Just wanted to post a brief update. Will be putting up some nice posts next week, complete with some spectacular pics, regarding the sojourn that I am currently on. I'm looking at epic scenery daily! Lots of good reinforcement for my depictions of Midragard, Trogen Lands, and perhaps some areas of the Middle Lands!
I will also be putting up a lot of new information about "Dreams of Steam", the new anthology from Kerlak Publishing, edited by Kimberly Richardson, which has my first Steampunk tale "In the Mountain Skies". There are many great authors in this one, such as Nick Valentino, Angelia Sparrow, Stephanie Osborn,Sara M. Harvey, Allan Gilbreath, Missa Dixon, and H. David Blalock.
It is available on Amazon.com. The link to order it can be found at:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0982374550?ie=UTF8&ref_=sr_1_2&s=books&qid=1279249707&sr=1-2
Pick up a copy today! :)
Keep an eye on this page, as I will have a very fun update to post in a few days!
Monday, July 19, 2010
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Joseph-Beth Homecoming and On the Road Again to InConJunction
It has been quite a week overall, as I begin the third day here at InConJunction in Indianapolis.
Last Friday saw my homecoming visit to Joseph Beth. For me, this is always a very special signing event. Joseph-Beth in Lexington is one of the most impressive bookstores in the nation. Walking into the place, with its huge atrium, you immediately know why this is one of the main stopping points for all of the New York Times best-selling authors. To have a store like this for my homecoming signing is incredible. From Andrew, one of the resident booksellers who is a sci-fi/fantasy whiz, to Brooke, the head of PR and events, the Joseph-Beth family has always treated me very well, and I always feel a little pressure as I want to bring a nice event to the place when they have me in.
For this one, we did have a very nice program. I did a presentation that included a little talk about The Storm Guardians, some discussion of the others involved in the release such as cover artist/illustrator Matthew Perry and editor Amanda DeBord, and a giveaway of about fifteen door prizes (which included some contributions from Apex Book Company, one of the best small presses out there who just happen to be based in Lexington! Their head editor/founder Jason Sizemore attended).
We also introduced an exclusive collectible print that was given away to all who attended this event. We started this practice at the signing for Crown of Vengeance. People got a color print of the Enki artwork featured in The Storm Guardians. Other than the cover, this was the only image of the batch where the original was in color and not grayscale. I think that people really liked the print, judging by the responses I saw.
I then spent the rest of the time signing and visiting with the crowd, which turned out to be the best one I've had at Joseph-Beth yet. Friends and new faces alike, I took my time and really enjoyed this part of it while others went next door to Bar Louie's (a restaurant located next to Joseph-Beth) and got the after party-celebration underway. I joined this part in progress after I had finished with the signing. We had about 50 people join us for the after-party, which turned out to be a very nice addition to round out the night and one that I will certainly keep for the next signing around January for the followup to Crown of Vengeance.
Just a great, great night!
The week in between was pretty much a blur, as I've been working on book 2 of the Fires in Eden series, and staying on top of everything in the book world and tackling pre-production needs for the forthcoming Swordbearer short film. The first reads are occurring next week for parts, and location scouting is underway. Lots of detail to go over. Compiling a nice shot list for the DP for this one, Aaron Champion, who is superb.
Had to head to Indy on my birthday, July 2nd, for InConJunction, a mixed media Con in Indianapolis that I really like. They had me slotted for a record 9 panels, including another record of 7 in one day. I've never done more than 5 or 6 at a Con, so this was a bit of a challenge in that I was also exhibiting and had to have some people who could watch over all of my stuff while I was on panels. Thankfully, my friends TammyJo Eckhart and her husband Tom were the table next to me, and across from me was Travis Clemmons and Karen Nagel, so I had some folks who I trust to watch over things. Being next to TammyJo always has additional bonuses, as she is the High Priestess of the Chocolate Cult, an online Chocolate review blog, and she ALWAYS has lots of exotic chocolates and chocolate-related treats!
Got to catch up with lots of Indianapolis area friends like Michael West, Stephen Kendall, Chuck Budreau, Mark Racop and all the Magichouse Production gang, and meet new faces such as C.S. Marks (author of the Elfhunter Trilogy), Elizabeth Darville, and filmmaker/author Kate Chaplin.
It has been a good Con so far, though I'm a bit tired here on the fourth. There'll be a cookout waiting at home when I get back in the late afternoon, and I'm looking forward to it very much! Need to do one more panel,spend a little more time exhibiting and hopefully meeting a few new readers, but then it will be time to pack up and head out!
