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Posts Tagged ‘Fiction’

Final (and I really mean it) LoneStarCon3 Schedule

No Comments » Written on August 21st, 2013 by
Categories: News
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I’ve received confirmation from programming with regard to my participation in Strolling with the Stars. I’ll be strolling on both Thursday and Monday mornings. But because someone screwed up, you won’t see my name listed among the “stars” in the pocket program for those days, as this had already gone to press. I’m told the correction will make it into the program app, the online listing, and the pink sheets. And if you’re reading this here, then you know too.

I’m also very pleased to see that the online version now lists locations, which will make actually showing up for events (both panelists and audience members) much easier. And with that now resolved, here at last is my complete schedule for Lone Star Con 3!

Thursday, August 29th:
9:00 – 10:00 p.m. | Rivercenter Lobby| Stroll with the Stars.
Possibly the only exercise many of us will get all weekend. Come walk and talk (it will be just like an episode of “West Wing”).
with Bobbie DuFault, Phil Foglio, Liz Gorinsky, Hagrid, Jason M. Hough, Stina Leicht, C. J. Mills, Steven Silver, and Catherynne M. Valente.

6:00 – 8:00 p.m. | | Private reception for James Gunn and many of his students.
Shhh… it’s private. Seriously, I’m very happy to get to be a part of honoring this fine writer and teacher.

Friday, August 30th
9:00 – 10:00 a.m. | | Annual Codex Breakfast
Several dozen writers “on the hungry edge of speculative fiction” sate their appetites with breakfast as online acquaintances meet face to face for the first time, and old friends reunite. Also pancakes.

10:00 – 11:00 a.m. | Convention Center | Autographing
I’ll sign most anyting (well… not a blank check), so come on by!
alongside Carol Berg, Lillian Stewart Carl, and Ian Tregillis.

2:00 – 3:00 p.m. | 006B Convention Center | Klingon Language Lecture
For more than 20 years I’ve been promoting the warriors’ tongue around the globe. For WorldCon I’ll present an intense (but fun!) whirlwind through the workings of the galaxy’s fastest growing language. Prepare yourself for 90% of Klingon grammar in a mere 50 minutes!
Just me.

Saturday, August 31st
10:00 – 11:00 a.m. | 008B Convention Center | SFWA Meeting
It’s been a wild year for SFWA, and I’m sure this will be a “lively” business meeting. It is also the 1st meeting for new president Steven Gould. Show up on time and maybe we’ll even finish on time.

3:00 – 4:00 p.m.| 007B Convention Center | First Contact in 3..2..1.. (M)
If First Contact were to happen today, and was an open event, how would the human race react? Would we feel inferior, or just try to steal their technology? Might we even attack them? What is the probability of them being hostile, curious, invading, tourists, game hunters, refugees, or would be gods?
with Liz Argall, Cenk Gokce, and Jeffrey Shanks.

5:30 – 6:00 p.m.| 002B Convention Center | Reading
Author readings are one of my favorite bits of programming to attend, and also to perform. I’ll likely read from my new novella, “Trial of the Century” (Conroy fans, take note!)

Sunday, September 1st
11:00 a.m. – 12:00 pm | Exhibit A – Art Show | Art Show Docent Tour for Klingons
A tour through select pieces of the art show which I feel speak to both the warrior’s heart and the poet’s soul of your typical Klingon. Portions of the tour *will* be in Klingon, but translations will be available as needed. Please do not bring your bat’leth, as it tends to upset the art show staff.

1:00 – 3:00 pm | Conference 4 Rivercenter | Writers’ Workshop – Section Q
In the spirit of “paying it forward,” two professional authors serve up insightful critique to three junior writers. Not a spectator sport, but an important part of the my annual Worldcon experience.
I’m privileged to be working with Matthew Johnson. I’m leaving off the names of the three writers we’ve been assigned, to better facilitate their stalking of me.

500 – 6:00 p.m.| 007B Convention Center | First Contact Without a Universal Translator (M)
How do we establish a common conceptual base to communicate with another species? Sure, we have numbers and the hydrogen atom in common, but how far would that get us in a world of beings who share none of our sensory apparatus?
with Paige E. Ewing and Karl Schroeder.

8:00 p.m. – ??? | | Hugo Awards Ceremony
The voting members of the Worldcon hand out shiny golden rocket ships in a ceremony that’s almost guaranteed to run long. Place your bets early for who will win.

Monday, September 2nd
9:00 – 10:00 p.m. | Rivercenter Lobby| Stroll with the Stars.
The con is almost over, but let’s take one more stroll together, shall we?
with David Boop, James L. Cambias, Bobbie DuFault, Gini Koch, Trina Marie Phillips, Jessica Reisman, Shanna Swendson, Howard Tayler, Toni Weisskopf, and Mel White.

