Reflections from the Road: New York Comic Con, Word Bookstore, and Wik'14

Last week, I made a hit and run visit to the New York Comic Con as the latest stop on the Frostborn tour. It was a quick trip, in and out from Wednesday night to Friday night, but packed full of excitement.

I get in late Wednesday night, checked in to my hotel, and then grabbed a cab to my favorite beer bar Rattle n Hum. I was there to meet my friend (and colossal talent) Garth Nix, who was in the US over from Australia on the start of his own tour. I haven't been in the same place at the same time with Garth in some years, so it was really good to catch up with him. Also, I got to introduce him to Goose Island Bourbon Barrel County Stout, which I can't get at home and only drink when I'm at Rattle n Hum. I shouldn't have eaten as much calamari as I did, but it was a great time!

Then Thursday morning I met Mark Smylie (Artesia, The Barrow), who I used to edit but have never met in the flesh, for a quick bite at Gotham West Market. Mark is wonderful, and though I no longer work with him in a professional fashion, I do hope our paths will cross again soon.

Then it was off to the convention. NYCC hit a reported 150,000 attendees this year, which might just make it the largest comic con in the US at this point. I've been to the Javits Center before for Book Expo America, but this was my first New York Comic Con. I got to the Random House booth, and before I'd even set down my backpack, I had to sign a copy of Frostborn for a kid! What an awesome way to start the day.

Then they filmed me talking about my book, the con, Viking helmets, the Thrones and Bones board game etc... (I'll link to that piece when I figure out where it is!), after which my amazing editor Phoebe Yeh and wonderful publicist Lydia Finn arrived, and we were off to the first panel of the day. 

Coffee Talk with Dragons and Monsters was a panel to debate "What makes a monster something to be feared? A force to be reckoned with? Or just misunderstood?" My fellow panelists were R.L Stine (Party Games), Caitlin Kittredge (Black Dog), Barry Lyga (Blood of My Blood), Paul Pope (The Rise of Aurora West), Ethan Reid (The Undying), Ransom Riggs (Hollow City; Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children) and it was moderated by Ali T. Kokmen (Director of Sales, eBooks
Barnes & Noble.com / NOOK Media). It was a blast, and I really enjoyed it. You can see the whole panel on YouTube here:

Afterwards, we signed books, where I got to spend some time taking with Paul Pope. Back in 2009, I reviewed his Batman: Year One for Tor.com. We corresponded briefly after that, and it was very nice to be able to talk to him in person now (especially since our respective career paths have brought us both around to children's books now.)

After the signing, I got my first taste of Uber, when Phoebe and Lydia whisked me to an event at the Word Jersey City bookstore for a Thrones and Bones "Game Night." We set up card stock versions of the game, which my editor played for the first time (she won "by accident"). I got to play a long session with a very challenging opponent who has designed games himself and was quite knowledgable about the entire history of board games. Thanks to everyone at Word for hosting this even. Also, I should mention that Word previously named Frostborn a staff pick, saying "This is the most fun I’ve had since the Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban." They have signed and rune-stamped copies on hand now, so please support this awesome store.

Afterward, Phoebe and I went to dinner at Landmarc Restaurant at the Time Warner Center. Then back to the hotel. The next morning we breakfasted with Lydia at The Smith Restaurant and Bar. Then I had a few hours to work out, and back to NYCC. I checked out Weta Workshop's Smaug head, and spent a long time standing and staring up at it absorbing what being in close proximity to such a magnificent creature would actually feel like! Very valuable experience for this fantasy author.

I arrived at the Random House booth to learn they had sold out(!) of Frostborn, but I dumped off another batch of my trading cards (which go like hotcakes), then Phoebe and Lydia escorted me to my second panel.

Geek Geek Revolution is a "no-holds-barred geek culture game show featuring six science-fiction/fantasy Authors competing for the chance to be TOP GEEK." Some of the questions come from the audience. Prizes are given out for stumping the contestants, and the loser has to wear a hat of shame. My fellow panelists were Peter Brett (The Skull Throne), Maureen Johnson (The Name of the Star series), M.D. Payne (Monster Juice), Amber Benson (Witches of Echo Park), and John Scalzi (Lock In). The panel was masterfully moderated by Patrick Rothfuss (The Slow Regard of Silent Things). This was a blast, even if Scalzi's arm is lightning fast (and he is so wrong about "Joey Chill.") You can watch the entire event on YouTube (that's me off camera shouting "With his mother" and "Sleepy", btw).




Afterwards, we signed again, and I got to spend some time talking with fellow Birmingham-raised author Amber Benson, who proved to be as delightful a person as I've always heard. She has a new book out - The Witches of Echo Park - so please check it out!

I got to say only a brief hello to my friend Jen Heddle then my time at NYCC was over, and I was whisked into a car and sent to LaGuardia airport, unfortunately to face a three hour flight delay. The delay did afford me a delightful conversation with Lindsey Brown (PR Pro) and Charlie McLravy (Investigative Producer, The Today Show). I wowed Charlie with my ScripTips theories, and he wowed me with this. Unfortunately, I didn't get home and in bed until close to 2am. Unfortunately because I was up at 7am for another event.

