5 Questions to a Great Story

As part of Wake County Public Libraries' Write On @ Your Library series, Vampire Empire authors Clay and Susan Griffith discuss five questions to create a great story.

Dragon*Con 2012

Lisa and Meghan erect the booth scaffolding.

This past Labor Day weekend, August 30th to September 3rd, was Dragon*Con, an event that has become the highlight of my convention year, and a show that's becoming like a giant family reunion where even the weird uncles are really cool. For the third year in a row, Pyr has exhibited at the show. We were back in the same spot in the Marriott Marquis Ballroom, in booth 709/711 (yes, we have a huge double booth).

The booth complete.

I got up early on Thursday and made the drive to Atlanta, where I was joined by two of parent-company Prometheus Books' employees, Meghan Quinn and Lisa Kay Michalski. Both Meghan and Lisa were embarking on -- not only their first Dragon*Con appearance -- but their first genre convention of any kind! We met in the morning and headed over to the Exhibit Hall to assemble the Pyr booth. We broke for lunch at the Metro Cafe Diner,  where we were joined by authors Sam Sykes, Clay Griffith, and Susan Griffith. Then all six of us went back and assembled the booth. That night saw us eating at (my personal favorite local restaurant, because it's a brewery) Max Lager's, and then out to the Marriott Marquis' High Velocity bar for a very late night. John Picacio, who was in town for just Thursday night to Saturday morning, joined us for the evening. We ended the night around 3am, plenty of time to rest up and still make my 11:30 am panel.

Meghan encounters Flying Spaghetti Monster

The panel in question was "Gimme a Break--Breaking in and Breaking Out." Like all Dragon*Con panels, it was well attended. The room had 120 chairs and there were at least another 20 folks standing along the back wall. More I couldn't see to count accurately were sitting in the aisles. Afterwards, I raced to the Exhibit Hall for the first day of sales.

Improvised Name Signage

2:30 pm was the Pyr Rising panel. I was up on stage with Philippa Ballantine, Andrew P. Mayer, Sam Sykes, K.D. McEntire, E.C. Myers, and (arriving directly from the airport without even checking into his hotel first) Jon Sprunk. The room had a live feed to the World Science Fiction Convention in Chicago, where we were able to see and interact with James Enge and Brenda Cooper. Thanks to the tech crew that made that link happen. It was wonderful to be able to speak to the World Con audience too and to get to see and talk with James and Brenda.

Nom nom nom.

Then it was back in the Exhibit Hall working the booth until 7pm. Followed by another dinner at Max Lager's and another night, this one out until 3:30 am, at High Velocity.  Somewhere in there was a heated and enjoyable discussion of why The Dark Knight Rises sucks (my position) or was brilliant (the opposing side) with comics artist and creator, Ted Naifeh. We found more common ground with discussions of the animated Batman incarnations, but the whole discussion was fun. It was also good to see Hugo-nominated Dan Dos Santos briefly that evening.

Todd Lockwood and Lisa Kay Michalski

Saturday I didn't have any panels, so it was a marathon all-day selling session. We had printed about a thousand Pyr Sampler books as freebies (Update: we printed 2,186!!!). They were GONE GONE GONE by noon. So too was John Picacio, who was in for the morning, then took off to (!) fly to World Con for the Hugo Awards, but at any time we had four or more authors in the booth with us. A special shout out to KD McEntire's husband Jake, who came to the rescue with a portable hotspot when ours went out! Jake saved our bacon. He also proved to be quite a salesman, which really was above and beyond the call. Meanwhile, the crowds at Dragon*Con have to be seen to be believed, and it's incredibly rewarding to see how many people love our books and look for us each year now. The fan interaction the con affords our staff and our authors is just incredible.

For dinner, I went with Sam Sykes, Lisa Kay Michalski, Meghan Quinn, and famous illustrator Todd Lockwood for pizza at Azio Downtown, then back to High Velocity again, where we met up with several of Lockwood's friends, for an evening that we cut short at 2:45 am. Or maybe it was 3am.

Saturday Night.

