Congratulations to the teams at the Large Hadron Collider! Earlier today, representatives from CERN announced the discovery (at a “five-sigma” level of certainty) of a Higgs boson-like particle.
All of my physics friends are going to be very happy and very busy for a while.
Tomorrow morning I’m hitting the road early and traveling to York, PA where I will be part of the festivities at Sci-Fi Saturday at the York Emporium. Also on hand will be Best-Selling author of Enchanted, Alethea Kontis.
The doors open at ten o’clock, and the event runs until six. There’ll be readings, and lectures, a game show, and even a light saber demonstration (bring the kids!). I’ll go on stage for an hour at one o’clock and talk about the Amazing Conroy and probably a bit about Klingon, as well as upcoming projects at Paper Golem. Yes, I am attending this event in my capacity as a triple threat: author/publisher/klingonist!
All in all, it should be a great day! But, don’t take my word for it, check out this article from the The York Dispatch who have labeled it as their “weekly pick.”
Not that you need any more inducement to attend, but rumor has it that Barry will be on hand as well, eager to pose with fans and talk about his forthcoming eponymous novella.
Coming up on Thursday is the start of this year’s Nebula Awards Weekend. I expect to be kept pretty busy with an action packed few days complete with a tour of the Air and Space Museum, a workshop on e-book design, a presentation on memory (okay, I’ll be running that one), a mass signing, and more brilliant authors than you can count!
Now, to be fair, part of the problem with counting all those authors may be due to their tendency to not cluster in any one place for too long that isn’t a bar, or just as likely a problem with your ability to count because you’ve followed them to the bar and as part of your disguise you’ve been drinking.
While attendance at the various panels, programs, and workshops does require a membership, anyone can come to the mass autograph session on Friday from 5:30 p.m. until 7:30 p.m. at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City.
There will also be a “Book Depot” where you can pick up copies of books by many of the authors who will be present. That will run Friday from 11:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. and again from 5:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m., Saturday 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m., and Sunday 10:00 a.m. – Noon. I’ve made arrangements for the Book Depot to have some of my titles, as well as copies of books published by Paper Golem.
Hope to see you there!
On June 16th, a little over a month from now, my wife and I will be heading out to the wilds of York, PA, where I will be participating in the glory that is known far and wide as Sci-Fi Saturday (clicking the graphic to the right will take you to the Facebook Event page where all the up-to-the-minute info can be found).
The event takes place at the York Emporium, a huge bookstore located at 343 W. Market Street in York, PA. I’ll have a table there, and though there’ll be just the one of me I’ll be there wearing three different hats: As an author, I’ll have copies of my own fiction for sale and signing. As a publisher, I’ll have copies of all the Paper Golem titles. And as the Director of the Klingon Language Institute, I’ll have a nice assortment of both KLI books, and Klingon language materials from Pocket Books and elsewhere (including foreign language translations of The Klingon Dictionary).
In addition to my wife Valerie at my table, I’ll be joined by famed children’s book author and recent fantasy novelist Alethea Kontis, who is always a lot of fun to be around (and not just because she’s a princess).
At some point in the festivities, I’m told I’ll be on stage, yammering on and on about Klingon, language in general, and my own fiction. The schedule is still coming together, but when I know the time be assured I’ll share it with you.
Small Press publisher Paper Golem has just opened the reading period for its “prompt-themed” anthology Cucurbital 3!
What is Cucurbital?
It’s the name of a theme anthology series in which all of the authors write their stories starting with the same handful of prompts.
What are the prompts?
There are three of them:
MADNESS
DARKNESS
MATTRESS
Successful submissions will take these three prompts and weave a unique and compelling story of no more than five thousand words.
When can I submit for this anthology?
We’ll be accepting submissions for Cucurbital 3 from May 1st through June 30th, 2012. Any submissions received before or after will be ignored. Our intention is to respond to all submissions by July 15th.
What’s it pay?
Upon publication, contributors will receive one cent per word for their fiction, and a copy of the physical book.
How do I submit my story?
Follow the directions specified on our submissions page.
If you’ve done everything correctly, you should receive an email confirmation within three business days.
The forty-seventh Nebula Awards Weekend is coming up in just a few weeks. In addition to the awards banquet and the massive author signing there will be various field trips and lectures.
I have the great pleasure and privilege of offering one of the lectures, drawing on my experience as a professor of cognitive psychology and my research in human memory. On Saturday, May 19th, from 4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., I’ll be giving a talk entitled How to Remember Anything.
I’ll review some of the different types of memory, the four underlying principles that modulate most memory, and then discuss a few different mnemonic techniques and systems.
The typical limit of most people’s “short term memory” is seven items (plus or minus two). In the last few minutes of the presentation, I’ll load up everyone there with a list of twenty items — courtesy of an incredibly easy to use mnemonic system — that they’ll be able to hold on to for days and days.
I keep forgetting to mention it, but there’s a new addition over on the B.W.O.P. page.
Professional translator Sabina Trigueros has very kindly provided a second Spanish version of “Buffalo Dogs,” this one in the Mexican (as opposed to the continental) idiom.
And yes, that is very cool!
Coming up on Friday is Trek Trax Atlanta, and I’ll be there to speak about my experiences with Klingon.
As can happen in the current economy, preregistration sales weren’t as robust as anticipated, and the convention regretfully had to cancel the scheduled appearances of its top tier guests.
A side effect of this is that I’ve been bumped up a bit, and I take it as a personal challenge to provide just that much more value for the attendees so that no one feels too disappointed. It should still be a glorious convention!
With that in mind, here’s my new schedule from Friday, April 20th, through Sunday, April 22nd. Please note that there are additions and time changes from the previously posted preliminary schedule.
Friday, April 20th:
8:00 – 10:00 | Ashford | VIP Champagne Reception
An opportunity to mingle as we enjoy hors d’oeuvres, champagne, and Diet Coke.
10:00 – 11:00 | Centennial I | Twenty Years of Pimping the Klingon Language
Q&A and some strange tales of pushing the Klingon language for two decades.
Saturday, April 21st
1:00 – 2:00 | Centennial III-IV | The Sounds of Klingon
An interactive session with just a bit of spitting as we master some of the trickier sounds.
7:00 – 8:00 | Centennial III-IV | Ten Things Every Klingon Should Know How to Say… in Klingon!
Eric Koske and I instruct you in some essential Klingon phrases.
Sunday, April 22nd
10:00 – 11:00 | Centennial III-IV | Klingon Religion
Tony Roberts and I discuss religion, Klingon style!
2:30 – 3:30 | Centennial I | The 2012 Miss Klingon Empire Beauty Pageant
Join David Orange, Morgan Gendel, and me as we judge the event. Yeah, yeah, it’s a tough job…
When I’m not busy with the above, I’ll either be grabbing a bite in the hotel restaurant, sitting at a table selling the limited number of KLI books I can stuff into my carry-on bag, and just generally hanging out with anyone who wants to chat. With luck, there’ll be some Diet Coke nearbye too.