Saturday I taught my ScripTips workshop at the Southern Breeze Writing and Illustrating for Kids 14 Conference. Fortunately, there was a lot of coffee and some very good treats to fuel up with. The workshop was sold out, and I learned at the party that evening that it has been one of the first workshops to do so. I also signed a good number of books that day.

Yesterday, Sunday, this leg of the Frostborn tour officially winds down, and reality came back with a heavy dose as I cleaned all the bathrooms in my house. Thank you to everyone everywhere who has made me feel like a rockstar these past two months. I have a few more appearances slated for the rest of the year, and a few more in the works, but now it's time to knuckle down and finish the revisions of book two! 

GenCon 2013

There's a first time for everything they say, and last week/weekend was my first ever GenCon, the "best four days in gaming," held at the Indiana Convention Center, August 15th to 18th, in Indianapolis, Indiana. I was a participant in the GenCon Writer's Sumposium, but also there as a fan and a curious former (and now I suppose it's time to admit renewed) gamer. My interest in RPGs has been growing over the past few years. I've acquired two shelves worth of new manuals. I count dozens of friends in the RPG industry. Pyr has published an RPG tie-in novel. I'm backing quite a few RPG Kickstarters... It just seemed like a good thing to go and do.

So, I arrived on Wednesday where good friend Howard Andrew Jones (The Desert of Souls, Pathfinder Tales: Plague of Shadows) picked me up at the airport. We checked into the Omni, then checked out the convention center, where we ran into friend James L. Sutter, Fiction Editor at Paizo, and New Friend Wesley Schneider, Paizo Editor-in-Chief. Then it was off to the Old Spaghetti Factory, for the Writer's Symposium dinner, where I got to meet Bradley P. Beaulieu who I've only ever known online, among others. Afterwards was the Diana Jones Award party, where I met Monte Cook, Matt Forbeck, and Wil Wheaton. The night ended in a long discussion in the lobby of the Omni with Paizo Publisher and good friend Erik Mona.

Thursday I had lunch with Wolfgang Baur of Kobold Press, who I've known online for a while but never met face to face. Really good guy, who makes really good game product and publishes some really good How To books (every fantasy author should read the Kobold Guide to Worldbuilding.) Afterwards, I had most of the day to walk the floor, where I met Rick Meints and got to congratulate him on the success of The Guide to Glorantha Kickstarter.

That night, I got to sit down at the table and play an RPG run by Howard Andrew Jones, alongside Saladin Ahmed (Throne of the Crescent Moon), Dave Gross (Pathfinder Tales: Queen of Thorns), Scott Lynch (The Republic of Thieves), and Howard Tayler (Schlock Mercenary: The Sharp End of the Stick,Extraordinary Zoology). My friend and author Joel Shepherd (recently returned from New Delhi) was there was well, as part of a three con tour in support of his just-released 23 Years on Fire. (Joel and I haven't seen each other in the flesh since 2006, so spending so much time together was fantastic.) I also got to spend  a little time with Mary Robinette Kowal, who came in that evening.

Friday things kicked into high gear with four panels on the symposium, starting with back to back 8 and 9am panels! I was on a 2pm "Magic and Mysticism" panel with Brandon Sanderson, when afterwards, Rachel Feld, Director of Retail & Consumer Marketing came up to me. She was the one person I didn't get to meet a few weeks ago when I flew up to NYC a few weeks ago to meet everyone in Sales, Marketing & Publicity working on my book, there with Brandon, and so we were both thrilled to discover the other at GenCon. And Friday night roommates Howard Andrew Jones and Scott Lynch and I, along with Joel Shepherd, got, off-campus to Bosporus Istanbul Cafe, where the stuffed eggplant was incredible!

A word on the Writer's Symposium. I had no idea such an enormous and valuable symposium existed. Over 50 authors took part, including heavy hitters like James Dashner, David Farland, Mercedes Lackey, Patrick Rothfuss, and the aforementioned Sanderson. With over 110 hours of programming and so many talented panelists, I would be surprised if there is a larger and more star-studded genre writers symposium anywhere in the US. Marc Tassin deserves incredible kudos for pulling this off, as does his helper Molly Findley and everyone on his team who worked to make this happen. The symposium has apparently been growing every year. I hope GenCon knows what a valuable side-track they have running! 

Amazingly, the 8 and 9am panels had over 100 attendee (the room held 200 and often looked full) while the afternoon panels sometimes (though not always) had fewer. Marc explained that this is because the game rooms open at 10, so unlike other cons, early morning is prime time here. This about killed me. I lost my voice entirely, but still managed to give my solo "ScripTips" screenwriting for novelist talk on Saturday. I got my voice back for it, but the effort ragged me out completely.

