Photo courtesy of Wayne Rambo. As this final week of the year has ground past, I’ve been spending time drawing up my plans for next year, some of which involve this blog and website. I figured I’d clue you in on some of the upcoming posts.
As part of the website revamp, I’ll be posting some stories and nonfiction stuff on this blog. My aim is to consolidate it all in one site, so there will be a wide variety – including my first published poem! At the same time, look for more regular posts, including posts building an overall 1000 Recommended Fantasy Books Reading List, writing advice, publication news, give-aways, and sundry cat pictures as I take advantage of WP’s capability for scheduling posts. I’ll be introducing new pages as I arrange them on this site, such as this Zalanthas page.
I’ll be working on including more images, but expect more podcasts and video entries as well as I convert more of the collection stories to audio as well as doing some podcasting for other sites.
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"(On the writing F&SF workshop) Wanted to crow and say thanks: the first story I wrote after taking your class was my very first sale. Coincidence? nah….thanks so much."
~K. Richardson
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Superhero Fiction
So here’s the list of fiction(ish) drawing on comic book super-hero trophes, generated here.
Novels:
Michael Bishop, COUNT GEIGER’S BLUES.
Michael Chabon, THE AMAZING ADVENTURES OF KAVALIER AND CLAY.
Tom DeHaven, IT’S SUPERMAN!
Jennifer Estep, KARMA GIRL.
Minister Faust, FROM THE NOTEBOOKS OF DR. BRAIN.
Austin Grossman, SOON I WILL BE INVINCIBLE.
Jonathan Lethem, FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE.
George R.R. Martin, the WILD CARDS series.
James Maxey, NOBODY GETS THE GIRL.
Perry Moore, HERO.
Tim Pratt, THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF RANGERGIRL.
John Ridley, THOSE WHO WALK IN DARKNESS and WHAT FIRE CANNOT BURN.
StephSwainson, THE YEAR OF OUR WAR.
Short Stories:
Charles DeLint, “Bird Bones and Wood Ash”
A. M. Dellamonica, “Faces of Gemini”
Carol Emshwiller, “Grandma”
Jim Hines, “Sidekicked”
Jim Hines, “Stormcloud Rising”
Vylar Kaftan, “Blank Sezra”
James Maxey, “The Final Flight of the Blue Bee”
Tim Pratt, “Captain Fantasy and the Secret Masters”
Cat Rambo, “Acquainted with the Night”
Cat Rambo, “Ticktock Girl”
Benjamin Rosenbaum, “The Death Trap of Doctor Nefario”
Poetry:
Jeannine Hall Gailey, FEMALE COMIC BOOK SUPERHEROES
For me it was a pretty productive con – I connected with a few people that I definitely wanted to meet or see, I got a chance to hang out with some favorite peeps, I got a little writing done, and I did some career/work stuff that I wanted to get done. And I got the photo of Howard Waldrop with my brother and Gene Ha’s Project Superman.
Beforehand I did some stuff – I made a list of what I wanted to get accomplished, wrote to a couple people who I wanted to make sure to spend time with, and I went through the con program to identify some of the panels/features that I really didn’t want to miss. I also blocked in plenty of time for hanging at the bar, which I consider a crucial part of any con. I didn’t plan out every waking minute, to be sure, but I did make sure I knew what I wanted to do. I volunteered for programming and set up an individual reading as well as being part of the Broad Universe Rapidfire Reading.
This is, I think, the sort of thing you need to do if you’re going to cons and justifying the expenditure as work/career related rather than fun. Otherwise you end up sitting in your hotel room thinking that you should be doing something or being somewhere but not quite sure what.
Absolutely, cons are about friendships, that’s one of the more enjoyable aspects. But some you know a lot of folks at and others you have to push yourself a bit. I tend to retreat when around people I don’t know, but I’ve found that if I push myself out of my comfort zone some, I end up having a much better time.
If I’d been more diligent, I would have done the following:
Found the con organizers and thanked them. The con was well run and trouble free, and the panels were a nice mix.
Organized some sort of Broad Universe coffee or lunch meet-up, as well as something with the Codex peeps.
Gone through the dealers room and introduced myself, making sure book dealers had the card for my collection. I know no one had my book for sale, which was a little dampening, but I don’t know the best way to prevent that. Do folks write to dealers ahead of time in order to make sure they know where to get the books?
How do y’all prep for conventions? Or do you even bother about this sort of thing?
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