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Posts Tagged ‘charles stross’

Signing Tomorrow! Also, Boskone!

Draft for Book continues apace.  I passed 60,000 words yesterday, writing a couple unexpected scenes; the notecards remain useful.  I’ve switched to drinking tea in the mornings while I write (following the coffee jumpstart), which seems to help keep energy levels high and, well, level, with less of the usual page judder, writing words and deleting them only to retype them.  It’d be interesting to watch my own writing in some sort of programmatic way to see if this was a real pattern.  I’ve considered livecasting the drafting process, but I don’t know that this would interest anyone.  (Also it might be weird on my end—I have a hard time working if I know someone’s looking over my shoulder, for example.)  Anyway, I also submitted a detailed outline to Paizo about the Pathfinder novel, which, glee!

But, all that’s beside the point of the Imminent Things!

First: tomorrow, if you’re in the Cambridge / Somerville area, come out to Pandemonium Books and Games at seven pm to watch Charles Stross, Walter John Williams, and me chat about magic and science!  Or else, like, beanbags or something!  Here’s the event link.

Second: Boskone’s this weekend!  You should drop by the Boston Waterfront Westin for any number of reasons—Boskone has great panels and a good scene generally—but here’s what I’m doing at the con.

The Other Others in Urban Fantasy

Friday 14:00 – 14:50, Burroughs (Westin)

Urban fantasy is packed with all kinds of characters, but what’s left if you remove all the vampires, zombies, and werewolves? What tropes and characters are left to explore? What new and interesting other others are on the horizon?

Melinda Snodgrass (M), Max Gladstone, Barry Goldblatt, Melanie Meadors, Mary Kay Kare

Autographing: Max Gladstone, Sarah Smith

Friday 16:00 – 16:50, Galleria-Autographing (Westin)

Max Gladstone, Sarah Smith

Dating 101 in Urban Fantasy

Saturday 11:00 – 11:50, Marina 3 (Westin)

Magic is in the air! Dating comes with its own unique sets of rules when finding love within urban fantasy novels. You never know what secrets your special someone is hiding — or what’s really so “special” about her. Our panelists share their best advice for how characters can find true love while fighting against the imminent destruction of everyone and everything they hold dear.

Darlene Marshall (M), Max Gladstone, E.J. Stevens, Charles Stross, Lauren Roy

The Grimm Future — The Anthology Group Reading

Saturday 16:00 – 16:50, Griffin (Westin)

NESFA Press presents a special reading for this year’s Boskone Book: The Grimm Future, edited by Erin Underwood. This exciting new anthology of reimagined Grimm’s fairy tales brings you 14 original short stories with a science fictional twist. The Grimm Future features cover art by Boskone 53’s Official Artist, Richard Anderson, and original stories by Guest of Honor Garth Nix as well as program participants Dana Cameron, Max Gladstone, Carlos Hernandez, John Langan, and Peadar Ó Guilín.

Erin Underwood (M), Carlos Hernandez, Max Gladstone, Peadar Ó Guilín, John Langan, Dana Cameron, Garth Nix

Steven Universe and the Cartoon Renaissance

Saturday 20:00 – 20:50, Marina 4 (Westin)

“Believe in Steven!” Cartoons are back with a bang, and the incredible Steven (a half-human, half-Gem hero) is helping save the world. Steven Universe is just one of several adult speculative cartoons that have been praised for their complex characters and rich worldbuilding. From Space Ghost to Futurama to Robot Chicken, these shows have captured our imaginations. Why do we love them so much, and what else should we be watching?

Teddy Harvia (M), Susan Jane Bigelow, Gillian Daniels, Max Gladstone, Julia Rios

Formidable Females

Sunday 11:00 – 11:50, Marina 4 (Westin)

Females were once seen as the weaker sex and assigned weaker social roles. Now, they are  taking full and equal parts, at least within fiction. From Cersei Lannister to Rey, Jessica Jones to Breq, and more, women are taking leadership roles as both protagonists and antagonists within the story. And those are just the characters! What about the writers of these fantastic women? Whom should we be reading? What’s next?