Saturday afternoon I met up with good friends Matt Wilson (Chief Creative Officer, Privateer Press) and Miles Holmes (Gameloft game designer, but look for his Road/Kill Kickstarter coming September 9th!). Then we were joined by John Scalzi (The Human Division) and Liz Smith (Dammit Liz Productions). Then it was off to a dinner with Pierce Watters, Erik Mona, Chris Self from Paizo, Tom Doherty (founder Tor books) and Tom Doherty Jr., and some folks from Margaret Weis Productions. A wonderful time, which finished with Tom Doherty telling me stories about the crazy days of Chicago magazine distribution.

One last night of drinks with the Writer's Symposium, one final Sunday morning panel, one last coffee with Scott Lynch, then Howard Andrew Jones and I rode away into the sunset, though he had to lend me a suitcase to get all the RPG manuals I'd bought home!

You were a great con GenCon. I'll definitely be back! Not sure if I'll be there next year or if it will be the year after. Let me roll for initiative.

A Study in Online Community Building

This isn't gonna fit on my blog, but you can full screen it or follow it back home to see it all.



TOC ‘09 Conference— “Where Do You Go with 40,000 Readers? A Study in Online Community Building” — Ron Hogan (Beatrice.com), John Scalzi (Scalzi Consulting), Patrick Nielsen Hayden (Tor Books), Tobias Buckell

Hey John, I Finished the Ghost Brigades

Hey John, I finished The Ghost Brigades, and I really loved it. I mean really. Loved it. A Lot. What did I like about it, you ask? Well:

1. The deeper look at the underpinnings of your universe. I liked Old Man's War very much, but it left me with a lot of questions about how that world operated (as any first book in a series should). Maybe I'm only happy when it rains, but I grokked this look at the darker underpinnings of the universe of the Colonial Defense Force, through the eyes of one of its descriminated against, non-"realborn" soldiers. There's some good old PKD paranoia running through your Heinlein now, and that makes me happy.

2. I really dig what you do with questions of personal identity, both in the questions that Jared faces (your character and not the Subway guy) and also who Jared is. Since you wrote the book, I don't need to give you a spoiler warning, but I was into the fact that identity wasn't an either/or question with the way Jared was a composit of two consciousnesses, one evolving out of the other. I don't think I bear much resemblance to the shy, intolerant, born again Christian good ol' boy I started life out as four decades ago, despite having inhereted his body, so questions of evolving consciousness and what constitutes the self fascinate me. That you layered discussions of consciousness throughout, from the "normal" way a regular Ghost Brigade soldier was reared to the exceptions in Jared's case was just great.

3. Your combat skills have improved since Old Man's War. Have you been in many fights since then? Maybe I'm misremembering - OMW was like a bizillion manuscripts ago for me - but I thought the action sequences here much more compelling and a little more believable. Again, I LOVE OMW. This is NOT a criticism. The trajectory a writer wants is for each book to be better. Stagnation or moving in the other direction = bad. But I felt the combat was more intense. I don't know, maybe it's just me. Certainly, I've been in more fights since OMW.

4. For a book that is supposed to be part of the New Comprehensible, you don't skimp on ideas. Both these books are really "readable" and everyone is talking about how you write "entry level" SF, but the fact that they are entry-level on one level by no means means that a jaded editor who reads a manuscript or more a week like me can't find enough stimulating concepts and sense-a-wunder to feel like a kid again. I saw your post on how entry-level SF is actually harder to write than writing for the initiated, and I agree. But as far as I'm concerned, the golden age of science fiction is anytime I'm lost in one of your books.

5. Finally, and not least in importance, I could read it without taking a week away from the reading I am paid to do. It's very hard for me to justify reading outside my own submission pile. I'm a slow reader - not a good thing for an editor to be but I've found I share that trait with a fair number of us - and so it's very, very, VERY hard for me to read non-Pyr and Pyr-potential books. But I allow myself to read for pleasure on airplanes - so 130 pages on the flight to Boskone and 120 pages on the flight back. (We were stuck on the runway for 30 minutes on the way too, hence the extra pages. I was pretty tired at that time from getting up at 4:30am or I'd have done better than 10 pages in 30 minutes though.) Anyway, that's not the whole book, but close enough I could justify taking an hour or two to finish when I was home before returning to my prodigious submissions pile. I love that The Ghost Brigades did what it needed to do and was done. I, for one, get tired of 700 page tomes. Likewise, I dug that this took place in the world of OMW rather than being part two of a story that picked up right where the other ended. Gives me a nice sense of accomplishment and makes me feel okay about having to wait for the next airplane trip to read you again.

This isn't really a point but I'm psyched to have completed one of the books on my list of the Top Ten Books I'd Be Reading Now If I Weren't Reading Other Books. So now that I've read this, I can go ahead and pick up The Android's Dream. Hopefully, I'll be able to read that before The Last Colony comes out. But if it takes me until a year after the book is out, as it did this time, well, then you can expect another belated blog post sometime in 2008. Because however long it takes me, I am so there.