Category Archives: Conferences

NY Comic Con 2014

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Sometimes, typing in a title is a little more fun than others.

Wonderful news this morning as Meg Miller, my publicist at Simon451, sent me an e-mail confirming a panel I’ll be on with other authors at the NY Comic Con at the Javits Center on October 9th in NYC.  The title?

Panel Name: Coffee Talk with Monsters

Date: Thursday, 10/9/2014

Time: 3:00PM – 3:45PM

Location: 1A18

Autographing: 4:00 – 5:00 PM

Speakers: R.L Stine, Caitlin Kittredge, Lou Anders, Barry Lyga, Paul Pope, Ethan Reid, Ransom Riggs, Ali T. Kokmen

Description: What makes a monster something to be feared? A force to be reckoned with? Or just misunderstood? Join R.L Stine (Party Games), Caitlin Kittredge ( Black Dog), Lou Anders (Frostborn), 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 moderator Ali T. Kokmen (Barnes & Noble / Nook) as they discuss the “monsters” in their books and what makes them truly something monstrous…   

If you’re planning on attending and want to talk monsters, please stop on in.  I’ll also try and hang out at the Simon451 booth.  See if I can get some selfies with the best cosplayers out there.

Gearing up for summertime, news and notes

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Well I finished the second book in The Undying series at the beginning of June and sent the MS off to my agent.  Wrapped up the copyedit for The Undying around that same time.  Felt great to get both shipped off.  For about two seconds.  Then the brain gets churning again, even as I gear up for a road-trip to the rugged Northern Idaho Panhandle.

While I’m thinking over the panels I’ll be on at PNWA summer conference in Seattle in July, I’m devoting a good amount of time to researching.  It’s one of my favorite times in the process.  Reminds me of my researching geophysics and astrophysics before setting pen to paper for The Undying.

I also just completed a question and answer session with my editor at Simon & Schuster, to be posted on Simon451’s website in the months before publication in October.  I don’t want to give anything away, but you can follow and updates as they roll out here.  I’ll be sure to tweet when they’re posted.

One of the questions from my editor concerned my current reading list.  At the end of the list I wanted to name a few of my old favorites.  I had to edit the list down, as it quickly grew unwieldy.  So here are a few books — old and newer — that didn’t make the list, but are very much worth a read:

David Morrell’s thriller, Creepers.  Clive Barker’s magical Weaveworld.  William Gibson’s Burning Chrome.  John Connolly’s Every Dead Thing.  And the vampire tale Lost Souls by Poppy Z. Brite.  I could go on and on, but I enjoyed each of these and wanted to share.  If I don’t post again this June, happy summer to all.

Building a workshop, blogging, a literary contest….oh and writing, too.

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Been crazy busy lately, so I apologize for not blogging more.  But I’m super close to finishing the next book in The Undying storyline, which I’m sure will make my agent happy (Sorry Barbara, I’ll be real done soon.  I promise.).

Some cool stuff is happening as we ramp up to The Undying‘s release in October.  Simon and Schuster is putting the final touches on a free Fall Preview Sampler, where you’ll be able to get a sneak peek at the story.  They’ve also launched my author page on the S&S website.

Meanwhile, I’m building a workshop for a panel I’ll be on at the PNWA’s summer conference in July, on Sci-Fi Fantasy World Building.  For those interested, a blurb:

World or story, which comes first?  Discover how to craft a realistic background for your manuscript — from vampires to space exploration, to new lands, peoples, economies and beyond.  How suspension of disbelief is key to keeping your reader, agent, or editor on the page.  In the workshop, learn how to develop and strengthen sci-fi, fantasy, paranormal and all fiction genres to forge an immersing novel.  The ins and outs of researching world building.  How to use language, politics and friendships as tools to create an unforgettable landscape.

I’ve also been working as a chair for the Middle Grade category of the PNWA’s annual Literary Contest.  I’ve had great feedback from the judges this year.  When it’s hard to pick a winner, you know we’re seeing some great manuscripts.

All that, and writing too.  Which I need to get back to, so thanks for checking in.

HWA to attend PNWA Summer Conference

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Glad to pass along the news — the Horror Writers Association confirmed they’ll be at this summer’s Pacific Northwest Writers Association’s conference in Seattle.  Great to have the HWA in house (btw, the 2013 Bram Stoker Award recommendations are currently open).  In case you hadn’t heard, the Stokers and the World Horror Convention are in New Orleans this year, June 13-16th.

This July the PNWA’s keynote speaker will be Greg Bear, author of many novels including the recent Hull Zero Three (Orbit), Halo: Cryptum and Halo: Primordium (Tor) and co-founder of San Diego’s Comic Con.  You can find out more about Greg here.  Be sure to check out his bio.

This past year the HWA gave lifetime achievement awards to Clive Barker and Robert McCammon.   You can find out more about the HWA here and the PNWA here.  Early registration for the PNWA conference runs until April 1st.

 

Been too long…

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So updating the site to the cloud took me MUCH longer than I had thought.  Whew.  Just figuring out how to log on took forever.  phpmyadminhell.  But I’m back.

Quick updates:  Slaving away on Book Two and its coming along very well.  Also, looks like I’ll be heading up the Pacific Northwest Writer’s Conference Agent/Editor side of things again.  You can find out more info on this summer’s conference here.  Early registrant deadline is April 1st.

I’ve also been asked to be chair again for the PNWA’s annual literary contest.  They’re doing away with the Screenwriting Category and I’ve been asked to head the Middle Grade part of things.  YA had gotten so big they had to split into a new category.  Should be fun.  You can find out more about the contest here.  Deadline for entries is Feb. 22nd.

That’s it.  Sorry it’s been so long since I posted anything.  Overestimated my ability to move the old site to the new cloud site as requested by the server.  I may have been the last client to migrate everything over.  Probably sent me warnings for a year before I took care of things…