New Video Interview on Space Gypsies

I wanted to share a brand new video interview I did for Becca at Space Gypsies during the MidSouthCon 30 weekend in Memphis.

This one is balanced between my film and book work, and features a very entertaining cameo by ConNooga Literary Track Director Robby Hilliard at about the 5:40 mark of the interview, LOL

Hope you enjoy this!

MidSouthCon 30 and a Big April Looms

MidSouthCon 30 and a Big April Looms!

Jackie Gamber at the SSP Booth on Friday of MidSouthCon 30

MidSouthCon 30 went fantastic.  As a whole, the SSP camp had its biggest convention of the year, bolstered by the release of Jackie Gamber's 2nd Leland Dragon series book, Sela.  H. David Blalock and myself also had really good conventions, making the weekend a very strong one overall.

I ended up staying with the Gambers over the weekend after I blundered in not reserving my hotel early enough to get the convention rate.  Yes, even though I do lots of events, I forget the basics from time to time.  But I had a really time with Jackie, Dan, Ben, Ellen, their two four-legged family members, a big bulldog named Ursula and a very talkative cat named Katie.

Jackie Gamber and Ursula

Ursula came to visit the convention on the first day, in fact.  Jackie had to assist Ursula with the escalator, as this picture can attest!

As often happens on these sorts of excursions, the first day involved a nice 4am wakeup and subsequent 6 1/2 hour drive to Memphis, straight to the Convention site where I immediately set up the SSP Booth.  Banners, stands, posters, buttons, a ton of books, signage, and a billion other things are integrated into these displays, to the point that Jackie wondered how I manage to get so much worked into a 6 foot table display, LOL

Georgia Jones and me at MidSouthCon 30

Georgia Jones, whose new book Legends of Darkness just came out last week, helped me get things in order and had some great decorative touches on the booth.  She's with Blackwyrm Publishing and is also a good friend of mine who was part of our booth for the weekend (incidentally, she met Dave Mattingly of Blackwyrm at the Pitch the Publisher panel we hosted at Fandom Fest last summer!).   Georgia's got an excellent book and is really hitting the ground running, so be expecting to hear alot more about her in the near future.

The weekend involved quite a bit of booth time, along with some panels, and a nice visit to the Literary Underworld Party on Saturday night.  My neighbors in the dealer room were the Literary Underworld to my left, Yard Dog Press to my right, and Kerlak Publishing across the aisle from me.  Talk about a fun sector of the dealer room!  We definitely were not the most quiet area either!  LOL

Elizabeth Donald with Jimmy Gillentine and Angelia Sparrow
just to the back of them

It is a blast getting to hang out with the likes of Allan Gilbreath, Selina Rosen, Elizabeth Donald, Jimmy "Popcorn King" Gillentine, Angelia Sparrow, Kimberly Richardson, and the others that were about the booths over the weekend.  Shorty, an icon on the convention circuit, runs a great dealer room and this was no exception.  Many kudos to the staff that helped us get carts, load in, come by and bring drinks throughout the weekend, and more.

Me with Amanda Trowbridge at MidSouthCon 30

I also got to meet some folks in person that I had only known through Facebook interaction and the like.  As I've always said, nothing beats meeting someone in person, such as happened when I ran into Amanda Trowbridge, someone I had known from Facbook for a couple of years, but had never met in person before this event.

MidSouthCon is truly a first rate, well-run Con.  The literary track was fantastic, from the marketing panel I was on, to one on author's co-ops, to another on Faith in Speculative Fiction, and one on convention etiquette. The Faith in Speculative Fiction panel was particularly fun, as it was moderated by Kirk Stevens, who is possibly one of the best moderators out there, and included Herika Raymer, Robert Krog, and Stephen Dorning, three authors that I think very highly of, and who also happen to be friends I have a lot of fun being around at these events.

These weekend events tend to speed by in a whirlwind, and this was no exception.  Before I knew it, it was time to break down the booth, pack up, and make the drive back to Lexington.