12:00 – 1:00 pm | Exhb A Convention Center | Literary Beer
You have to buy your own beer (and I’ll be drinking Diet Coke), but sign up and come by. We can rehash the convention and I’ll tell you all sorts of lies.

That ought to be enough to keep me busy, especially when you add in the evening parties, the dinners that Valerie is planning, and the handful of panels and readings I’m hoping to attend. There should even be room for a couple business meetings (what you call “lunch”).

Barry will be with me throughout the convention, and there will also be at least two (maybe more?) skilled and beautiful buffalito wranglers wandering around with their own plush buffalitos. Feel free to stop any of us for a postcard that will allow you to download a free copy of the latest Conroy story, “Trial of the Century,” a novella which takes place between the end of the first novel and the start of the second. Did I mention it was free?

That’s it. You’ve got a week to pack. Get to it!

Now It Can Be Told!

No Comments » Written on August 3rd, 2013 by
Categories: News
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Down around Baltimore, MD this weekend is the S.F. Media convention known as Shore Leave. It’s a particularly rambunctious event this time around as they have both William Shatner and Brent Spiner appearing.

I went down yesterday to be part of the mass signing and book release of the third volume in the ReDeus shared universe series (ReDeus: Native Lands), which I posted about yesterday. That bit ran from 10:00 pm to midnight, and then we all adjourned to the bar for a couple hours until closing time. I drove home and managed to crawl into bed at about 4:00 a.m. today.

But that’s not what today’s post is about.

Prior to the 10:00 signing, there was a program item at 9:00 featuring Marco Palmieri and Greg Cox, two editors at Tor Books. They did a presentation of some recent and upcoming titles from Tor. Near the end, Marco made a little announcement. I had planned to hold off sharing this news publicly until such time as the ink on all the paperwork had dried, but apparently my editor and my agent agreed it was fine. So…

*** insert trumpets here ***

I am very pleased to announce that Tor Books is buying a novel from me. Despite my having published four books through Hadley Rille Books, a small press out of Kansas City, Tor considers me a “debut author.” That’s fine. And while I’ve been very pleased with the my relationship with Eric Reynolds of HRB, going from a small press to the largest publisher of SF in the country is a jump of one or more orders of magnitude in nearly all ways.

And because I’m now finishing up a book for a major publisher, I needed to have a proper agent to handle all the pesky details of contracts that weren’t based on a simple handshake. After far more choices than I probably deserve, I’m delighted to say I am now represented by John Silbersack of the Trident Media Group.

Or to put it another way: this changes everything in my life. It’s the opportunity I’ve been working toward for about two decades, and I’m grabbing hold of it with both hands!

The rest of 2013 is going to be a wild ride. The finished manuscript is due in New York at the beginning of February, and personally I’d like to get it in a month early. Other plans are being reviewed, reorganized, re-evaluated (and in some instances, rejected) as my priorities shift to put this front and center. So if I seem even busier and harder to get ahold of for the rest of the year, this is why.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go and put my ass back in the chair and hammer out some more words.

Heading to Shore Leave 2013 Tomorrow

No Comments » Written on August 1st, 2013 by
Categories: Plugs
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ReDeus: Native Lands

The car’s all gassed up and I just had the oil changed and the tire pressure checked, so I guess I’m ready for a trip. Tomorrow (Friday) morning I’ll be heading down toward Baltimore to spend the day at Shore Leave. As noted on my schedule page, although the convention runs through Sunday, I’ll only be present on Friday.

I have meetings planned for both lunch and dinner, and I’ve even managed to find myself on a panel this year at 8pm, but the main reason for my being there is the big Meet the Pros / Autograph Session that runs from 10:00 pm through midnight. That’s when I’ll be joining nine other authors for the debut of volume three of the ReDeus shared universe series, ReDeus: Native Lands (which by no mere coincidence includes my story “The Fourth Person”). This is my third appearance in ReDeus, and continues the adventures of retired professor Matlal Alejandro Garcia y Fuentes as he promotes the indigenous languages of Mexico and the history of the Aztec gods by writing pop songs for a teen superstar. The current story is set in Minnesota and focuses on the mythology of the Ojibwe’s spirits (with a bit of Norse mythology thrown in because, hey, it’s Minnesota!). There’s even a minor Ojibwe grammar lesson thrown in, just because.

So if you’re planning being at Shore Leave, I hope you’ll stop by my table during the signing. I’ll be happy to autograph anything you put in front of me. And naturally, I’ll have copies of my own books and some books from Paper Golem available as well. See you there!

March 2013 Ebook Short – “Gift Time”

No Comments » Written on March 22nd, 2013 by
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I’ve been somewhat lax in my original plan to release as an ebook at least one previously published short story every month. Then again, February really beat the crap out of me. And besides, none of you called me on it, so too late. I claim diplomatic immunity, or take the fifth, or invoke the statute of limitations, or simply stand here with my hands on my ears and chanting “Nyah, nyah, nyah, I can’t hear you, I can’t hear you.”

