fortunately, quite a few generous fans shared photos of HowlerFest, and the glimpses of cosplay shared look bloodydamn brilliant…

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There are more costume photos and at least one video over at the Hic Sunt Leones Facebook group. (That’s a group all Howlers should join if they haven’t already. It’s a great community of Red Rising fans.)

On a side note, I’ve been to Comic-Con in San Diego quite a few times. For me, being in a room full of people who love something as much as — if not more than — I do is on par with being at a rock concert. There’s an energy in the air and a palpable feeling of genuine love for a piece of art that reveals just how alive a fandom can be. There’s nothing quite like it. As sad as I was not to be at HowlerFest, I imagine there was some (or a lot) of that feeling there, as Red Rising fans got together to celebrate Pierce Brown’s series and the arrival of the next book. Which they all now get to read while the rest of us have to wait.

But that wait is just a few days, as Iron Gold will finally drop on January 16. Shit will undoubtedly escalate.

(Photo Credit: Random House Books)