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At this point, I don’t even know how it happened (except that it involved cocktails and a FYABC meeting). One minute we were wondering how it got to be 2014 already, and the next, we’re planning a book club prom. This one was guaranteed to be more fun than our high school versions.
Something has to make up for paying rent, student loans, and going to work, after all.
Before prom, however, our club had three other important tasks to perform: a deviled egg bar crawl, supporting one of our members at a hilarious erotic fanfiction competition, and YAngelizing at Bay to Breakers. If there were a competition for taking an idea and running with it, our group would be the world champions.
DEVILED EGG BAR CRAWL
The deviled egg crawl was our Highly Scientific Analysis of the city’s deviled egg offerings. An article claimed to have found the best spots for deviled eggs in the city, but we weren’t buying it – our monthly meeting place surely has the best.
Armed with rating sheets, the hashtag #eggstravaganza, and a wanton disregard for cholesterol levels, we hit 5 restaurants. Results were inconclusive, so we are tentatively planning a second deviled egg crawl. For science.
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SHIPWRECK!
Like something out of a perverted version of Rainbow Rowell’s Fangirl (also the July FYABC pick!), Shipwreck is described as “Six Great Writers Destroy One Great Book” – that is, six authors anonymously write hilarious, perverted fanfiction based on the same book but different characters, and it is read aloud by a Shakespearean actor. The audience votes on the best story, and the winner goes on to compete in the next round. It is dirty. It is disgusting. It is the best thing I have ever attended.
Our club went to the Pride and Prejudice version in February (imagine the gasps when we saw “Darcy’s Horse” was a character), which inspired one of our members to enter the competition. Come May, we gathered to support our friend and her Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy entry. The winning story that month featured interpersonal relations between The Guide and Wikipedia, but our friend more than held her own. Speaking of holding things, she brought props:
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She certainly put the “A” into “FYA.”
BAY TO BREAKERS
Two weeks later, it was time to YAngelize again, and what better opportunity than Bay to Breakers, a 100+ year old race and street party? Everyone dresses up (or in the case of the nude runners, dresses down) and the creativity is so much fun to witness.
One of our members (the same one who entered Shipwreck!) gets major YA points for hand-painting the cover of Sabriel to wear as a sandwich board – then she made a FYA sign and offered free books to people in exchange for posing with the sign. By the end of the race, she had given away all of her books and met a group of unicorns.
Several of us met her at the end of the race and posed with some signs of our own: “Will Read for Cocktails,” “Where You’re Never Too Old For Prom,” and “Spread Literacy, Not Disease.”
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SAN FRANCISCO FOREVER YOUNG ADULT PROM
Perhaps the event we’re most proud of, however, is prom. It was a challenge to plan – San Francisco is a small place, and finding a way to get 24 people on a boat, make dinner reservations, and then to a karaoke bar big enough for all of us was no easy feat.
One member provided dates for the single ladies (additional entertainment for those of us who are attached – like a live episode of Blind Date!). We had a craft night where we made corsages and boutonnieres out of book pages (check out the tutorial here).
Most notably, we formed a “promposal flash mob” (because apparently promposals are A Thing, and if the kids these days can do it, so can we) for our Token Boy, to ask his wife to prom. There were Prom Queen/King sashes, a well-timed plan to lure her to a train station, and an altered version of “Come on Eileen:”
Come on Colleen
Oh, please be our Prom Queen (our Prom Queen)
At this moment you mean everything
Please just say yes
Our prom is the best
It will be fun
Oh, come on Colleen
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Of course we captured it on video.
(She said yes, of course.)
So how did prom turn out? The photos speak for themselves:
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Not one, but two ladies Bella Swan'd it up with Chucks. (One actually sprained her ankle, adding to the authenticity.)
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Bay cruise!
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Much better dessert than at your high school prom.
And of course, the BRILLIANT altered version of “Paperback Writer” that one of our members (again, the Sabriel & Shipwreck! lady) sang at prom karaoke:
Dear everybody, do you see our style?
We’re a lovely bunch, won’t you stay awhile?
We’re based on a model that has swept the world, we’re your local chapter of FYA book club
FYA book club
We read awesome stories about young adults
And we’re still recruiting, you can join the cult
We’re cute, creative, and we like to think
That we’re even better when we’ve had a drink, FYA book club
FYA book club
FYA book club
It’s a monthly meeting of a group of friends
And there’re even more events that we attend
Films and author signings, scavenger hunts
Bay to Breakers, Twitter, let’s be blunt, we’re the best book club
FYA book club
If you really like us you can join the crew
Two Sisters in Hayes Valley or at Booksmith too
If you can’t believe it, you can check our site
Forever Young Adult in the house tonight, FYA book club
FYA book club
Non-prom audience members asked her what kind of book club we were. (THE AWESOME KIND.)
You, too, can have your own FYA prom! Be an 80’s teen queen, a 90’s rebel, or a 2014 adult who wants nothing more than to wear a hot dress out on the town. Join a Forever Young Adult book club, make some friends, and make some magic happen.