Last Friday saw my homecoming visit to Joseph Beth. For me, this is always a very special signing event. Joseph-Beth in Lexington is one of the most impressive bookstores in the nation. Walking into the place, with its huge atrium, you immediately know why this is one of the main stopping points for all of the New York Times best-selling authors. To have a store like this for my homecoming signing is incredible. From Andrew, one of the resident booksellers who is a sci-fi/fantasy whiz, to Brooke, the head of PR and events, the Joseph-Beth family has always treated me very well, and I always feel a little pressure as I want to bring a nice event to the place when they have me in.
For this one, we did have a very nice program. I did a presentation that included a little talk about The Storm Guardians, some discussion of the others involved in the release such as cover artist/illustrator Matthew Perry and editor Amanda DeBord, and a giveaway of about fifteen door prizes (which included some contributions from Apex Book Company, one of the best small presses out there who just happen to be based in Lexington! Their head editor/founder Jason Sizemore attended).
We also introduced an exclusive collectible print that was given away to all who attended this event. We started this practice at the signing for Crown of Vengeance. People got a color print of the Enki artwork featured in The Storm Guardians. Other than the cover, this was the only image of the batch where the original was in color and not grayscale. I think that people really liked the print, judging by the responses I saw.
I then spent the rest of the time signing and visiting with the crowd, which turned out to be the best one I've had at Joseph-Beth yet. Friends and new faces alike, I took my time and really enjoyed this part of it while others went next door to Bar Louie's (a restaurant located next to Joseph-Beth) and got the after party-celebration underway. I joined this part in progress after I had finished with the signing. We had about 50 people join us for the after-party, which turned out to be a very nice addition to round out the night and one that I will certainly keep for the next signing around January for the followup to Crown of Vengeance.
Just a great, great night!
The week in between was pretty much a blur, as I've been working on book 2 of the Fires in Eden series, and staying on top of everything in the book world and tackling pre-production needs for the forthcoming Swordbearer short film. The first reads are occurring next week for parts, and location scouting is underway. Lots of detail to go over. Compiling a nice shot list for the DP for this one, Aaron Champion, who is superb.
Had to head to Indy on my birthday, July 2nd, for InConJunction, a mixed media Con in Indianapolis that I really like. They had me slotted for a record 9 panels, including another record of 7 in one day. I've never done more than 5 or 6 at a Con, so this was a bit of a challenge in that I was also exhibiting and had to have some people who could watch over all of my stuff while I was on panels. Thankfully, my friends TammyJo Eckhart and her husband Tom were the table next to me, and across from me was Travis Clemmons and Karen Nagel, so I had some folks who I trust to watch over things. Being next to TammyJo always has additional bonuses, as she is the High Priestess of the Chocolate Cult, an online Chocolate review blog, and she ALWAYS has lots of exotic chocolates and chocolate-related treats!
Got to catch up with lots of Indianapolis area friends like Michael West, Stephen Kendall, Chuck Budreau, Mark Racop and all the Magichouse Production gang, and meet new faces such as C.S. Marks (author of the Elfhunter Trilogy), Elizabeth Darville, and filmmaker/author Kate Chaplin.
It has been a good Con so far, though I'm a bit tired here on the fourth. There'll be a cookout waiting at home when I get back in the late afternoon, and I'm looking forward to it very much! Need to do one more panel,spend a little more time exhibiting and hopefully meeting a few new readers, but then it will be time to pack up and head out!
Friday, June 25, 2010
The Road Trip- Duckon, Des Moines, and back home again
Logged quite a few miles last week, as I headed out for my first Duckon in Chicago, followed by a trip to Des Moines for a book signing at Beaverdale Books.
I really like Chicago, and it serves as the inspiration for a certain city in the Rising Dawn Saga! This trip did not take me into the heart of the city, but rather to Naperville on the outskirts, which is where Duckon took place.
It is nice when the convention is located right on the interstate, though there were toll booths about every 3 miles. Even worse, they had some unattended ones, where if you didn't have exact coin change or the special pass you literally were forced to go through and have your picture taken, so you could go online later, inconveniently, to pay the whopping 80 cent toll. Government on display in all of its "excellence", if you ask me! LOL
Anyhow, be that as it may, I did get to Duckon just fine. It is a convention with a history of over 20 years, so it is well established. Excellent Green Room, for the panelist guests, and good hospitality in the dealer's room. The staff was very friendly, and I didn't have too many problems over the weekend except for a little difficulty in finding a few things due to the spread out nature of the Con through the large hotel complex.
