Midway through ConNooga!

I'm about middle of the way through ConNooga, and things are going well so far. Definitely no lack of interesting things going on here.

Got to see Dave Mattingly of Blackwyrm Publishing in a Mini-me costume, which was a big hit at the Costume Contest. Got serenaded by Andy Deane of Bella Morte (After he led an entire legion of his fans down the aisle right up to my exhibit booth...I am not kidding about this. There will probably be some pics posted on this one! LOL). David Blalock has made a surprise visit to the Con. Even stranger, Sean Taylor, Jason Crowe, D.A. Adams, and Sam Flegal all showed up with the same kind of collared, buttoned, red shirts today. Apparently I didn't get the memo that it was red-shirt day.

The panels have been really good. Robby Hilliard's put together a very nice literary track, and we've definitely had full discussions going on every panel I've been on. Been great to share panels with the likes of Mike D'Ambrosio, Dan Jolley, Allan Gilbreath, Kimberly Richardson, Sean Taylor, Shane Berryhill, and all the great folks on the literary track.

Got one more day to go. We're doing a Swordbearer screening tomorrow at 11am, and then I have 2 more panels, and it will be time to head back to Lexington. Will need to get ready for Mysticon in Roanoke VA next week!

;)

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.

The Kentucky Book Fair this Saturday

Just a quick note about the Kentucky Book Fair in Frankfort KY tomorrow:

I had a great experience last year at my first appearance at the Kentucky Book Fair. It is an amazing event, and I have the honor of returning again this year. I went down this morning to set up my assigned space on the convention floor (it is at the main Convention Center at 405 Mero St), and lo and behold they have me at the end of the 7th aisle, which is centered at the front where the main entrance is. Maybe being a Seventh Star Press author and being on the 7th aisle is some kind of omen...I'll let you know what kind after the event is done, LOL.

Saw Shane Berryhill while I was there for setup, who is a great speculative fiction writer from the Chattanooga TN area that I met at ConNooga. Also appearing in the speculative fiction area is steampunk star Nick Valentino from Nashville, a great guy and friend I love to see out on the circuit.

If you are thinking about going, I encourage you to do so...admission is free, and there are over 200 authors presented, in all genres. VERY cool day with about 5,000 attending readers/book buyers. Be sure to look me up and say hi, though!

I will have a copy of fellow SSP author Steven Shrewsbury's new book Thrall with me as well, so you can get a sneak peak at that if you are there. It turned out FANTASTIC! Steven is a great guy so I was thrilled to see how good this novel looks.

I'll check in after the event and let you all know how the day went!

CoNooga, and March Madness!

Back in the groove after a great ConNooga weekend. This was my first trek down to Chattanooga, and it turned out to be a very pleasant trip as I got to spend a lot of time with my friend, author D.A. Adams, and Renee, as their table was right next to mine in the Exhibit Hall.

On the other side of D.A. was Mike D'Ambrosio, all the way from Philly, and a wonderful panelist and author. We go to a lot of the same conventions, so it felt like home to come in and be next to these guys. There was quite a Kentucky contingent there too. Across from me was the amazing artist Billy Tackett, a great guy who I am looking forward to visiting again at MidSouthCon (where he is the artist guest of honor), Imagicon, and others. One aisle over from me was quite a gang, starting with Jason Crowe and Roni Jonah of Feathered Italian Films. The Infernal Dreams camp was on hand, getting great interviews, footage, and mayhem as always. George Bonilla and ZP International, the amazing Nic Brown (a very good author, and head guy of B-Movie Man) and Tucky Williams (promoting the new project she's doing with the legendary Eric Butts, Girl/Girl Scene), and others from the Bluegrass state were there representing! ;)

I really enjoyed my co-panelists at this convention, and there were some amazing ones. Dan Jolley, Mary Kowal, Shane Berryhill, Joe Dickerson, Robert Freese, Bobby Nash, Christine Barber, and Andy Deane were some of the panelists involved with the topics I was on, and they were all so knowledgeable. What made it great for the audience was that there was a great nice balance between folks involved in major press, small press, and self-publishing, which made for some very useful insights and good discussion. Our moderator on all panels, Robby, did a fantastic job keeping things on course.

Andy Deane, who is with the international rock group Bella Morte, was both a great contributor, as well as incredibly entertaining. I referred to Andy as a "non-traditional" rock star, and he briefly stole my identify in one panel, which was fine by me, as Andy is in big demand by the ladies! I am reading his book "The Sticks", a horror novel/werewolf tale, which I will be posting a review on the SSP Blog Site sometime soon. Andy definitely rocks, and I hope to stay in touch with him for sure. Very good, genuine individual with a whole lotta talent.

I also wanted to give a shout out to Chris Bern, who runs the Fans of Christ group. A really super nice guy, who I enjoyed meeting very much. His group is not your typical church group, to say the least, and his table is definitely worth stopping by if you see him at a convention. I personally wish more religious organizations had the kind of approach and attitude that he embraces.

I was also very touched by the number of new readers that came aboard my crazy journey, and who took interest in my fantasy series. This was the first show that we had the new Exodus Gate hardcovers available, and they seemed to go over very well. I am looking forward to hearing from all of the folks that got either The Exodus Gate or Crown of Vengeance.

Whether new readers or panelists/guests like Chris Bern, Bobby Nash or Sean Taylor, I really love to make new friends at these conventions. For me that's the real highlight...as D.A. Adams says, it is a real "brotherhood" (and sisterhood, of course! LOL) out there on the convention circuit. Everyone is motivated and ambitious, but for the most part, most of the people you encounter regularly are the kind of people that are willing to give others help, a leg up, and support. That, to me, is what distinguishes this group in a big way. Everyone is rooting for each other, and tend to be self-competitive (I.E. Competing against oneself, as opposed to seeing others as "competition). Good things come out of a mentality like that, and I think there will be many individuals really making strides out of the Con circuit that I have been frequenting lately.

Now, it is time for March Madness...no, not the basketball tournament, but rather a 3 straight weekend run of conventions, starting with Dark Woods Con, in Pikeville, KY, MidSouthCon in Memphis, TN, and Millennicon, in Cincinnati, OH. It is going to be quite a run, but a very exciting one, and I will be reporting back on all of them. It will be my second visit to MidSouthCon, and my first to the other two (and the first one for everyone at Dark Woods Con, as this is the first year for that event!).