Friday, July 23rd, 2010 | Author: jmward14 | Blog | No Comments
I know, I know. The only interesting blogging I’ve been doing lately has been on behalf of S.J. Willing. It’s not that I’ve given up blogging for un-Lent or anything. I’ve just been busy, working on some fiction, nonfiction and, for the first time in ages, some fan fiction.
You’ll like the short story. It’s the new and improved “Syren Bridge”, twice as long with more characters, more fun and all the strudel-ly goodness you loved in the first version. I hope to be able to tell you more about its new home in a couple months.
It’ll be a lot longer before I can talk about the nonfiction project. It’s very different from anything I’ve done before, but you’ll definitely want to read it.
On the guilty pleasures front, I succumbed to the lure of John Scalzi’s June fan fiction challenge. Scalzi is a very evil man, and I say that in full knowledge that he is now president of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, and therefore ruler of the known SF/fantasy multiverse. But he’s still ebil, Ebil, EBIL.
To benefit the Lupus Alliance of America, Scalzi, Wil Wheaton (yes, that Wil Wheaton), Catherynne Valente, Patrick Rothfuss created a chapbook for electronic publication by Subterranean Press later this year. If that’s all they did I would’ve give them a karmic pass and scoped out the book when it appeared. But noooooooooooo, they couldn’t let it go at a good deed. Somebody (and I think we know who that is) commissioned Jeff Zugale to create the attached cover art. But that wasn’t all they did. Scalzi, Wheaton and SP solicited fanfic writers to create stories explaining the picture. The best story, as determined by the Jury of Awesomeness, will be awarded double the SFWA-defined professional rate/word and be included in the chapbook.
And this is how I spent my June.
Before it was over, Scalzi & Co. received over 350 submissions—which tells you how the Jury of Awesomeness is going to spend their July, August and possibly September. From the links posted after the contest closed, some of the entries were mind-boggling. How does anyone compete with a complete play? Meep!
In other news, I’m attending a new con. I’ve been added to the guest list of Intervention, the Washington DC-area webcomics con. Intervention will be held at the Rockville Hilton (home of Capclave) September 10-12. I’ll be sharing the bill with fellow DC Area Storyteller Anthony Stevens and, for the first time, the love of my life. Yes, Greg Uchrin of IV Caffeine will be attending Intervention as a guest and a dealer. Come and cheer him on…and buy lots of stuff.
In the meantime, there’s ReConStruction and DragonCon.
ReConStruction (August 3-8 in Raleigh, North Carolina) is the tenth occasional North American Science Fiction Convention—in other words, what happens when WorldCon travels somewhere other than the U.S. or Canada for the summer, like this year. It boasts all the usual WorldCon events, including dances, masquerades, auctions, interviews and panels. Laurie Toby Edison, one of my very favorite jewelers, will be there, too. No word on the final program yet, but the interim list of participants and panels looks really good.
Then there’s DragonCon, the ultimate end of summer party. It’s bigger than ever this year. We even sucked in the Westin. Soon all the business district will be ours! Then…
Er, leaving off the plans for world domination, programming is coming together for that, too. What I’ve seen looks fabulous. And if you’re there, be sure to join us for the Broad Universe Rapid Fire Readings. I’ll firing up two new stories: “Syren Bridge” and “Lord Bai and the Magic Pirates”. I am told my impression of a Wagnerian soprano singing about strudel is enough to scar a person for life. Don’t say you weren’t warned.
Posted 1 week ago at 6:43 pm. Add a comment
Saturday, April 10th, 2010 | Author: jmward14 | Blog | No Comments
RavenCon isn’t the only thing on my calendar this month. Monday, April 12, barely hours after I return from Richmond, I’ll be reading at the Library of Congress in downtown Washington, D.C. The Library of Congress! You can’t see it, but I’m grinning so hard my cheeks are aching.
The reading resulted from a collaboration between the library’s Science Fiction and Fantasy Forum and Broad Universe, an international organization dedicated to exploring and promoting the work of women writers in science fiction, fantasy and horror. It will take the form of a four-person Rapid Fire Reading featuring Danielle Ackley-McPhail, Sarah Avery, fellow BtV blogger Christine Norris and me. You’ve already seen the poster I prepped when the reading was announced. Now you can read the bios, too, in the hand-out I’ll be using as our program.
But that’s not the only reason I may expire of excitement. I’ve been added to the roster of major authors (like Charlaine Harris!) signing with Nora Roberts at Turn the Page Bookstore Café in Boonsboro, Maryland, on Friday, April 16. My name and web site link seem to wander around the page, but the confirmation of my presence is right there at the bottom of the page: the buy link for Fantasy Art Templates.
I signed With Nine You Get Vanyr at the Turn the Page spring mega-signing in 2007. Nora and the top names sell hundreds of books, and even small fry like me sell in the dozens. This time, there are some new rules. For example, the writers can only sign books purchased at the event. Trust me, that’s a relief. Yes, you sign that much.
Finally, it’s official. I’m on the guest list at DragonCon. Atlanta, here I come. I can’t wait.
Posted 3 months, 3 weeks ago at 12:10 am. Add a comment
Saturday, September 26th, 2009 | Author: jmward14 | Blog | No Comments
Claudia (from Interview with a Vampire)
Want to see–and read–more? It’s all at Beyond the Veil. Enjoy!
Posted 10 months, 1 week ago at 3:12 pm. Add a comment
Tuesday, September 8th, 2009 | Author: jmward14 | Blog | No Comments
Back from DragonCon. I had such a fabulous time I’m way to tired to write coherently about it, but I thought I’d post a few (a very few!) of the highlights as a teaser of things to come–as soon as I finish sorting the 570 photos I took. Until then, this will have to do:
- FINALLY getting to see a panel with James Marsters (with green hair, no less) and Gareth David-Lloyd (Ianto Jones in Torchwood).
