ConNooga, MystiCon, Blog Tours, and Fandom Fest Progress!

Where do I start? LOL

Convention season is underway, and the year has begun with two excellent ones.

ConNooga in, you guessed it, Chattanooga TN, and MystiCon in Roanoke VA.

ConNooga is a convention I have really enjoyed going to the past 2 years. Robby Hilliard has built a wonderful literary track, bringing together a really nice mix of authors, editors, and publishers. Had some great panel discussions, ranging from publishing topics to screenplays. Met some wonderful authors like James Tuck, and finally caught up with M.B. Weston, who I had wanted to meet but missed at a couple of previous conventions.

The convention is held at a hotel that is a former train station site. They've made use of some of the old train cars, turning them into restaurants and even meeting space rooms. Of course, there are loads of standard hotel facilities and I've always had a pleasant time at the Chattanooga Choo Choo.

Friday did start out with a little bit of a surprise, as I found out that I was one of a small group of authors that were relocated from the exhibition hall to the other side of the property, in the building housing the theater and several of the meeting/panel rooms. Evidently, some remodeling in the exhibition hall building, to use it as a nightclub, knocked out a significant amount of floor space. We were out in the hallway, which eventually led to some nice flows of traffic going by our area, and we got to see a lot of cool sights, such as the gathering of Sith Lords pictured to the left.

D.A. Adams, my good friend and fellow SSP author, was a guest at the convention and we worked the booth space together. We agreed to run it into the night past the normal dealer room hours, which turned out to be a pretty good decision. We even got a shout out from Andy Deane of Bella Morte during their live show. Andy was there participating on the literary track in addition to performing with the band.

Over the course of the weekend we had good book sales. D.A. sold a bunch of his Brotherhood of Dwarves books, and I met a lot of new readers as well as current readers who were getting their book 2's or 3's, such as Mary B. and Tom H., who is pictured with me here! We sold titles from every SSP author too, which I was really happy about.





MystiCon was also a very successful and enjoyable convention. Alex Wright(Pictured with me), Keith Stanley, Barbara Debary-Kesner, Tina Vargo, Carla Brindle, and everyone on the staff did such a superb job with the 2012 event. The attendance grew a lot from last year, but the Con flowed wonderfully all throughout.










I was neighbors with a great web comic fellow named Travis Surber and his wife Jennifer on one side, Dan from Walt's Games in Baltimore on the other, and across from the Imagicopter gang, including H. David Blalock(Pictured), Herika Raymer, and J.L. Mulvihill.

It was great having David there, as this was the second convention where we were able to show off his new book Angelkiller, a fantastic urban fantasy novel that blends supernatural elements with a virtual reality theme.

Catching up and hanging out with artist Mark Davis was a blast as well! He's one of the great characters on the circuit, and I hear he's got a really cool new comic-related project in the works. :)

It was the second straight convention seeing the amazing Andy Deane, who did not have to go too far from home at this convention. Andy, as usual, was engaging with his fans and put on a fantastic rock show with Bella Morte that was packed out.

Also got to visit again with filmmaker Johnny Johnson, the man behind the remake of Plan 9 from Outer Space. Johnny's a first-class guy, a great filmmaker, and it is aways cool seeing him out on the Con circuit.

Panels went very well, including one on Steampunk, one on why geeks are cool now, and another on monsters and what kinds of monsters may be the next trends. The latter was moderated by Alexandra Christian, a talented author and friend who also writes for Fandom Scene. Her husband, Tally Johnson, is a blast to hang around. We need to get him and Bruce Campbell together at Fandom Fest as they would look like brothers standing together.

Sharon Stogner, the founder of the I Smell Sheep blog review site, came to MystiCon on Saturday and brought me a 20 oz. Cheerwine and a moonpie. Cheerwine has cult status where I live, so I got to lord it over some friends of mine like Rodney Carlstrom, who may be one of the biggest Cheerwine fantatics out there. The moonpie, according to Sharon, is what Cheerwine best goes with! LOL I really enjoyed visiting with Sharon and her daughters, one of whom was making quite the splash at the convention in her zombie costume.





Got to catch up with epic fantasy author Gail Z Martin, who writes for Orbit and Solaris (she recently had me visit on her Ghost in the Machine Podcast). Gail had a nice release party for her new book The Dread, from The Fallen Kings Cycle. Really looking forward to having Gail on our track at Fandom Fest this coming year.

