Tomorrow evening there will be a dual launch for two Exile Editions anthologies: Dead North: Canadian Zombie Fiction
This will be my third reading this week. I was at Inspire! courtesy of SFWA, on Friday and on Sunday I participated in the SFContario reading series, Hydra’s Hearth, with the gracious support of the Toronto Arts Council.
Child of a Hidden Sea
Here’s where you can find me at this weekend’s downtown SF convention…
Fan Writing – There and back again
Fanzines, ezines, and blogs come and go, and often return again in altered forms. What is it about fanzines that give them such resiliency? What are the advantages of these forms? What do readers and writers get from them? Friday 8PM – Gardenview
With Warren Buff, Neil Jamieson-Williams, Ed Treijs,
“Eppur Si Muove” (And Yet It Moves)
Charged with heresy for saying the planets orbit the sun, Galileo answered the Inquisition with the famous words that meant that truth could be seen regardless of the preferences of the powers that be. By what methods did Galileo influence both scholars and the wider culture of his time and the generations that followed? What have we learned, and failed to learn, from Galileo’s life and example? Saturday 11 AM – Ballroom B
with Dan Falk, Alex Pantaleev(M), Henry Spencer, David Stephenson
Fantasy and Science
What can the scientific method lend to fantasy? Does the presence of gods and magic exclude the need for science? Whether it leads to technology, or just a scientific understanding of the setting and magic, what can the practice of science add to fantasy? Saturday 1PM – Room 207
with Cenk Gokce (M), Alex Pantaleev, Ed Treijs
Author Branding
Gaining exposure can be a challenge for an author, whether experienced or brand new and shiny. Social media like Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and Google+ have important tools for reaching an audience. Merely having an account is not sufficient. How do you develop content to attract your target audience while being creative and standing out in the crowd? Can you keep a private social presence separate from your professional persona? Saturday 3 PM – Room 207
With Robin Hobb, An Tran, Peter Watts
Monsterless Horror
It’s often said that some of the most terrifying horror fictions stir fear without ghouls or gore. Is this true? What are the psychological horror tales that stay with us past the final page? Does the greatest terror lie within ourselves? Sunday 12 PM – Ballroom C
With Alisse Lee Goldenberg, David Lamb, David Nickle
I am excited to announce that I am one of a number of local SF authors who will be appearing this weekend in the Hydra’s Hearth Reading Series, at the Ramada Plaza Hotel, 300 Jarvis Street. I’m closing out the series on Sunday, at 1:00 p.m.
These readings are long–an hour long, in fact. This means that for the first time in ages, you can hear me read a whole story instead of just a tantalizing beginning. The piece I’ve chosen is called “The Boy Who Would Not Be Enchanted.” It’s set on Stormwrack, the same world as Child of a Hidden Sea
Though this reading series is tied into SFContario 5 and happening under its umbrella, by the grace of the Toronto Arts Council all readings are free and open to the public. So come, hear us! Here’s the whole schedule.
Fri 7 PM David Nickle
Fri 8 PM Douglas Smith
Fri 9 PM Derwin Mak
Sat 11 AM Madeline Ashby
Sat 12 PM Karl Schroeder
Sat 2 PM Hugh Spencer
Sat 3 PM Eric Choi
Sat 4 PM Robert J. Sawyer
Sat 5 PM Peter Watts
Sun 11 AM Michelle Sagara West
Sun 12 PM Lesley Livingstone
Sun 1 PM Me!
And if you’re wondering about my convention schedule and my Toronto Book Fair events, I’ll be posting those soon too.
I’m ba-aaack! And so happy to be back with my wife and my kittens and all the wonderful things.
I did some terrific things and saw many beloved friends while I was away, and will tell you all about it over the next little while, possibly in lots of short blog posts like this one. Here, for example, is a shot of me and author Don DeBrandt, channeling Charlie’s Angels.
And here is a review of “The Color of Paradox,” and five other short stories, from The Other Side of the Rain.
New York Comic Con was an enormous, delightful, fan-filled spectacle of an experience, and I was thrilled to be able to go there, to meet some readers and get to know all of Team Tor a little better. I got to talk magic systems with Sam Sykes, Ilona and Gordon Andrews, Kim Harrison, George Hagen and Jeff Somers at a standing-room only panel. I signed books, gave out Child of a Hidden Sea
In and around the event, Kelly and I visited The Frick Collection, the Met, Chelsea Market and the High Line. We saw Cabaret, with Alan Cummings, at the former Studio 54. I tried on some dresses at the Desigual store, but failed to commit to any of them, and walked through Central Park a couple times. In the process, I got a much much better sense of where things are in Midtown.
What else? We ate many pastries, and actually saw Times Square both by day and by night. (Our decision to skip it on the previous trip was more or less borne out, but I admit I wasn’t entirely immune to the glitter and flash of it all.) We drank much coffee at Gregory’s, and much better coffee at Blue Bottle, and discovered that the Food Network has a fantastically beautiful loading dock of all things:
On Sunday we went to the Morbid Anatomy Museum in Brooklyn with Ellen Datlow, Rick Bowes and Terence Taylor, and then we looked around the neighborhood (which includes a superhero supply store!) for a little before going back to our new digs in the West Village.
Then on Monday we flew home to two well-cared for but pleasingly happy to see us kittens. By then we were in such kitteh withdrawal that, despite having been favored with a bit of love from the cats at our Air B&B, we were watching the Greatest Hits of the Kitten Channel on Kelly’s phone during take-off.