- Running into an old friend I hadn’t seen in years directly afterwards.
- Hanging with friends like artist/writer Marianne Plumridge and her husband, artist Bob Eggleton, Jana Oliver, Teresa Patterson and my roomie Dorie. Also ran into the old Press Room gang–Star, Leigh, Kelly, Dave & Phyl. (Randi couldn’t make it, but I did talk to her and the new bambino.)
- Dinner with Crissy Brashear (owner and publisher of Samhain Publishing), Jacob Hammer (Samhain’s office manager), Alex Ross (Jacob’s girlfriend) and writers Ally Blue and Rosemary Laurey/Georgia Evans and her husband George at Nikolai’s on the Roof, the extraordinary restaurant on the top of the Hilton. The company was fabulous and the dinner… Well, let me put it this way, the meal started on plates with gilded images of Faberge eggs and ended with the presentation of a single red rose to all the ladies.
- The amazing historical and Steampunk costumes, and dressing up in my own less amazing Steampunk outfit (see Marianne’s great picture of her husband, artist Bob Eggleton). At least the hat, the rose from Nikolai’s, and all of Marianne’s DragonCon pics were splendid. 
- Sitting back-to-back with William Shatner, Kate Mulgrew and Leonard Nimoy at the DragonCon Awards Banquet. (BTW, they’re actually serving meat now–the banquet, I mean, not the stars.)
- The Cruxshadows concert. (Duh!)
- Surviving a four-panel Sunday running from 10 a.m. (after the Cruxshadows concert–ow!) to 11 p.m., after the “sex panel”: “Sex in SF/Fantasy–Too Much or Not Enough?”
- The Lost Boys concert at the Pirate Ball followed by costume watching at the Marriott Starbucks, which has replaced The Perk as the ultimate people-watching destination since the Hyatt has gotten pissy about photos in the lobby.
- Sitting next to Rogue on my last panel, “Under Raven’s Wings: 200 Years of Poe”, listening to three of his dramatic readings, including the awesome “Annabel Lee”, and having him autograph this year’s Cruxshadows single for Bree and me when the panel was done. And day-um, he smelled good. White musk, I think. (Made me wish I’d packed my favorite Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab scents, but I’ve been afraid ever since my hand lotion triggered Barbara Hambly’s allergies at World Fantasy Con.)
- Drinking 12-year-old Glenlivet single malt in the Green Room at the Hair of the Dog Party (i.e., the clearing of the Green Room after the Dead Dog Party). I didn’t even know they had Glenlivet in the Green Room.
- Getting back home to Greg and the Duz. Gotta recover in time for next year, after all.
Posted 10 months, 3 weeks ago at 11:42 pm. Add a comment
Saturday, August 22nd, 2009 | Author: jmward14 | DragonCon | No Comments
Would I lie to you? Well, not about this…
Enjoy!
Posted 11 months, 1 week ago at 11:27 am. Add a comment
Saturday, July 25th, 2009 | Author: jmward14 | Blog, DragonCon | No Comments
Desperation is the mother of invention in this house.
I was trying to line up the August blogs I owe to blog sites other than my own. The goal was to get it all over with now, so I’d have more time to write next month. They were all playing nicely except my August 22 Samhain blog. Given the date, I’d be a fool not do something related to DragonCon, but what? The program schedules are almost never finalized until the week before Labor Day, and I was pretty sure I’ve written everything there is to write about the con.
Should I do something about the balls? The Masquerade? The guests? My costume changes?
Then it hit me: Sixteen Ways DragonCon Is Like a Regency Country House Party.
The weird thing is, it works.
‘Til later…
Posted 1 year ago at 1:49 am. Add a comment
Wednesday, May 13th, 2009 | Author: jmward14 | Blog | No Comments
That’s whoops as in “cheers”, not the kind you say when you drop something. Derek Tatum, the chair of the DragonCon Dark Fantasy track, has posted his preliminary guest list, and look who’s on it:
Michelle Belanger
Doug Bradley
Elizabeth Donald
John Everson
Allan Gilbreath
Christopher Golden
Rosemary Ellen Guiley
Charlaine Harris
Raven Hart
Mark Henry
Stacia Kane
Sherrilyn Kenyon
Jackie Kessler
Caitlin Kittredge
Alethea Kontis
Rosemary Laurey
J.F. Lewis
Jonathan Maberry
Marianne Mancusi
Richelle Mead
Mike Mignola
Scott Nicholson
Cherie Priest
Kat Richardson
Stephen H. Segal
Jeanne Stein
Jean Marie Ward
Chelsea Quinn Yarbro
Can you tell I’m grinning from ear to ear? 
Cheers and smiles,
Posted 1 year, 2 months ago at 8:56 pm. Add a comment
Sunday, March 22nd, 2009 | Author: jmward14 | Uncategorized | No Comments
My name is listed on the DragonCon Guests Page, and they’ve given me a biography of my very own. So it’s official, I will be adding my own special brand of madness to DragonCon, September 4-7. Not only that, they’ve added a new track featuring everybody’s favorite new genre, Steampunk. Okay, now you have Lois McMasters Bujold, Charlaine Harris and ME–plus that brand new Steampunk track–on the schedule. Why haven’t you bought your membership yet?
Posted 1 year, 4 months ago at 9:01 pm. Add a comment
On the guilty pleasures front, I succumbed to the lure of John Scalzi’s June fan fiction challenge. Scalzi is a very evil man, and I say that in full knowledge that he is now president of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, and therefore ruler of the known SF/fantasy multiverse. But he’s still ebil, Ebil, EBIL.