Sales were really good for the second straight week, including my books, David's, and other titles from SSP. I got to see a number of loyal readers and meet some new ones.





On the way back I got to visit and stay at Andy Haught's home. Andy's the lead singer of Zeroking, a fantastic hard rock/metal band, and he's been a friend of mine for many years. The band's new release, Kings of Self-Destruction, is getting more and more airplay everyday. Doesn't surprise me, as there is not a bad track on the 13 song release. Was really great to just kick back, visit with him and Carla, and relax after such a busy weekend.

The ensuing week turned into a maelstrom of activity, as we had to work to set up SSP's first ever formal blog tour for Jackie Gamber. We worked with Babs from Babs Book Bistro, and our camp was able to arrange a 36 day blog tour, all dates filled, in 48 hours. Whew! LOL Yes, we put in quite an effort over those couple of days, but I have to say the blogging community was so helpful and enthusiastic about Jackie's new book. Special appreciation to Babs for all her help. Big thank you to Evie from Evie Bookish for assisting with the beautiful tour badges. It was exciting and we will be doing more blog tours in the future. Sela is a fantastic novel, and with Redheart is building a wonderful YA Fantasy Series.

Last, but not least, we announced the additions of Robin Hobb, Richard Kadrey, and Julie Kagaway for Fandom Fest, NY Times best sellers in fantasy, urban fantasy, and YA Fantasy respectively. I'm just thrilled with how the track is coming together, as these three wonderful authors will be joining others such as Timothy Zahn, Angie Fox, Jim C Hines, Gail Z Martin, Laura Resnick, and so many more fantastic authors on this track.

This is a fairly long report, but as you can tell, I have not been idea. I will save my progress report on the writing side for another post, as I wanted to bring everyone up to speed on how the conventions have been going.

The Convention Run is Complete! For Now...

I've been a little spotty in my posting, but it has been a real whirlwind during the shorter weeks with the 6 week convention run that I've been on. It concluded last weekend at MidSouthCon in Memphis, which was the exclamation point on what has been a really enjoyable and successful run of conventions/events.

I am truly grateful to all the hard-working folks who put on ConNooga, MystiCon,Metropolis SuperCon,Troy Book Lover's Festival, Millennicon, and MidSouthCon. I've met so many wonderful new individuals, and also got to spend a great deal of time with many that I harbor a great affinity for. We had Swordbearer screenings at all of the events, and I can say that the new movie has been well received so far.

Needless to say, I owe everyone some reports on the last two weeks. I've been a little behind, but I want to give both Millennicon and MidSouthCon their own posts. Keep an eye here, as they are going to be put up here pretty quick, in rapid fire style!

In addition to the conventions, I've been keeping up with work on the 3rd Rising Dawn Saga book. I am pleased to report that Amanda has been very happy with the text so far, indicating that it is the cleanest copy I have handed in yet. I feel that this book is a rocket ride of action, though the course takes a darker edge as things escalate in Terra, the Middle Lands, and perhaps a foray into the Abyss... ;)

I've also been very involved with the release of Jackie Gamber's Redheart, the new Seventh Star Press title that kicks off the Leland Dragon Series. It is SSP's first YA title too! I've been assisting with the outreach and launch of the book. More will be contained in my report on MidSouthCon, but the launch party there was a great success.

So get ready for a procession of reports before this weekend is out...I will leave things with a couple of images that I just got today, from a dear reader and friend, Robin B....turns out that her daughter Grace chose to decorate her wall with the cover art 8X10's that I give out at signings and conventions, and Robin also sent me a shot of her new bookshelf, regarding a particular section of it... :)

I LOVE getting notes and pics like this from readers, and am going to gather up what I've got and put a gallery on my site, and perhaps my facebook page, as I'm always so appreciative when reader-friends do something like this, and take the time to send me a picture.


(I'll caption this one: Now Gracing Grace's Wall! )



(Some fine choices at the Z-end of her bookshelf, don't you think? All the softcovers, plus a Storm Guardians Limited Hardcover...one of just 50 in existence!)



(And last, but certainly not least, I want to introduce you to my reader/friend Robin's daughter Grace, who has the 8X10's on the wall)

MystiCon-Adventures in Roanoke

Better late than never, right? Yes, I'm a little slow on getting my latest blog report up, but I am getting pretty swamped on the mondays following my returns from the convention weekends.