And what of our con newbies Lisa and Meghan? They were old pros by the second day, and both fell in immediately with the vibe of the show. I'm so glad they took to it so well, had such fun working hard, and "got" what Dragon*Con was all about for us. You two are incredible! I hope you can come back next year! 

Steam Ensemble

Meanwhile, Sunday was another incredible day in the booth, followed by an 8:30 pm panel called "Editors and Agents Tell All," which was scheduled around the time the Hugo Ceremony in Chicago was starting up. (Apologies for all those nervous glances at my Twitter feed). The panel was just as packed as the previous and a lot of fun to do.

Then it was back to High Velocity, where I had no cell access, no bandwidth, no ability to IM or check Twitter. It was nerve racking, but finally my agent was able to get word to me that "You didn't win. Picacio did." And I was thrilled for my friend John Picacio, long one of the top artists of our field, but now officially a Hugo-award winning illustrator!

Our Last Night

Sunday night was also the last time the gang was out together. It was a wonderful evening, and a somewhat emotional one as well. Dragon*Con is a marvelous show for us because we have a base of operations in the Pyr booth. We get to interact directly with our readers, by the hundreds, every day and see the effect of what we do has on people. It's a great show because of its attendees, who are all ages and ethnicities and genders, and who are all passionate about science fiction and fantasy in all its permutations. It's such a high energy show, where you work hard and play hard for five straight days. No one ever believes me until they come out--even if they believe me they don't believe me--and they come away enthralled. But what really makes this show is the Pyr family. Jon (and now wife Jenny), Sam, Andrew, Clay, Susan, Eugene, Katie, David, Cooper, Will, Lisa Meghan, Pip, Gabrielle--you are all wonderful.

A Dragon's Eye from Hunter and Fox

Monday Lisa, Meghan, Eugene, Clay, Susan, copyeditor Gabrielle Harbowy, and I worked the booth. We managed to sell out Eugene (EC Myer's) last copy of Fair Coinwithin a minute of his departure time for the airport. We also sold out books by Sam Sykes, Andrew P. Mayer, Justina Robson, Jon Sprunk, Dave Freer, KD McEntire, and others. What a show. Lisa and Meghan stayed right up until the Exhibit Hall closed, then took off to the airport.

When it ended, Lisa, Meghan, Clay, Susan, Gabrielle, and friends David Alaister Hayden, Cooper Chun, and Will Cockrell and I disassembled the booth and packaged all remaining stock in under an hour - a record! - and went out (sadly sans Gabrielle, who had other plans) to the Landmark Diner, which, since we ate there after take-down last year too, is I suppose a new tradition. And then it was time to say goodbye.

Stuffed Animal Gown

Deep thanks to Regina Kirby, Nancy Knight, Susan Phillips for great programming, and to all the con runners! It was an amazing con. I loved seeing everyone - old friends and new. Cons are made up of people and these people made the con! Emotional things were said, a lot of them late Sunday night, that are simply not for this blog, but I love these people and always will. Thank you all for making this weekend, this magical Brigadoon that calls us all together once a year, one of the best convention experiences ever.

Chiseled in Rock

Today, I am interviewed by Chiseled in Rock, the Official Blog of the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers. We talk about science fiction and fantasy publishing, but also about film and television, and answer the all important question Star Trek or Star Wars. Here's a taste, but please check out the whole interview:

CIR: Is there a type or style of science fiction and fantasy that you would recommend aspiring writers pursue or avoid? For example, are there topics that are overdone or ones that you think need greater exploration?

LA: That’s a dangerous question. You can’t really write for what you perceive the market to be, because by the time you’ve put the year or two in that it takes to write a novel, spent the year or more it takes to sell it, and then gone through the year it takes to publish it, whatever you thought was the hot category is half a decade out of date. We have a husband-wife author team, Clay and Susan Griffith, who have a very hot vampire-steampunk novel. You’d think they were capitalizing on a trend, but the truth is that steampunk wasn’t hot when they started and they joke that they saw vampires fall in and out of fashion twice while they were working on the first manuscript. That being said, as long as Game of Thrones is on HBO, the industry will be looking for another gritty, epic fantasy, and I personally am curious to see someone bridge the gap between urban fantasy’s core female readership and classic sword & sorcery fiction. But don’t write to someone else’s expectation. Write what you are moved to write. If it doesn’t excite you, how can it excite anyone else?

