ScareFest this weekend, Kentucky Book Fair next weekend!

First of all, be sure to check out a brand new interview accompanying a nice review of Crown of Vengeance on Bookworm Blues. I really enjoyed this one as it involved some questions that really got at the core of the book, with more than a couple that I have not been asked at all yet. Leave a comment or two while you are there if you enjoyed the interview! here's the link...

http://bookwormblues.blogspot.com/2010/11/crown-of-vengeance-stephen-zimmer-with.html

Just getting ready for ScareFest in Lexington this weekend, which kicks off the first of 2 localized events, the other being the fantastic Kentucky Book Fair in Frankfort on November 13th. I am going to be a guest of Deth Publications this weekend, as author Elizadeth Hetheringon and her husband Vance have generously invited me to join them this weekend at their booth.

My last large event was Archon in St. Louis, so I am ready for a convention weekend, and it is doubly wonderful that I have only a whopping 10 minutes to drive to this one! ScareFest is held in downtown Lexington, and will have an attendence in the range of 3-5 thousand...primarily a horror and paranormal fest, it has a number of media/film celebrities from the horror genre signing autographs, along with some programming and parties and a very big dealer room.

I've gotten word that many good friends are going to be there, from Stephen and Suzie Lackey of Captain Pixel Productions, to Joe Garcia of Fast Custom Shirts, to authors Michael West and Crymsyn Hart, to Lexington publishing genius Jason Sizemore of Apex Book Company.

This will be a nice change of pace, as lately I've been slammed with things involving the new Fires in Eden book, as well as helping out my fellow Seventh Star Press authors, Jackie Gamber, and Steven Shrewsbury, whose new novel Thrall is imminent. I can't say how wonderful it is to have Jackie and Steven aboard...fantastic authors AND fantastic individuals. Keep your eyes out for the Thrall announcement, which will unveil the cover art, some Matthew Perry artwork, and the video trailer.

well, I'd better get back to work...lots to do, including working on screenings for a certain short film that has to do with David Blalock's Ascendent novel...hint, hint! :)

Hitting stride!

Last couple of days have seen a ton of progress on the manuscript of the new book. I've gotten to spend a load of hours working on the changes and corrections, and I am pleased to say that alot has been done. It is always great to get into the "zone", though time does tend to fly. We've still got a couple decisions to make at the end of the book, in terms of the exact thread sections to end it on.

I do think that we are going to look to have one section from the second book tagged at the end as a preview for book 2, which will contain one heckuva teaser for the sequel.

On another note, I'm getting ready to interview Stephen and Suzie Lackey tonight for Indie Movie Master's new podcast. Should be a great one, and I'm stoked to kick it off with Nashville's Dynamic Duo!

The Hypericon Adventure!

I really love Hypericon. Actually, I am beginning to think of Nashville as my second home. I have attended Hypericon since the early days of this Con, missing only the year that my father passed away, and this convention has always been a very pleasant experience.

It is still a smaller convention, though it has grown alot since its first year. It showed more growth this year, and as always was a pleasant environment in which to meet and talk with people.

There were alot of outstanding writers, starting with the guest of honor, Brian Keene, who has written some magnificent horror novels such as The Rising, City of the Dead, and Dark Hollow. I was pleased to discover that Brian apparently has excellent taste in music, attested to by his Iron Maiden shirt.

Scott Nicholson, who wrote one of the coolest and most visceral non-typical vampire books out there, They Hunger, was actually on one of the film track panels with me (a screenwriting panel). Scott has alot going on, including the world of graphic novels.



I was very happy to see Dan and Jackie Gamber of Meadowhawk Press (and look out for a special blog article on Jackie's book Redheart...coming very soon to this blog and the Seventh Star Press blog too!). Jackie unveiled a new sharpie tattoo, showing off her new rock n' roll image...it looked a little faded on the last day of the convention, but Jackie explained that was because she was demonstrating her toughness by using a brillo pad to remove the tattoo! Don't mess with Meadowhawk Press! lol

Actually, Meadowhawk Press became one of 4 small press publishers ever to have a release win the Philip K. Dick award! (for Terminal Mind by David Walton) THAT ROCKS!

Jason Sizemore of Apex Publications was also on hand. I have not gotten to know well Jason yet, even though we both live in Lexington! Apex is an excellent publisher, with many writers that I have alot of respect for ( Sarah Harvey, Fran Friel, etc. ), and I hope to get a chance to meet with Jason on the homefront a little more often.

One of the coolest things I encountered this past weekend were P'ckit Dragons, from the Smerdiverse developed by Jon Klement. He is not hard to find, walking around with a big purple hat with ears and a shirt with a little purple dragon peeking out from the shirt pocket. Jon took some time to tell me some of the background of the multi-dimensional P'ckit dragons, and after learning more, I believe everyone should have their own P'ckit dragon! Jon is from St. Louis, so I hope to catch back up with him in person at Archon later this fall.

I finally got a chance to meet D.A. Adams, author of the Brotherhood of Dwarves series. I had been looking forward to meeting him at MidSouthCon, but he had some last minute schedule conflicts and was not at a reading that we were supposed to do together there. I picked up a copy of his first book and will be reading it for sure. D.A. and I appear to have quite alot in common as well, which was really cool to discover.

Seeing Sarah Harvey, Elizabeth Donald, and Angelia Sparrow is always a great thing, and Hypericon was no exception! Elizabeth was generous/kind enough to consign some of my books there so that I had availability in the dealer's room. Believe me, this is a really helpful thing at a convention, and I appreciated it tremendously.

I did get to visit for a little while with Steven Shrewsbury, though I did not get to talk to him as long as I wanted to. Steven's book Hawg was a great read, if not disturbing! Not for the faint of heart! LOL His new one Tormentor is just now coming available.