Last weekend was MystiCon, in Roanoke Virginia. This was a very interesting Con for me, as it is largely new turf...I didn't know any of the other guests going in, and the only person I had some previous interaction with was the track promming head, Alex Wright (who was the one that had reached out and invited me) The Con is relatively new, or, more accurately, a relaunch, according to what I was told.

Let's just sum it all up by saying that I highly recommend MystiCon!

From the get-go, the staff of the Con and the staff of the hotel were extremely friendly. This helped a great deal, as I had just endured a six hour drive through very turbulent weather. The winds were strong enough to push my car towards the side of the road on many occasions. I was very happy to be on site, and in the building!


I had a table in the exhibit hall (which continues to grow...I even had some new buttons themed on the artwork from my 2 series this time), and participated on several panels over the weekend, as well as hosted a screening for Swordbearer. Due to last minute complications, Roni Jonah and Jason Crowe couldn't make it, so I had to go solo on the film screening. More on that in a moment.

The first part of programming that I took part in was Bethany Halle's Podcast, as one of the selected guests. Bethany is an author, podcaster, and blogger, who is a highly gifted interviewer, in my opinion. She's got a real magnetism and ability to make a new guest feel comfortable. I was a brand new commodity for her, but her style makes it seem as if she's known you for years, and she keeps the flow going. I really enjoyed her guests, which ranged from authors like Pamela Kinney, Alexandra Christian and Paul Dellinger, to an artist and a game designer.

Day two had a panel on what franchises will stand the test of time, where I got to meet artist Mark Davis. Mark was adamant that ensemble casts in literature/franchises are the thing of the future, and I hope he is a prophet as both The Rising Dawn Saga and Fires in Eden Series feature ensemble casts! The panel was great, as there were differences of opinion on some of the franchises discussed. Mark and I have very divergent views on the longevity of Harry Potter, with Mark thinking that its popularity will not sustain, while I think that it will. We will just have to reconvene in twenty years and see what transpires! LOL

Jason Cordova was also one of the participants on this panel. A science fiction/fantasy author, Jason knows several authors that are also friends of mine on the Con circuit, but this is the first event where we've met. He is one of the writers to be featured in the upcoming Heroes in Hell volumes, and he and his girlfriend will be making a visit to Lexington during march (where I'm planning to catch up to them).

Later that afternoon, I was included on a Celebrity Match Game panel, which featured some of the GOH's such as Brinke Stevens (actress), Randy Asplund (artist, who did several of the designs for the popular Magic card game, as well as making medieval-style books through an authentic process), and David Gerrold (Hugo Award-winning author of The Martian Child, who also wrote the famous Tribbles episode on Star Trek). Members of the audience were brought up, and a sentence was read to them that had a blank in it. The audience members filled in the blank, as did the panelists, and then the contestants got a point for every panelist that matched their answer. Things degenerated quickly, in a comedic sense, with responses running the gamut. The full audience seemed to love it, and I think this will be a hit event at future MystiCons.

I had an enjoyable Independent Film panel, in which I got to meet John Johnson, a VERY prolific filmmaker who is doing the remake of Ed Wood's Plan 9 from Outer Space at the moment. He really knows the market as it stands now, and had some excellent insights regarding selling a movie and distribution. I hope to see him at Fandom Fest later this summer.

Following the independent film panel was a Swordbearer screening. We did not have a big crowd, as we were running opposite the Con's costume contest, but we did have a lot of postive feedback from the ones that did attend. One of the attendees, Tyler Cook, was the cousin of one of our two main costume designers, and the Wardrobe Lead on set, the wonderful Abby Cook.


Sunday featured a great panel on the issue of killing main characters, and it included David Gerrold, Allen Wold, Jason Cordova, and myself. It was probably the best attended panel of the weekend. Allen was the moderator and was very gracious about keeping everyone in the discussion.


While the Con had some great programming, and guests, the best part was that I got to make several new friends. Here's a couple of them, a HIGHLY talented artist, Shan, as well as Honey, who both stopped by and visited my booth (and attended the wild and crazy Celebrity Match Game):




That's the best part about these Cons, and this one in particular. I walked in without knowing anyone, and departed enriched by the knowledge that I have several new friendships underway. A really wonderful experience, and I definitely endorse MystiCon. Put it on your calendar's for 2012!

