Late this morning I’m headed out on a comparatively short drive to GenCon. I’ll be there in a little under three hours, which isn’t too bad at all. I’m arriving a day early to meet up with friends and fellow writers from the Writer’s Symposium, one of GenCon’s best kept secrets. In my absence the home will be protected by a black belt, a brown belt, two dogs, and four man eating horses.
A light traffic moment in GenCon’s Hall of Treasure.
I wanted to follow up on two completely unrelated posts today.
First, I’ve mentioned that I’ll be spending a lot of time at the Paizo booth in the Great Hall at GenCon in Indianapolis next week (in addition to the hours I’ll be spending on panels during the Writer’s Symposium). As I’ve mentioned in the past, the Writer’s Symposium is chock full of good panels if you’re at all curious about the industry, or about bettering your own writing — or if you just want to find out more about your favorite writers!
Here are my hours at the Paizo Booth:
Michael Underwood and Howard Andrew Jones at the ConFusion 2014 AMA. Photo by Steve Drew.
I participated in three panels at ConFusion, an “Ask Me Anything” session, and a Question and Answer roundtable, and I ended up pretty pleased with all of them. (Oh, and I almost ended up on several wrong panels Friday night before I learned to read the hotel map, but that’s another story.)
The first was “Why Does Bones Need to be a White Guy” on Friday at 9:00, with Christian Klaver, Seleste deLaney, and Gretchen Ashand. It turned into a lively discussion of gender and racial portrayals on screen and in fiction. I don’t think any of the panelists expected much of a turnout at that time of night, but we had a decent sized crowd who brought a lot to the conversation. A panel can sink or swim based on its audience, after all.
Howard Andrew Jones and Saladin Ahmed at ConFusion 2014. Photo by Al Bogdan.
I’m back from ConFusion and working up a pretty detailed post about it for the Black Gate web site. Right now, though, I need to get to work, so I’ll just mention a few things in brief.
I finished Chandler’s The High Window on the way there and read most of Quarry’s Deal on the flight back. I was picked up by the mighty John Chris Hocking at the Detroit airport Friday and we had a memorable morning and afternoon wandering around Ann Arbor. Hocking is simply a princely fellow — he and his family are delightful people. Hocking gifted me with a stack of noir from his own collection (along with a Nate Heller book and Leigh Brackett’s No Good from a Corpse), and then picked up some more noir for me when we went to an award winning mystery bookstore, Aunt Agatha’s . I have additional details about all of that in the Black Gate article, which I’ll probably take live in the next day or so.
I may take a brief vacation from my noir exploration, though, as I returned from the con with a number of fantasy books. Brian McClellan and I traded volumes, and I picked up Matthew Thyer’s The Big Red Buckle and Jane Irwin’s graphic novel Clockwork Game. And I mean to read something by new friend Ian Tregillis as soon as possible, although that might take me right back into noir, albeit with a fantasy slant.
Tomorrow I’ll try to type up something about the panels I participated in and provide a link for the Black Gate essay, but for now I’ll just say that I had a fantastic time and get back to work. I am under deadline, after all.
Battle Academy in action. Be warned — it is LOTS of fun.
With the children off for a few days, I plan on spending some time gaming or playing music or watching movies with them, although, old as they are, they’ll probably want some alone time as well — playing Minecraft, or in my son’s case, playing piano or guitar — so I’ll get some writing in.
I’d hoped to be coming to a close on the rough draft of this first Hearthstones book by year end, and while I’m closing in, I’m not that close. December, with all its running people to appointments and gift shopping and minor home disasters, slowed down the process. Still, there’s a good chance that I’ll have five of the seven parts drafted (some of which will be finely polished) by December 31st, which will mean a January completion date.
Speaking of the looming end of year, my Arabian fantasies of Dabir and Asim have made a few “best of lists” I wanted to share.
First, they’re mentioned over on Fantastical Imaginations. Second, while you’ll usually find detailed restaurant and wine reviews at The Passionate Foodie, you’ll also find some thoughtful book posts, and I made the fantasy year’s best list there.
