Road adventures on my way to the Summit!

The Business of Writing International Summit in Louisville this past weekend was wonderful, but it involved one of my worst road stories yet!

Founded and run by Peggy DeKay and Larry DeKay, BoWIS is a great writers conference that made its debut this year.  I can definitely say it is going to grow fast, as it was very well-run, guests were treated wonderfully, and it was organized extremely well.  I had been invited to give a seminar on Fan Conventions, Book Fairs, and Writers Conference, a seminar on using Kindle Select effectively, and to serve on a panel regarding marketing for authors.  Do to a last minute panelist cancellation, I ended up serving on a panel discussing writing habits on Sunday.

For me it is always fun to go to an event that is non-genre in focus, as I tend to find myself being an advocate, and sometimes an ambassador, of sorts for the wonderful world of speculative fiction.  I take that very seriously, as speculative fiction has had a long hard fight for respect in general literary circles, and while there's been great progress, that effort continues.

I almost didn't get off the ground regarding the conference, as when I was driving down at 6am from Lexington to Louisville on Saturday morning I had a highway car breakdown.  I was going at about 70mph when a light came on telling me that my air bags were off, and then the radio started flickering, and then the headlights began dimming.  I was able to coast into a gas station off an exit that was fortunately close, but I almost didn't make it there.

Thankfully, Triple A was there with a tow truck within about 30 minutes.  Triple A is amazing and I encourage any author that does a lot of travel to become a member.  They've bailed me out of car situations several times over the years.  Anyhow, I had the car towed all the way back to Lexington, to the garage that normally services it.  As I just had an alternator put in less than 2 months ago, it was grim news to hear that the alternator was faulty.  Luckily, it was still under warranty so I didn't get socked to badly on the costs.

Timing is everything though, and I did not know whether or not they would get the new one placed in, but in about two hours they had done so.  I had taken a Taxi back to my house to work on connecting with everyone,  and my sister was kind enough to run out and give me a ride back to the station to get my car back.  I drove straight from the service center to Louisville, literally parking my car, walking into the conference site, and heading into my first panel (just a few minutes underway at that point) and going straight to the stage to join my co-panelists.  When I look back and see how many things had to come together to allow me to do that right on the wire, I find it really incredible.

Many good friends were there, like Dave Mattingly of Blackwyrm, and Michael Williams, great fantasy author and professor at the University of Louisville.  Of course, Peggy and Larry "Right Here...Right Now!" Dekay were on hand.  I met many new friends, from author Jacob Bell, to social media guru Paul Clifford, to Sheri McGuinn, an author from Arizona, and others.

I hope I was able to impart some useful information to the attendees, as I drew a lot into my seminars from my personal experiences.  I really enjoyed talking with the attendees and my friends, and was able to round out the weekend getting a late lunch with Peggy, Larry, David, and Paul, which was a wonderful way to end my first visit to the Summit.  I have been invited for next year and definitely encourage everyone to check this event out.  Well-run, content rich, and highly enjoyable.  The Business of Writing International Summit was a hit and is now on the map!

A Book and a Movie!

Worked from early morning until the evening, and then it was time to get away and take a little break.

I headed down to Joseph-Beth Booksellers in Lexington to see Michael Williams, who was making an appearance in support of his new novel Trajan's Arch, which was recently published by BlackWyrm out of Louisville. Joseph-Beth is an incredible venue, and it was really great to see Michael, his wife, and Dave Mattingly from BlackWyrm at the event. Michael gave a presentation, discussing tendencies in genre fiction and literary fiction in regards to character and plot (I.E. genre fiction, on the average, tends to develop plot better while leaving characters thin, while literary fiction sets up great characters, and often doesn't have them doing much). Following the presentation, Michael gave a reading from Trajan's Arch, which is a very different kind of book from much of the work that he is known for (which includes some Dragonlance novels).

Trajan's Arch, at Michael explains it, tilts in the direction of magical realism. Someone very near and dear to me purchased the book at the Kentucky Book Fair a couple of weeks ago, and read it, and really liked it, so at least I was able to pass on some very positive feedback to Michael. I picked up a copy at the book signing, and will be diving into it over the holidays. I will certainly do a review on the SSP blogsite when I am finished.

Following the signing I headed out with the Tuesday Crew, a group of friends that gather for a later evening movie every week (I try to join them as often as possible, as it helps keep me sane with the work level I'm managing right now!). This week's film was Faster, the new one with Dwayne Johnson. Thankfully, there were no tooth-fairy outfits, and we got to see Dwayne where I think he is incredible, in an action-heavy role. It has a decidedly darker edge, but there are some redemptive aspects. I think that among the action stars, Dwayne Johnson exhibits some of the best range in his acting. He is outstanding at conveying a mix of emotions, and really shines in Faster. I would love to see him get more roles like this, ones that mix his excellence as an action star with his range as an actor.

Faster is filled with good performances, and I walked away a very happy viewer at the end...Dwayne Johnson is BACK!

I also wanted to mention that there was a trailer for a medieval film with some strong traces of fantasy, called Season of the Witch, starring Nicholas Cage and Ron Perlman, that looks incredibly promising. Large crusader army was depicted, along with big battles, hints of the supernatural, and some really superb looking scenery and sets. Definitely inspired to see this one, which is a very nice bonus given that Voyage of the Dawn Treader looms in about a week! (Growing up, Voyage of the Dawn Treader was my favorite book in the Chronicles of Narnia)

The Kentucky Book Fair 2010....Fantastic

The Kentucky Book Fair 2010 was wonderful!

It is such a well-run and organized event, and simply massive...over 200 authors on an arena floor in Frankfort Kentucky. Where else can authors rock an arena? :)


Authors were assigned 3 to each booth space, and I happned to be right under the row 7 sign at the end of the aisle, up front and centered near the entrance. My immediate neighbor was author Michael Williams, who was there to promote his brand new novel Trajan's Arch, which was published by BlackWyrm, an outstanding small press based out of Louisville Kentucky. (photo is of me with Michael on the right)




The day was constantly active...many current reader-friends stopped by the booth, and I met several new ones. I had my most successful single day event outside of Lexington in terms of sales. Many copies of The Exodus Gate and Crown of Vengeance were sold, as well as a number of The Storm Guardians, mostly by people that had read The Exodus Gate. Both Nick Valentino and I had Dreams of Steam, the great steampunk anthology from Kerlak publishing, at our tables, and we each sold many copies of that one as well. (photo is of me with my friend Karen, who I didn't know was coming and decided to surprise me)

It was great to see some other authors, like Gwen Mayo, Abigail Keam, Sarah Glenn, and Shane Berryhill, who I met at ConNooga last year.




It was such a postive, encouraging, and successful event. Connie Crowe, Jen, Amy, and everyone involved did a great job with the hospitality, organization, and presenation. Brooke Raby and the Joseph Beth gang were on hand to help with the transaction and inventory. (photo is of me with KBF staff member Amy, at the end of the event.)

Afterwards I got to go out to eat with Nick Valentino and Elizabeth Darvill, who are two of the hardest working authors out there. They are hitting bookstores and conventions coast to coast, and it is no surprise that they are really attracting attention in the world of steampunk. It felt good to have a Sam Adams Winter Lager after the day we had, and Nick got his first Kentucky Hot Brown, which passed muster in his view!

We had a great visit, and Elizabeth came up with some very intriuging programming ideas that we just might have to put to use in the future...some very creative ideas, to say the least! Needless to say, I haven't heard about anything like she described at any convention I've been to!

To sum it all up, I really hope to have the honor of returning to the Kentucky Book Fair in 2011.