A big April is looming.  Matt will be doing artwork for the third Fires in Eden book, and we'll be putting the final polish on! :)  I will also be heavily involved with a number of activities involving fellow SSP authors' Jackie Gamber, Michael West, and Steven Shrewsbury's new books.  Keep your eyes on the SSP blog, SSP Facebook and Twitter pages, and Google + for a lot of contests, articles, and more.

Author's Fair and MidSouth Con Looms!

Last weekend's Author's Fair in Madison, Indiana was wonderful, and the week has sped by as I prepare for MidSouthCon in Memphis this weekend.

First of all, I want to salute Frank and Kim Hall, and their wonderful group of volunteers, for a great experience at the 2nd Annual Author's Fair. Frank, as readers of my blog know, is the owner of That Book Place and is also the proprietor of Hydra Publications, a rising small press publisher that has seen some wonderful success this year. Frank also blogs for the Seventh Star Press blog site. (Yes, that is a rare photo of Frank that I took at the Author's Fair! LOL)

He is one of the best people I've encountered in the book business, and the Author's Fair reflects what Frank is all about. It was well-run, a sense of hospitality was everywhere, and it brought together a group of very wonderful people from all around the region. The tone was set right from the beginning when Kim Hall came to my table space with a nice cold Monster Energy, a perfect way to start the day!






Fortunately, we had some great weather for the outdoor event. I was at a two-table space with Michael West and RJ Sullivan. We were joined by Rodney Carlstrom, one of the Seventh Star Saints, a blog reviewer, and writer from Indiana, who brought along John F. Allen, another writer, who was subsequently absorbed into our wacky world! LOL

Madison is a smaller town, and the public turnout was modest, but the people that came definitely came to talk to authors and buy books. Michael had a book launch party for Poseidon's Children, which came complete with his sons in fish garb as well as a pair of themed cakes (Photo shown also features the great authors Gary Braunbeck and Lucy Snyder, who stopped by for a visit at Mike's launch). Michael usually goes all out for these kinds of events, an the Author's Fair was no exception. Michael has been awesome to work with since he came aboard Seventh Star Press, and it is really enjoyable for me to be at an event that he is attending as well.

RJ Sullivan was making his first appearance as an SSP author. His first novel with SSP won't be out until August, but he sold copies of his book Haunting Blue and gave out a new bookmark featuring one of his iconic characters. I can already tell that RJ will be great to work with at events

Rodney, John, and I had a blast talking books and other topics throughout the day, during which time we were often joined by our neighbor on the other side, Ren Garcia, a great author and friend from Ohio. We even had a guest star visit by another Seventh Star Saint, Nikki Howard, who unknowingly came dressed as one of RJ Sullivan's characters in her blue wig! (Nikki shown here with Rodney Carlstrom)

It was simply a very enjoyable experience, and I can't wait to go back to the third Author's Fair in 2013!


MidSouthCon in Memphis is one of my favorite conventions, and I am looking forward to returning and seeing a lot of great folks again. I will have a booth in the dealer's room, where author Georgia Jones will be hanging out with her new book Legends of Darkness. I will be participating in a launch party for Jackie Gamber's Sela, Book 2 of the Leland Dragon Series.

My schedule throughout the MidSouthCon weekend, panel-wise, is as follows:

Friday, 3/23 6:00 PM Con Etiquette How to interact with editors, publishers and writers in a professional manner, and still have fun.

Friday, 3/23 7:00 PM Author Co-ops What is an author co-op and how can
you use it to promote yourself and your work?

Saturday, 3/24 3:00 PM Marketing for Authors How to get your name out
there and get people reading your work.

Sunday, 3/25 11:00 AM Faith in Speculative Fiction How do faith and
religion fit into science fiction and fantasy and where can readers go
to find good stories with faith-based themes?

Should be a fun weekend during which I will get to visit with a lot of reader-friends, authors, publishers, and editors I know. I'll be sure to grab some nice pics to share when I get back!