I'm not going to BEA but...

Pyr will be represented at Book Expo America in the Prometheus Books booth, #4566.

Book Expo America is a trade only event that delivers the largest gathering of booksellers, librarians, retailers, and industry professionals anywhere in North America. It takes place at the Javits Center in New York City.

In the BEA autographing area, Clay and Susan Griffith, co-authors of the Vampire Empire trilogy, will be signing copies of book one, The Greyfriar, as well as giving away bookmarks for book two, The Rift Walker, which will be published in September. BEA attendees, get your signed copy at Table #25 on Tuesday, May 24, 10:30 - 11:30 am EST.

The Pyr Fall-Winter 2011-2012 catalog will be available at booth #4566, as will publisher staff in marketing, publicity, ebooks, and sales. Pyr Editorial Director Lou Anders will NOT be at BEA this year, but please do say hello to the rest of us! If you're a book reviewer or blogger interested in Pyr and are attending BEA, feel free to email publicity@prometheusbooks.com and let us know you'll be stopping by.

Bull Spec Issue Number Four

I am interviewed, along with Orson Scott Card and Clay & Susan Griffith, in the current issue of Bull Spec magazine. This is a brand new speculative fiction magazine, beautifully presented, that you can buy in print or PDF (and, I'm told, ePub format soon). Check it out, and "like" Bull Spec's Facebook page as well.

Vampires That Don't Sparkle

DragonCon 2010: The Mardi Gras of Middle Earth

This past weekend was Dragon*Con, that annual event where tens of thousands of attendees, many of them in costume, descend on downtown Atlanta for four days of genre mania each Labor Day weekend. Last year, I attended Dragon*Con as a guest and was blown away by what a book-friendly, age-diverse audience it was, as well as by the staggering number of authors, editors, and publishers also in attendance. Based on that impression, I returned to Dragon*Con this year as an Exhibitor and roped in my Director of Publicity, Jill Maxick, my slush reader Rene Sears, and NINE of our authors.

Sans Instructions!

I arrived late Wednesday night, in order to be on sight to set up our booth bright and early Thursday morning. We had a corner table in room 1601 of the Marriott Marquis' Imperial Ballroom, which was a tremendous location (and put us across the aisle from the very cool guys working the Utilikilt booth. I admit I was tempted, but didn't succumb. Maybe next year).  The Pyr booth itself hasn't been used since the 2005 San Diego Comic Con. It's a very cool design, a wireframe scaffolding that accordians up from a tightly packed container-friendly size, held in place by segmented bars which are themselves lined with magnetic strips to hold the velcro-friendly walls of the booth. The whole thing fits in an oval shaped black box that doubles as a display stand. Of course, the packaging comes without any instructions of any kind, so assembling it on my lonesome Thursday morning, with only vague memories of having done this with help in 2005, had a fair share of "what the hell am I supposed to do with this?" moments. I admit, though, that it was sort of a fun puzzle-challenge, and the whole set up (including book display) only took from about 10am to 4:20 pm. (Only!)

The Pyr booth, before opening.

Thursday night itself was a rewarding meal (serving as both my lunch and dinner) at Max Lager's with Sam Sykes, Clay and Susan Griffith, John Picacio, and Jill Maxick. This was my first time meeting Sam, Clay and Susan, and I was delighted to discover they are all wonderful people (I already knew this about John and Jill). Then Friday morning, Jill and I returned to the Exhibitor Hall where she proceeded to build the artfully arranged stack of Pyr Sampler Books (we had 1046 in all) and we made final preparations for the imminent crowd.

The Electric Boogaloo.