Theodora Goss (M), Max Gladstone, Peadar Ó Guilín, E.J. Stevens

American Gods: The 15th Anniversary

Sunday 14:00 – 14:50, Marina 4 (Westin)

Fifteen years after publication (and winning both Hugo and Nebula awards for best novel), Neil Gaiman’s American Gods is still worshipped by readers new and old. It’s a dark, twisty tale of traditional religious deities battling our new gods. Why does it cast such a long Shadow? Is it more likeGood Omens or The Sandman? Will the upcoming TV series be faithful to the Book?
Max Gladstone (M), Beth Meacham, Diana Thayer, Django Wexler

LibraryJournal Day of Dialog Panel Aftermath

Short version: the panel, everyone on it, the entire experience-wonderful!

The longest version would start to look like one of my dispatch emails from China and Cambodia, which could run for well over 10 pages, so advance warning: that one might not ever see print, and certainly won’t now, since I’m running to get out the door in 20 minutes for Stephanie’s birthday present to me: a trip for the two of us to Rockport (the one in Massachusetts) where I’ll be cranking away on the manuscript for Two Serpents Rise (book 2!) in style in a beach cabin, and maybe (depending on weather quality) swimming.

Medium-long version: the panel was in the gray-and-red upholstered McGraw Hill Auditorium, and I was a bit nervous, since this was my first time out of the gate.  Public speaking isn’t new to me, but public speaking about something I’ve spent so much time stewing over, and thinking and more importantly caring about, is.  The closer a subject gets to your heart, the harder it is to talk about it, especially to a stranger (or a roomful of strangers).  I thought at first that I was the only one feeling a little shaky, but as we all walked up to the front of the auditorium, I could detect a little aura of nervous energy from all of us in our own ways, which made me a bit bolder.  If everyone’s nervous, then there’s nothing weird about being nervous in a situation, and you can enjoy it.  Fear gives an edge.

I wish I had a recording of the event, but in the Buster Keaton haze of my excuse for a usual morning ‘ritual,’ I’d forgotten my camera (and my business cards); maybe later when I have more time I’ll assemble some of the notes I made while preparing for the panel and post them here.  The questions ranged all over, from the responsibility of the historical fiction writer (depending on how you cut it four out of the five of us were historical fiction folks) to write accurate history to the nature of writing voices.  I talked about how Three Parts Dead grew out of uncertainty, out of a desperate scrambling attempt to understand an economy that, in the fall of 2008, tripped, stumbled, and fell into a meat grinder, and out of a sudden appreciation for the vast immortal and invisible systems that ran on faith and investment and dreams and, once in a while, died–and then, to stave off disaster, had to be resurrected by hardworking young men and women who wear suits and speak Latin.  I talked about Bryn Terfel and how operatic voices mature and develop over time, and about the many uses of the wonderful household maintenance tool called a five-way, and about a lot of things really.

The laughs came in all the right places, but I could hear the silences too, between my words, which is always encouraging when working with an audience.

Afterward my editors took me to Tor’s amazing Manhattan offices, where, walking about, we ran into Cory Doctorow, John Scalzi, and Charles Stross, who were all as amazing class-act type guys as you might imagine from reading their books and their essays scattered through the web.  They were in town to give a panel on DRM at BEA (Acronyms!  Not just for the consulting world any more!), but if I ever learn that Tor offices aren’t constantly full of excellent writers in smoking jackets, I think my vision of the world will tilt from its axle and explode.

Now really running up against my time limit, so let’s make the longer story even shorter.

In the afternoon we returned to the LibraryJournal event to sign books, which means for the first time I got my hands on a real live ARC of Three Parts Dead!  They’re beautiful.  The cover art looks even more amazing in person.  And we gave a *ton* of them away, often to people who walked up to me saying, “I don’t often read fantasy, but the way you talked about the book at the panel really intrigued me!”  Which was maybe the best part of the day, outside of, you know, all the other parts of the day.

And time!  Twenty-five minutes elapsed, now I need to run downstairs and catch the shuttle to Rockport.  Best to everyone, and I promise I’ll share some more exciting news come Monday!