I was part of a screenwriting panel on Friday with Matthew Duhan and Christopher Morgan. Matthew is a screenwriter, and also a game designer, and Christopher is a DP (cinematographer). They were great guys, and knew their stuff. We got off to a little bit of a hesitant start as none of us wanted to run rough-shod over the others on the panel, but once we got a sense of things, it flowed better.
I was also on a panel on screenplay adaptations, and then another on trends in Sci Fi Cinema. More great co-panelists, and good panels.
I met a few new readers, though things were a little subdued in the dealer's room. TammyJo Eckhart and her husband were sharing the space with me, so I had little to worry about. They are wonderful folks, and I was very glad that they were at the Con.
Another fine fellow I spent quite a bit of time with was Jon Klement, the man behind the Smerdiverse and DragonTalk Radio. Yes, the man with the purple ears. In fact, purple ears were beginning to infect the convention by the end of the weekend. Some day I will find myself at a Con surrounded by a sea of people wearing these long purple ears!
In addition to everything, Duckon offered me the position of head of the Writer's Track for 2011. I have accepted and look forward to working with them to make a great track. They have given me a second, Patt, who is local in Chicago and will be of great help in organizing the track and interfacing with the local meetings there. I really am looking forward to working with her as well.
After Chicago I headed on to Des Moines, where I was hosted by none other than fantasy author Lettie Prell and her husband, a literary author named John Domini. They were wonderful to me, and it was great to catch up on things. I got copies of two of John's books and am going to be diving into them right away.
Shirley Damsgaard, another good friend of mine, came into Des Moines and took me around during the day. Shirley, for those of you that don't know, is on Avon (an imprint of HarperCollins) and is the author of the Ophelia and Aby Mystery Series, which stands at an impressive seven books. Shirley is a rock star, and a blast to hang out with, and she really went out of her way to make my day a great one. She took me personally to meet the head of the Des Moines public library system, where I was able to make a donation of some of my books on behalf of my publisher.
Shirley also took me to visit the main Borders there, where I got to speak with the management regarding getting the books carried there as well. She took me to a great lunch at a place called The Machine Shed, where the servers dress in overalls, and it has a decidedly country-cooking flavor. She convinced me to go for the turkey rueben, which used cole slaw instead of sauer kraut, and it turned out to be excellent advice.
Shirley's got some amazing things on the near horizon. Keep a close eye on her, and visit her thursday posts at the Wicked Authors blog on blogspot, which features some other excellent major press authors such as Angie Fox.
That night I did my signing at Beaverdale Books, a bookstore that will always have a special place with me. They carried The Exodus Gate from when it was first released, and made it possible for this signing, which was a makeup visit as I had to cancel my appearance at DemiCon due to my mother's health emergency in early May.
Lettie and Shirley made it, as well as some new faces, and Rachelle, one of the staff at DemiCon. I did a reading and we had a great Q and A, and then finished things up. Very enjoyable, and someday I hope I can reach a point where I can bring Alice a huge turnout, as she is very kind, and runs a very good independent bookstore. It is bookstores like hers that help authors like myself get untracked. I don't forget about individuals like Alice or stores like hers.
I managed to squeeze in a breakfast with Steven L. Shrewsbury on the way back from Des Moines, in Bloomington IL. Steven, of course, is the newest author on Seventh Star Press, and his novel Thrall is going to be released this fall. Steven had some funny stories of his adventures at Cons, and we had a really good visit before I had to continue back to Lexington.
It was a really nice trip, and I managed to do a lot during the four days. Of course, there was no rest upon my return, as this week I had online events (which actually kicked off with a guest blog I did at Fantasy Book Critic), including a big one on Bitten By Books (who gave The Storm Guardians 5 tombstones, like 5 stars, in the first published review of the new book), and a podcast visit with Kim Smith on the great Introducing WRITERS! show. We also had a production meeting on the upcoming Swordbearer short film (the one based on a segment of H. David Blalock's novel Ascendant), and I had to gear up for the big Joseph-Beth Bookseller homecoming night here in Lexington, where we go all out. (exclusive print, door prizes, an after party, and more).
Busy, but I like to be busy. Still need to upload some pics, and hope to do that this weekend! LOL I'll be sure to report on the homecoming event as well!
I really like Chicago, and it serves as the inspiration for a certain city in the Rising Dawn Saga! This trip did not take me into the heart of the city, but rather to Naperville on the outskirts, which is where Duckon took place.