Straight up: It was a grueling con, from running a booth for four days (1pm to 7pm on Friday, 10am to 7pm on Sat and Sunday, 10am to 5pm on Monday) while also participating in programming, and still trying to get face time in with my people (six of whom I was meeting for the first time in the flesh). It was a slog to drive down late Wednesday night and then work the show until Monday night. Probably one of the hardest shows I've worked, and I did it with just three hours sleep most nights. And it was hard on my long-suffering family to be without me for so long. So, was it worth it?

Middle Earth Mardi Gras

The convention was incredible!!! It has to be seen to be believed. The number of attendees I heard floating around was 65,000 and I could believe that or more. It comprises five hotels, with attendees staying in another five or so official overflow hotels, and quite a few other hotels in the neighborhood or thereabouts. I know they had 32,000 preregistered attendees as of last year's con, and that the registration lines for on-site registration were over THREE HOURS LONG. The only real way to describe Dragon*Con is like Spring Break in a Fantasy World or some sort of Middle Earth Mardi Gras. The hotels are jammed packed, particularly in the evening, where the lobbies of all the hotels are just unnavigable seas of bodies, many of them wearing little more than furs and duct tape.

Yep yep yep...uh huh uh huh!

But unlike the San Diego Comic Con, which is much more of an Expo for Big Media Movies and Games, and whose value (at least for me) lies in the business meetings you can take with your opposite numbers in sister industries in the bars and restaurants across the street, Dragon*Con has much more of the feel of a fan-run convention that has simply grown to ginormous proportions, which it is. What I discovered last year and had confirmed this year is that there is a HUGE & RECEPTIVE BOOK AUDIENCE at this convention, and one that spans a broad age spectrum. (I shared an elevator with a young girl dressed as Alice who was panicking that she was late, late - for a very important date? irony lost on her - for the fantasy LITERATURE panel. Not the manga panel or the Warcraft panel but the literature panel! She was not atypical in this interest for her age range at the show.)

You will buy my book

As aforementioned, we had made special for the con a Pyr Sampler Book, as well as a limited edition lapel pin celebrating our 5th anniversary. We gave out all 1046 of the Pyr Sampler Books. In fact, they had disappeared by Saturday morning, in no small part due to the efforts of Sam Sykes, who fostered them on people in a manner which was described by James Enge as Sykes "free from any sense of mercy, compelled people to take the free stuff. In compensation, he let them buy a book every once in a while." We have also gone through all but about 250 of our 2000 Pyr 5th Anniversary Lapel Pins by Monday afternoon. We introduced the Pyr brand to thousands of people. And we sold a hell of a lot of books.

Monday Morning - not even over!

One of the most amazing things to me personally was how effective the Pyr Sampler Book was. Most of them disappeared on Friday, and Saturday morning, literally scores of people came up to us (that day and all the other days too actually) saying they'd read the Sampler Book and they wanted to pick up this book or that book. I was astounded. We assumed people would take these things home to peruse them at their leisure. But they read them Friday night? "Weren't you out there drinking with the 65,000 other people?" I asked one young guy, who didn't seem like the type to pass on this Toklienesque Fort Lauderdale. "Yeah, man," he replied. "I drank till 3:30am, then came back drunk and read your book until 5am. Can I get Tome of the Undergates?

Mars Attacks!

Friday night at 7pm we had a Pyr Books Presents panel, complete with all nine attending authors: Mike Resnick, Jon Sprunk, Sam Sykes, Clay and Susan Griffith, James Enge, Erin Hoffman, Andrew Mayer, and Ari Marmell. Given how many there were of us, they each got 4 minutes thirty seconds to talk about their books while I flashed the cover image on a screen. Even this rigid time constraint took most of the hour, but left about 10 minutes for audience questions. We heard all weekend how great the panel was, and lots of people who came to the booth on Saturday, Sunday and Monday said they came because of this (and the two art panels I did, both of which also featured Dragon*Con special guest John Picacio).

Dinner with the Winner!