Next up this weekend will be Metropolis SuperCon, in Metropolis, IL!

Six Straight Weeks on the Road....

As seems to be the norm, this week has been quite busy again. A lot of preparation going on, as I will be hitting the road pretty extensively the next six weeks.

Each of these events will have a showing of Swordbearer. I will also have a table/booth at each event for those that would like books or collectibles (and I will have copies of Steven Shrewsbury's new one Thrall available for the first time on the Convention circuit!).

This weekend is ConNooga, in Chattanooga TN, it will be followed by MystiCon in Roanoke VA, Metropolis SuperCon in Metropolis IL, the Troy Book Lover's Festival in Troy, Ohio, Millennicon in Cincinnati, and finally....MidSouthCon in Memphis, TN.

Quite a run, but it is what you have to do when you want to do this fulltime.

I have had a little fun this week...got a card swiping setup through Intuit (the folks behind TurboTax, Quckbooks, and other accounting software). It works with Android based phones, so I am finally coming into the 21st century with my new mobile device. It will be a G2.

Thankfully, I've been with the same carrier for 8 years (T-Mobile) so I was able to get a manager to approve a great deal on the phone. It will bring some convenience to people that stop by my booth who want to use credit cards or debit cards. I'm looking forward to having this option, as there have been many times that people have been unable to get a book because I could only take cash. I hope this will help some new reader-friends get underway, and of course every little bit helps me scrape through the travel costs on these events.

Work continues to progress on the next Rising Dawn Saga book. Really enjoying this one alot. There's a big quest to look forward to in this one... :)

Also excited about a forthcoming announcement of a new SSP writer...who brings a whole new dimension to SSP! :) More on that VERY shortly, but this person is really first class, as an individual and as a writer. The family continues to grow! :)

That's about it for now...gotta get back to sorting, packing, preparing! LOL

Fandom Fest lands John Carpenter, and a few other cool updates!

It has been a busy week, as I've been immersed in work on the 3rd Rising Dawn Saga Book, working on the broadcast team for the January Thoroughbred auctions at Keeneland, and continuing with the million and one activities involved in the efforts to raise awareness of Seventh Star Press titles, not just mine but also Steven L. Shrewsbury's new book Thrall. And... Fandom Fest landed John Carpenter...but more on that later.

Dream of Legends has been arriving with reviewers, and the first major Dream of Legends event looms on Friday, January 21st, at Joseph-Beth Booksellers in Lexington at 7pm. I am looking forward very much to next Friday, as we will have a full night of fun and activities for everyone coming out to visit and celebrate the new book release. New exclusive print, door prizes, possibly some Swordbearer footage, an after-party at a restaurant next door, and more. Definitely going to be a full night.

As far as Steven Shrewsbury's Thrall goes, we got some very welcome news in that he got not just one, or two, but three excellent reviews, the very first three to be published in fact. I have a TON of faith in Steven and his writing, so I'm not surprised, but it is really good to see the reception that this book is getting. The folks that got limited edition packages have been sending in a torrent of extremely positive feedback on the contents of the packages (as others have for Dream of Legends), which is really cool as I know how hard it is, and how much sacrifice has been involved, to bring out these kinds of premium packages for prices that are a fraction of what's charged for other offerings that don't include the wide array of content that these do.

I've gotten up a couple of nice new author spotlights on the SSP blog too, such as one with David J. Guyton, another with Scott Sandridge, and a third one looming with steampunk star Nick Valentino. Some very cool visits with some interesting insights on the state of the publishing world today.

Things are moving full steam on Swordbearer. We are planning to do test screenings the first week of February in Memphis and Arkansas, with screenings later that month in Chattanooga and Roanoke (ConNooga and Mysticon, respectively).

I will definitely be keeping everyone posted on that for sure.

Fandom Fest landed a MAJOR guest this week, when it was announced on DragonTalk Radio that film legend John Carpenter is confirmed for the July event in Louisville. This follows the recent announcement of Henry Winkler's attendance, so the event is certainly rocketing out of the gate in 2011. I have been making great progress with the Literary Track, and we are at a little over than 60 participating panelists on what is going to be an extensive, very multi-faceted track! Be sure to visit www.fandomfest.com and get ready for an incredible summer convention event.