It is nice when the convention is located right on the interstate, though there were toll booths about every 3 miles. Even worse, they had some unattended ones, where if you didn't have exact coin change or the special pass you literally were forced to go through and have your picture taken, so you could go online later, inconveniently, to pay the whopping 80 cent toll. Government on display in all of its "excellence", if you ask me! LOL
Anyhow, be that as it may, I did get to Duckon just fine. It is a convention with a history of over 20 years, so it is well established. Excellent Green Room, for the panelist guests, and good hospitality in the dealer's room. The staff was very friendly, and I didn't have too many problems over the weekend except for a little difficulty in finding a few things due to the spread out nature of the Con through the large hotel complex.
I was part of a screenwriting panel on Friday with Matthew Duhan and Christopher Morgan. Matthew is a screenwriter, and also a game designer, and Christopher is a DP (cinematographer). They were great guys, and knew their stuff. We got off to a little bit of a hesitant start as none of us wanted to run rough-shod over the others on the panel, but once we got a sense of things, it flowed better.
I was also on a panel on screenplay adaptations, and then another on trends in Sci Fi Cinema. More great co-panelists, and good panels.
I met a few new readers, though things were a little subdued in the dealer's room. TammyJo Eckhart and her husband were sharing the space with me, so I had little to worry about. They are wonderful folks, and I was very glad that they were at the Con.
Another fine fellow I spent quite a bit of time with was Jon Klement, the man behind the Smerdiverse and DragonTalk Radio. Yes, the man with the purple ears. In fact, purple ears were beginning to infect the convention by the end of the weekend. Some day I will find myself at a Con surrounded by a sea of people wearing these long purple ears!
In addition to everything, Duckon offered me the position of head of the Writer's Track for 2011. I have accepted and look forward to working with them to make a great track. They have given me a second, Patt, who is local in Chicago and will be of great help in organizing the track and interfacing with the local meetings there. I really am looking forward to working with her as well.
After Chicago I headed on to Des Moines, where I was hosted by none other than fantasy author Lettie Prell and her husband, a literary author named John Domini. They were wonderful to me, and it was great to catch up on things. I got copies of two of John's books and am going to be diving into them right away.
Shirley Damsgaard, another good friend of mine, came into Des Moines and took me around during the day. Shirley, for those of you that don't know, is on Avon (an imprint of HarperCollins) and is the author of the Ophelia and Aby Mystery Series, which stands at an impressive seven books. Shirley is a rock star, and a blast to hang out with, and she really went out of her way to make my day a great one. She took me personally to meet the head of the Des Moines public library system, where I was able to make a donation of some of my books on behalf of my publisher.
Shirley also took me to visit the main Borders there, where I got to speak with the management regarding getting the books carried there as well. She took me to a great lunch at a place called The Machine Shed, where the servers dress in overalls, and it has a decidedly country-cooking flavor. She convinced me to go for the turkey rueben, which used cole slaw instead of sauer kraut, and it turned out to be excellent advice.
Shirley's got some amazing things on the near horizon. Keep a close eye on her, and visit her thursday posts at the Wicked Authors blog on blogspot, which features some other excellent major press authors such as Angie Fox.
That night I did my signing at Beaverdale Books, a bookstore that will always have a special place with me. They carried The Exodus Gate from when it was first released, and made it possible for this signing, which was a makeup visit as I had to cancel my appearance at DemiCon due to my mother's health emergency in early May.
Lettie and Shirley made it, as well as some new faces, and Rachelle, one of the staff at DemiCon. I did a reading and we had a great Q and A, and then finished things up. Very enjoyable, and someday I hope I can reach a point where I can bring Alice a huge turnout, as she is very kind, and runs a very good independent bookstore. It is bookstores like hers that help authors like myself get untracked. I don't forget about individuals like Alice or stores like hers.
I managed to squeeze in a breakfast with Steven L. Shrewsbury on the way back from Des Moines, in Bloomington IL. Steven, of course, is the newest author on Seventh Star Press, and his novel Thrall is going to be released this fall. Steven had some funny stories of his adventures at Cons, and we had a really good visit before I had to continue back to Lexington.
It was a really nice trip, and I managed to do a lot during the four days. Of course, there was no rest upon my return, as this week I had online events (which actually kicked off with a guest blog I did at Fantasy Book Critic), including a big one on Bitten By Books (who gave The Storm Guardians 5 tombstones, like 5 stars, in the first published review of the new book), and a podcast visit with Kim Smith on the great Introducing WRITERS! show. We also had a production meeting on the upcoming Swordbearer short film (the one based on a segment of H. David Blalock's novel Ascendant), and I had to gear up for the big Joseph-Beth Bookseller homecoming night here in Lexington, where we go all out. (exclusive print, door prizes, an after party, and more).
Busy, but I like to be busy. Still need to upload some pics, and hope to do that this weekend! LOL I'll be sure to report on the homecoming event as well!
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