In celebration of our fifth birthday (March of this year), we had previously held a "Pyr and Dragons Adventure Contest," for which fans were invited to submit a short essay on the theme Five Reasons Why Science Fiction And Fantasy Is Important To You." First prize was a trip for two to Dragon*Con and dinner with a group of Pyr authors (as well as myself and Jill). Lisa Iriarte won the contest - you can read her essay here. Lisa teaches seventh-grade language arts and has recently written what she hopes will become her first published novel, Assassin's Nightmare. She and her husband Joe joined myself, Jill Maxick, Mike Resnick, his wife Carol, James Enge (and daughter), Jon Sprunk, and Sam Sykes for dinner at Sear in the Marriott. Lisa and Joe were both very nice. Really sweet people, both with aspirations of writing, and Mike Resnick's unending font of amusing anecdotes about the business was spot on for the makings of a special evening.

The Amazing Clay and Susan Griffith.

We sold out of limited number of copies of Mark Hodders' The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack we had with us very early on, as well as all the copies of Jasper Kent's Twelve, and the 100 Free ARCs of The Greyfriar (Vampire Empire Book One) were a hot ticket item on Saturday. I don't think we could have had too many copies of these book on hand for this show, where steampunk and vampires are so very king. And The Society of Steam stickers that Andrew Mayer himself made in promotion of his May 2011 title also proved to be EXTREMELY popular.

"I know this music."

Saturday night, a group of us, which included Tor art director Irene Gallo, stayed up entirely entirely too late. Too late is defined as 2:15am when one has to get up three hours later at 5:15am for the Live Hugo Awards Breakfast. Organized by Stu Segal, the breakfast featured "LOU ANDERS (4 time Hugo Nominated editor), KATE BAKER (podcast director for the twice nominated Clarkesworld), EUGIE FOSTER (Nebula Award Winner), MARY ROBINETTE KOWAL (Campbell Award winner), FARAH MENDLESOHN (Hugo winner, and current nominee), JOHN PICACIO (Winner of the World Fantasy, Chesley and Int'l Horror Guild Awards and 6-time Hugo nominee) and STEPHEN H. SEGAL (Hugo winner, and current nominee)." I'm enormously touched by those few fans who braved the early morning hours to watch all but Kate Baker lose in real time! (Also touched by Robert J Sawyer, who came by later to bring me the Hugo Voting Report, so I could see that I was first in nominations, and second place in the final round!) This was followed by Stu's Stroll with the Stars, a leisurely one hour walk around the neighborhood. Sunday morning's stroll was "Pyr themed", though at least two of our authors overslept, including one who had buggered off from the bar before the rest of us despite not having to get up at 5am. At any rate, Sam, you know who the real man is.

Sprunk, Anders, Sykes.

Having authors in the booth made a huge difference. Sam Sykes had sold out all copies of Tome of the Undergates by Sunday morning. (I say "Sam had sold" not "we had sold" because Sam has a very healthy sense of competition and was determined to insure by any means necessary that he sold out first. See James Enge's aforementioned comment about Sykes and mercy.) Jon Sprunk was right behind him though, despite a much more understated presence. In fact, I sold a lot of Shadow's Son on Monday, after Sprunk had left, to people who told me they were buying the book because they'd talked to Jon over the weekend and "he was just such a nice guy" that they wanted to. James Enge was also a tremendously nice guy. So nice that he spent more time recommending other authors' Pyr books in favor of his own, but we still managed to sell out of his WFC award nominated Blood of Ambrose by end of day Monday.

James Enge wants you.

Clay and Susan Griffith were invaluable. They are former booksellers who volunteered their time and expertise. They brought us food, they worked the booth, they hand sold, and they helped with take down in the evenings. They were incredible. I'd also asked my slush reader/editorial assistant Rene Sears to help out "just for a few hours when I'm on panels." Instead, when we got there and saw what a madhouse it was, we ended up leaning on her heavily. She worked the booth for most of the con, right up until Midday Monday. I cannot stress how amazing she was. Nor how impossible the weekend would have been without her.