I got to spend a good bit of time with my pals/partners in crime/fellow independent media sufferers Stephen and Suzie Lackey (who do all kinds of stuff, like Con Trek, Cinegeek.com), and Mike Young. As always, we came up with absurd ideas, as well as a few that might yet have merit! lol Stephen had his hands full running the film track, but we did get out for some very excellent pizza on Sunday.

Speaking of ideas that might have merit, something may be brewing regarding the film side of things! My cohorts in Cineline Productions, Matt Perry and Sven Granlund, and I had a great meeting with the eminent H. David Blalock, author of Ascendant (Sam's Dot Publishing). Suffice it to say that it appears that I will be directing a new project, short film in nature, fantasy in nature (YEEESSSS!) later this summer. Get ready, I'm fired up!

The good Jarl of House Blalock and his daughter Hericka and I did get to spend a good amount of time together, which was fantastic, as they are rapidly becoming a couple of my favorites out there. I am going to be posting something soon on Ascendant as well...so stay tuned!

Was very happy to meet a couple of Kentucky authors, David Jack Bell, author of The Condemned, and Julie Kagawa, whose first YA release The Iron King comes out at the beginning of 2010.

Big thanks to Matthew, Jon, Deb, and all those that came to support my signing slot in the dealer's room and who picked up a copy of The Exodus Gate. It means alot when you see someone step forward to take a chance on a new author. I can assure you that it is not forgotten! ;)


Many, many thanks and salutes go out to conference chairpersons Fred and Stephania Grimm, who are among those willing to take on the punishing job of running a large event. I think they have really been steadily building a very nice event, and I hope that they continue, despite the many headaches and challenges involved. (and kudos to all the volunteers like Deborah, and all the others involved with various aspects like running registration, cooking for the con suite, and more).


Oh yeah, while in Nashville, I also got to visit Davis-Kidd in Nashville. Awesome store, 2 levels, grand scale, while still being indie friendly. I got to meet Ashley Strosnider and Joe Nettles in person, which was super cool as I just knew them through phone calls and emails before.




Overall, Hypericon 5 was yet another great experience. I am already looking forward to Hypericon 6!!

The Countdown to the Screening. Thursday in Lexington! 7:30 pm at the Kentucky Theater!

Just a couple of days away from the premiere screening of our new Indie Movie Masters Festival of Horrors Vol. 1 DVD.

I am really looking forward to seeing alot of friends and indie filmmakers that night, as it is always good to gather and enjoy indie film in a first class venue like the Kentucky Theater is.

We're going to be showing several trailers, such as the one for Jerry Williams' and Eric Butts' extravaganza Zeppo, and also including the brand new one for No Town which is scheduled for our 2nd title in the Festival of Horrors series. This one's from Aaron Champion and Justin Ford, and really looks sharp! These two guys are true filmmaking hooligans who I absolutely think the world of. Justin's down in Nashville, TN, probably so he can pester Stephen and Suzie Lackey more (and you all NEED to check out Con Trek on the xBox....it is now available!)

After the trailers, look for a couple of music vids...one by the heavy metal band Spent, whose music appears in Sirens, and one from director Vince Bingham, who acted in both Sirens and Murderer.

Nathan Day's new trailer for Bullet Song will be the last trailer or music video shown. Everyone needs to look out for Bullet Song! Emotional movie made by a very talented and very, very dedicated guy with alot of heart. I am really looking forward to the debut of Bullet Song in the near future.

I hope everyone in the Lexington area or within range can make a little extra effort to come out. Film screenings are not frequent events in the indie world, and we want to have a good showing as this series is going to be one that opens up a bunch of new opportunities for indie filmmakers everywhere. We are really wanting to grow this series and make it work for everyone.

For more on the concept, please be sure to visit the IMM site at www.indiemoviemasters.com

So, come on down and let's have a great indie film night this Thursday at the Kentucky Theater!

Off to MidSouthCon!

The last couple of weeks have been a whirlwind. The Exodus Gate is finally available, and starting to pop up at sites like Amazon.com. I have a number of new things on the appearance schedule, over at stephenzimmer.com This includes a couple of events on the homefront, and appearance at Joseph Beth Booksellers in Lexington on April 17 from 7-9, and a screening of my short film The Sirens as part of an Indie Movie Masters DVD party at the Kentucky Theater April 9th at 7:30 pm.

I love the Kentucky theater, and I am really looking forward to being back there, as this will be my first local screening since the Shadows Light premiere a ways back. I am especially ecstatic about the Joseph Beth night, as this will be my first appearance there as an author, and this has been my favorite bookstore ever since I was a kid buying books at the first (and much smaller) incarnation of Joseph Beth when they first opened up at Lexington Green. I hope those in the area can drop by and say hi sometime between 7 and 9, as this is a special evening for sure.

This week will be an adventure as well. Heading down to Memphis for the MidSouthCon. I heard a ton of good things about this Convention when I attended Hypericon in Nashville last year (Hypericon is a wonderful event, by the way). I will be on a film-related panel, a book related panel, a signing for The Exodus Gate, and possibly a reading for The Exodus Gate.

On the way down and back I will be visiting with some Barnes and Noble stores, and look forward to meeting many new people, as well as catching up with some of my favorite friends such as the unrivaled Lackeys in Nashville TN. (Stephen and Suzie are, without a doubt, two of the nicest folks you will ever encounter in the worlds of independent film/books/etc. They did an exceptional documentary on SciFi/Fantasy conventions called Fans and Freaks, by the way).

I will be sure to give a full report on MidSouthCon when I get back.