Ahem.

Gift Time

Meanwhile, the eldritch forces responsible for such things have cleared my latest upload, “Gift Time,” and you can now find it available for your e-reading delight in mobi format (favored by Kindle readers the world over) at Amazon.com, and in ePub format (favored by even more, non-proprietary readers throughout the galaxy) at BN.com.

Hadley Rille Books originally published this story in their anthology Barren Worlds, edited by Eric T. Reynolds with Adam Nakama and Rob Darnell. I don’t want to give too much away (it is only a short story after all), but I can tell offer you this as a teaser:

Somewhere in the city of Chiago, a man visits the storage unit he rents to house his collection of time machines. Where do they all come from? And of all possible dates, why does he choose his birthday to drop by?

“Gift Time” runs a bit under 2400 words. It’s a quick read, and like all of my ebook shorts it’s only a buck. I hope you like it.

More Ebook Shorts

No Comments » Written on January 7th, 2013 by
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I put up a couple more ebook short stories a day ago:

“Thinking” was originally published in 2006 in ÆON Magazine #8. It’s a fun short about a kid in school taking one of those “life placement” kinds of tests, when the testing page begins to act a bit… strange.

“The Wrestler and the Spear Fisher” is both older and newer. Older in that I wrote it ages ago, but it never found a home until 2010, when it came out in The Stories in Between as part of the 30th anniversary celebration of Between Books, a wonderful independent bookstore in Claymont, Delaware. This one’s another rare occasion where I wrote a bit of dark fantasy.

I should also note that since I’m slowly working through my inventory of short stories and making them available as ePub and mobi files, I’ve added an Ebooks page to my website with handy links to each and every story that’s available. My first novel is listed there too, and as soon as the proof reader works her way through the other books, they’ll show up on that page too.

If you’re feeling inclined to acquire one (or more) of these ebooks, I encourage you to use the links on this page. They go through an affiliate program and while it doesn’t change your cost one whit, I get a couple extra pennies on each one. And hey, those pennies add up!

Thinking The Wrestler and the Spear Fisher
Kindle (mobi) | Nook (ePub) Kindle (mobi) | Nook (ePub)
     

Some Early 2013 Ebook Shorts

No Comments » Written on January 2nd, 2013 by
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2013 is going to be the year of ebook publishing for me (it may be other things too, but that’s how I’m starting out).

On January 1st, I put up six short stories as $1.00 ebooks on both Amazon and Barnes & Noble. They cleared through processing some time over night and they’re all now available.

Here are the six covers:

The Sky's The Limit
Pidgin
Mars Needs Baby Seals

The Game of Leaf and Smile
The Moment
Bidding the Walrus

Clicking on any of the cover images above will take you to the appropriate page at Amazon.

For the rest of the world (including me) that uses the ePub format to read on their phones or tablets, here are the respective links over at Barnes & Noble:

      “The Sky’s The Limit” || “Pidgin” || “Mars Needs Baby Seals
      “The Game of Leaf and Smile” || “The Moment” || “Bidding the Walrus

I don’t know what, if anything, will come of this. I’ve been wanting to get more of my work out there in ebook form, and I’m of the school of thought that says if you just give it away for free people will assume it’s crap. That said, I will probably set up some kind of rotation in which some one of these will be free for a week or two, at any given point in time.

And, I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that making the covers was kind of fun, and a great way to decompress from the stresses of the past week.

2011 Hugo Nomination Deadline

No Comments » Written on March 25th, 2011 by
Categories: News
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I’ve just sent in my nominations for this year’s Hugo Awards. Best of luck to everyone.

If you haven’t sent yours in yet, the deadline is tomorrow, Saturday, March 26, 2011 at 23:59 PDT.

My sincere appreciation to any of you who enjoyed either “The Wrestler and the Spear Fisher” or “Mars Needs Baby Seals” enough to throw a nomination my way.

And thanks to if you supported any of the amazing novellas published this year in Alembical 2:

“The Paragon Lure” by Tony Pi.
“Second Chance” by David D. LeVine
“Iron Shoes” by J. Kathleen Cheney (already nominated for the Nebula Award!)

“The Moment” – dead link situation

1 Comment » Written on March 15th, 2011 by
Categories: Freebies
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Whoops!

Unbeknownst to me, the old links to downloadable copies of my Hugo-nominated short story, “The Moment,” did not survive the changeover of this site to its current WordPress incarnation.

My sincere apologies to anybody who has gone to any of the dead URLs seeking a copy of the story. I wish someone had alerted me to this problem sooner. I’ll talk to my WebMaster about either restoring or redirecting those links, but in the meantime, you can download the story here: “The Moment”