Sunday night was another dinner at Max Lager's, where I got to sit down and spend real time with James Enge, and then it was off to the Marriott first and then the Hyatt for more beer. I ended the evening sitting between Mike Resnick on my right and Todd Lockwood on my left. Mike was giving agent advice to my friend David Alastair Hayden and Todd was giving artistic advice to Randall Ian Mackey,  my friend and cousin's husband, who is looking to launch a career in concept illustration. It was really gratifying to just sit there and watch my friends help my friends.

Cooper, a trooper.

I was amazed to see that the crowd, although a little thinner than on the weekend, hadn't thinned out appreciably on Monday, which proved to be a really strong sales day. Jill had flown back the previous evening, so it was myself, Rene Sears, and Clay and Susan Griffith working the booth. And my good friends, the aforementioned David Alastair Hayden and his wife Cooper Chun were there as well. Cooper took our bowl of 5th Anniversary Lapel Pins and stood in the aisle a little ways away from the booth, offering people the pins, explaining to them what the pins were for, and directing them our way. She stood there all afternoon, giving a perfect sales pitch. (David calls her his Pepper Potts. And it's no insult. When the rest of us were staring at the scaffolding of the booth, wondering how to disassemble it, she stepped forward, studied it for two minutes with hands on hips, and then said, "you just press here" and then the whole thing accordioned down to the floor. Cooper makes things work.) We had five people in addition to myself helping with take down and reboxing, and what took me six and a half hours plus to do on my own took well under 2 hours with their help.

Bats and Cats

And that really characterized the convention for me. With a "Little Help From My Friends" could have been the theme song. I had never met Sprunk, Sykes, the Griffiths, Marmell, or Enge before and now they are all fast friends. Clay remarked one evening when I thanked him for all the help in the booth "We felt like we were part of the Marvel Bullpen during the high Silver Age!" We learned a lot, and we could run an even better booth next year based on these learnings, but what I really learned was that we have the greatest authors and friends in the whole wide world. And that, as long as they are there with you, the Mardis Gras of Middle Earth is a great place to be.

Pyr at DragonCon

We will be making a big splash this year at DragonCon.

For starters, Pyr Books will be exhibiting for the first time! Look for us in BOOTH 1601 of the Imperial Ballroom at the Marriott Marquis (265 Peachtree Cr Ave NE). We will be hosting signings in the booth, selling our books, and giving away a Pyr Sampler Book created especially for the convention.

Nine of our authors will also be in attendance and participating in programming: Mike Resnick (The Buntline Special), Jon Sprunk (Shadow's Son), Sam Sykes (Tome of the Undergates), Clay and Susan Griffith (The Greyfriar: Vampire Empire Book One), James Enge (The Wolf Age), Andrew Mayer (The Falling Machine: The Society of Steam Book One), Erin Hoffman (Sword of Fire & Sea) and Ari Marmell (The Goblin Corps, Household Gods).

I don't have everyone's programming schedules yet, so this is not a complete list but here are the Pyr-related panels and events thus far (room numbers provided when known, see DragonCon programming for final confirmation):

Friday:

Fri 11:30 am: Clay and Susan Griffith
Title:  New Voices in Steampunk/Alternate History

Fri 1:00 pm: Clay and Susan Griffith
Title: Collaborations

Fri 2pm: Jon Sprunk
Autographing in Pyr Books Booth 1601


Fri 2:30pm: Mike Resnick
Title: Age in the SF World
Description: So many protagonists these days are young and older
characters are relegated to minor roles. Why?
Location: Fairlie - Hyatt (Length: 1 Hour)

Fri 3pm: Sam Sykes
Autographing in Pyr Books Booth 1601

Fri 4pm: James Enge
Autographing in Pyr Books Booth 1601

Fri 4pm: Andrew Mayer
Title: Steampunk Superheroes
Location: The Westin Peachtree Ballroom
Description: A discussion of superheroes in the steampunk genre, featuring both fictional characters and costuming.