I don’t think I’ve ever turned the blog over to anyone else, but today I’m going to do so, because Judy Kratzner has said everything I’d say about the matter, and with all the detail required. In short, if you’re in the region and want to learn about writing and talk to some writers (including this one!), I hope you’ll swing by. Take it away, Judy:
The Knox County Public Library is hosting the Second Annual Writers Festival, Saturday, November 2nd, 9-3 p.m. Speakers include award winning authors Margaret McMullan, James Alexander Thom, Howard Andrew Jones and Vincennes University faculty Bernie Schmitt and Matt Groneman. Registration is underway . The $30 registration includes attendance at all sessions, handouts and snacks. Stop by the library for the registration form or go online www.kcpl.lib.in.us.
November 2nd an author Meet & Greet with the speakers and an additional ten authors is free and open to the public from noon- 2 p.m. The additional guest authors include Marlis Day, Dale Glenn, Rick Kelsheimer, Holli Rebecca Burnfield, Darrell Case, Jeanne James Cox, David Lottes, Jennifer Mackinday , Venessa Purdom and Angie Mayfield. The authors will have books for sale and signature.
For information on the Writers’ Festival call Judy Kratzner, KCPL Literacy Coordinator at 812-886-4380.
…I am not at WorldCon 2014 (AKA LoneStarCon 3). In the grand scheme of things it is a tiny disappointment and certainly no tragedy, but I find myself wishing I could be there in San Antonio this weekend with so many of my friends and colleagues meeting readers and interacting with movers and shakers in the industry. I imagine there will be a sizable coterie of Robert E. Howard folks there, and I’d love to raise a glass or two with them. And writer Norman Spinrad is there as well, and he’s someone I’ve always wanted to meet.
I may not be staying up late talking with some of my favorite people, but I can take consolation in the fact that my writing is going very well right now. Things are different for every writer, of course. I’m working on being one of those guys who, when in rough draft phase, dependably gets the same thousands of words done every day. What I’ve found instead is that sometimes, for weeks, the writing crawls. I’ve just come out of one of those phases and now suddenly the narrative is so alive I can barely write fast enough to keep up with it. If I were at a convention that would crash to a halt. Then there’s the insomnia issues I’ve been fighting for the last few weeks. Staying up late for another four nights in a row would probably be a horrible idea.
I thought I’d finish my write up of GenCon with a sort of highlights reel of my remaining favorite moments, in no particular order of preference until the final three.
First, while I’m not much involved in Black Gate anymore, I do still occasionally review game products, and it was a pleasure to get handed a few review copies of some great looking books. I’ll be covering them at Black Gate before too long, but I can say right now that I’m most interested by Pete Nash’s Monster Island, a sandbox setting compatible with Runequest, Sarah Newton’s Monsters & Magic, from Mindjammer Press, which is a way to convert old school RPGs for more modern, FATE style play, and Brian England’s The Demolished Ones, a FATE compatible mini mystery campaign in what looks like Victorian times. I have a handful of others as well, and each will be getting write-ups in the near future.
Before I write anything more about my trip to GenCon 2013, I thought I’d best take a moment to describe the physical environment. The convention center lies at the very heart of downtown Indianapolis and is surrounded by a great number of hotels, many of which are connected to the convention center via skywalks. As far as I can tell, the entire center is given over to GenCon, which is pretty incredible because you could probably store a fleet of 747s inside.
Nearby hotels roll out the red carpet, issuing keys emblazoned with game-related pictures and renaming menu items to game appropriate choices like “Broiled Halfling” (well, not THAT choice, but you get the idea). The city closes down a side street beside the center and food trucks are brought in to provide an alternative to the fast food served in the convention’s concession areas. Within the hall itself, great banners display images from various games. Even tables are decorated, some of them doubling as game boards.
Lou Anders and Brad Beaulieu.
Strange things happen over the inter webs. No, I’m not talking about any of that. I’m talking about how friendships can develop in ways different from any in previous generations. Four years ago I briefly met Lou Anders for the first time at DragonCon. We shook hands, said a few words, then, things being busy, went about our lives. Slowly, over the last couple of years, we’ve become close friends. Yet it was all done over the Internet and primarily over Facebook as we’ve commented upon one another’s posts and chatted via IM. We’d never actually been around each other AS friends, so I wondered if it would feel a little odd when I picked him up at the Indianapolis airport Wednesday and drove into town for GenCon.