Fri 5:30 pm: James Enge
Title: Powerful Women/Powerful Men in Genre

Fri 5:30 pm: Mike Resnick
Description: Dragon*Autographs  
Location: M301 - M304 - Marriott (Length: 1 Hour)

Fri 7 pm: Lou Anders, James Enge, Clay & Susan Griffith, Erin Hoffman, Andrew Mayer, Ari Marmell, Mike Resnick, Jon Sprunk, Sam Sykes
Title: Pyr Books, a New Voice in Publishing
Description: Join editor Lou Anders as he presents Pyr. Presenting new authors and well established ones, Pyr has something for everyone in their catalogue.
Location: Fairlie - Hyatt (Length: 1 Hour)

Fri 10 pm: Clay and Susan Griffith
Title: What Makes a Book Sexy?

Fri 10pm: Erin Hoffman
Title: Facebook Games
Where: Hilton Room 201
Description: The joys of gaming on a leading social network. Do you really want to know how your friends are doing in Farmville? Elonka Dunin; Just added: Erin Hoffman, David Godwin, Chris Shonk, Jon Masters
Saturday:

Sat 10:30 am: Clay and Susan Griffith

Autographing in Pyr Books Booth 1601

(There will be a limited number of Advanced Reader Copies of The Greyfriar: Vampire Empire Book One available!)

Sat 11:30 am: Lou Anders
Title: What Editors Want
Description: In an ever-changing market, don't puzzle about what editors want. Let these editing pros tell you.
Location: Manila / Singapore / Hong Kong - Hyatt (Length: 1 Hour)

Sat 12 pm: James Enge
Autographing in Pyr Books Booth 1601

Sat 1 pm: Sam Sykes
Autographing in Pyr Books Booth 1601

Sat 2 pm: Jon Sprunk
Autographing in Pyr Books Booth 1601

Sat 3:30 pm: Clay and Susan Griffith

Autographing in Pyr Books Booth 1601

(There will be a limited number of Advanced Reader Copies of The Greyfriar: Vampire Empire Book One available!)

Sat 3pm - 5pm: Mike Resnick

Autographing in Pyr Books Booth 1601

Sat 7pm: Mike Resnick
Title: Dragon*Con Awards Banquet
Description: We honor our 2010 Guests of Honor and present the Julie Award
and Hank Reinhardt Fandom Award.
Location: Regency VI - VII - Hyatt (Length: 2.5 Hours)

Sat 10:00 pm: James Enge
Title:  Larry Niven Panel  (this may not be exact title)

Sat 10 pm: Mike Resnick
Title: 101 Fascinating Ways to Kill Off a Character
Description: Fascinating (and often humorous) ways to dispose of characters.
Location: Manila / Singapore / Hong Kong - Hyatt (Length: 1 Hour)

Sunday:

Sun 6:00 – 9 am: Lou Anders*
Live Hugo Awards Results breakfast at the Kafe Köbenhavn at the Hyatt Regency

Sun 9:00 –9:45 am: Lou Anders, James Enge, Clay & Susan Griffith, Erin Hoffman, Andrew Mayer, Ari Marmell, Jon Sprunk, Sam Sykes*
Stu Segal’s “Pyr Books honor The Hugos Stroll" (starts/ends nr Hyatt Regency)

Sun 11:30 am: Lou Anders, Mike Resnick
Title: The Good, The Bad & The Ugly
Description: A roundtable discussion about science fiction and fantasy book covers by industry pros, discussing what's good, bad and could be better.
Location: Hanover C - E - Hyatt (Length: 1 Hour)

Sunday 5:30 pm: Clay and Susan Griffith
Title:  Out of the Coffin: Open vs. Closed Supernatural Systems

Sun 5:30pm: Mike Resnick
Title: Ingredients for great fiction
Description: A little sugar, a little spice? A surprising plot, a great
cast of characters, intriguing settings blend into great fiction.
Location: Manila / Singapore / Hong Kong - Hyatt (Length: 1 Hour)

Sun 7pm: Lou Anders
Title: Breaking into the Art Field
Description: As an artist, breaking into the field can be an arduous task. Join us for a few suggestions and lively discussion.
Location: Hanover G - Hyatt (Length: 1 Hour)

Sun 10pm: Mike Resnick
Title: Beyond Binaries 201
Description: Why do so many aliens(monsters,etc.)behave like traditional
m/f pairings? Has this been transcended anywhere in fiction?Location: Fairlie - Hyatt (Length: 1 Hour)

Monday:

Mon 11:30am: Mike Resnick (note flight may not allow him to attend this one)
Title: Joining a Writer's Group
Description: Whether it's a national organization like SFWA, RWA,or HWA or
a local group...What's in it for you?
Location: Manila / Singapore / Hong Kong - Hyatt (Length: 1 Hour)



-------------------
*not official programming items. Organized by Stu Sega.

Live Hugo Awards Results Breakfast

A number of this years' Hugo Award nominees will be at Dragon*Con.

Join them at the Kafe Köbenhavn to listen to the results come in live! Direct from the Hugo Ceremony in Melbourne, Australia!

Join LOU ANDERS (4 time Hugo Nominated editor), KATE BAKER (podcast director for the twice nominated Clarkesworld), EUGIE FOSTER (Nebula Award Winner), MARY ROBINETTE KOWAL (Campbell Award winner), FARAH MENDLESOHN (Hugo winner, and current nominee), JOHN PICACIO (Winner of the World Fantasy, Chesley and Int'l Horror Guild Awards and 6-time Hugo nominee) and STEPHEN H. SEGAL (Hugo winner, and current nominee) as this years' winners are announced.

The Kafe Köbenhavn has both a buffet and an a la carte menu (you are responsible for your own breakfast).

We'll be there from 6AM (which is when the 8PM ceremony begins in Australia) until 9AM. Pull up a table next to us as we root for Lou, Kate, Farah, John and Steve!

EVERYONE IS INVITED.  RSVP over at our Facebook Page.

ps: 5-time Hugo winner Mike Resnick may join us - depending on the Saturday night situation.

Stroll With The Stars - at Dragon*Con

Come out for a gentle morning stroll and meet great authors, artists and editors.  Some of your favorite Hugo Award, World Fantasy Award and John W. Campbell winners and nominees.  EVERYONE IS INVITED!

This way you can go to the Con, do all the stuff you normally do, but also get out in the fresh air for a healthy stroll and some good conversation. (And let me stress, we mean "stroll" - def: a leisurely walk. This will not be a heart-pounding aerobic activity, it ...will be a stroll). A leisurely mile - which will take a little more than a half hour but less than an hour.

Some very interesting Authors, Artists and Editors have agreed to lead the Strolls, and will be strolling along at the right pace to have a good conversation.

!THE ACTUAL DAILY SCHEDULE WILL BE POSTED SHORTLY!

So far, hosting the Strolls will be:

• LOU ANDERS - 4-time Hugo Award nominated editorial director of Pyr Books
• KATE BAKER - Podcast Director for multiple Hugo nominated Clarkesworld Magazine
• JAMES ENGE - Author of "Morlock the Maker" series
• CLAY & SUSAN GRIFFITH - Authors of "Vampire Empire - The Greyfriar"
• ERIN HOFFMAN - Author of the upcoming "Sword of Fire and Sea"
• MARY ROBINETTE KOWAL - John W. Campbell Award winning author
• ANDREW P. MAYER - Game designer, and author of the upcoming "Society of Steam"
• FARAH MENDLESOHN - Hugo Award winning co-author of "The Cambridge Companion to Science Fiction"
• JAMES PALMER - writer, editor and author who has written for Strange Horizons, RevolutionSF, and the Internet Review of Science Fiction
• JOHN PICACIO - World Fantasy Award winning illustrator
• STEPHEN H. SEGAL - Hugo Award winning editor of "Weird Tales"
• JON SPRUNK - Author of "Shadow's Son"
• SAM SYKES - Author of "Tome of the Undergates"

We are going to meet each morning, Sat-Mon, on the sidewalk in front of the main (Peachtree Street) entrance of the Hyatt Regency at 9AM; returning each morning before before 10AM.

NOTE: You don't need to "sign up" for this event, just show up.  You may want to check out and RSVP over at out Facebook Page.