Balticon 51

I made a quick note on Facebook about giving a longer and more detailed review of this year’s convention. IF you’re seeing this connected to FB – here it is!

I started going to Balticon back at number 27. Yup, that puts me at about 24 years for this one. Sounds impressive until you realize that I know at least one person (Hi Ray!) that’s been to them all. Yes, all of them. That’s impressive.

First and I think most importantly credit where credit is due. Programs this year were smooth. Really smooth, not simply as juxtaposed with the struggle of last year. Got my invitation early, got my survey and panels early, and the schedule was posted and available before the week of the convention. WELL DONE!

I had 4 panels and 2 book launch events over the weekend.

The panels I had were editing the short story, reading outside your genre for SFF writers, being a fan of problematic things and the xenoarchaeology road show.

I think editing the short story went relatively well. I also thing reading outside your genre went well – I did my best to toss ideas out there of things I’d read that I felt could be of interest to folks. I got the biggest reaction when I mentioned Devil in the White City as apparently some others have read it. All in all, not bad.

Being a fan of problematic things was going to be a contentious panel. Intellectually I knew this. Emotionally it took a lot bigger toll on me than I thought it might have. It was a difficult panel. I have written about this topic before (Your Protest May Vary published in Watch the Skies and again here at my site) and given the topic a great deal of consideration.
I thought I was prepared. I wasn’t. Part of it was the audience. There were a couple of attendees that talked over almost everyone for the duration of the panel. It can be a very personal subject, but I felt it was a disservice to the rest of the folks in the room to do what they did. The moderator struggled against them the entire time. The other struggle was sitting between two panelists with definite thoughts on the matter. I could feel tension just sitting there. I can say that S.M. Stirling impressed me with the depth of knowledge he could bring to hand without notes or references. While I don’t know that I shared his opinions, he recalled the specifics of an example I pulled from a very old novel. I pulled the example based on the clarity of the language that might show it to be problematic. He knew the context of the characters and brought all that out in defense of his position on the matter. Agree or not, he had that information rattling around upstairs. By the end of the hour I was just done. It took a lot of effort to stay level and calm for me in there – and it didn’t really have much to do with the topic itself.

I’ve really enjoyed attending the Xenoarchaeology road show in the past. The panel pretends to be archaeologists digging up long forgotten things from a human world. See something come out of the box and make up a great explanation for what it obviously is. I signed up to be a panelist on a whim for this one. It was an hour after the problematic panel, and being funny at the drop of a hat is not easy. Clever, maybe. Witty, perhaps on a good day but not for an hour straight. I don’t know that I’ll sign up to be on that panel again because I just don’t feel like I brought the humor that panel deserved. It was something of a let down to me. I was disappointed in myself, I can only hope the audience had a good time. I know I enjoyed what my fellow panelists came up with as much as the audience did. The running gag of “it’s clearly a ritual item…” was pretty funny.

The launch events were Fortress Publishing (TV Gods Summer Programming – available now) and E-spec books (DTF – Man and Machine – available now). The Fortress launch was wedged into the hour between the problematic panel and the road show. I couldn’t stay nearly as long as I wanted to, but I did get to sign a few books while I was there. The E-spec launch was a pretty big shin-dig. It took over the con suite for 2 hours. It was really well done and it looked like everyone involved had a really good time.

In between all this programmed goodness was the chance to play test a game for a friend. I can’t give out details but I can say I think I’ll be jumping on a copy when it comes out! Lots of fun trying to break the mechanics of it and stretch the rules to see where the holes show up.

Surprisingly, I didn’t come away from the weekend feeling the creative charge I normally do. I really enjoyed having dinner with friends. I liked sitting and chatting with people that I don’t get to see nearly enough. It’s a silly thing, but I was extra excited to recognize a ‘Sky High’ cosplay and earn the pink ribbon you can see in the picture (hey – the preferred term is hero support). Somehow I just didn’t feel that juice flow, that battery charging jolt I usually have when I get back to the house.

I would call this year a successful year even without that jolt. It’s always good to see old friends and add new ones. I’m going to dive into some projects that have been waiting for me while already plotting and planning for next year!

New Story!

Just in time for that perennial Summer launching Memorial Day weekend – Fortress Publishing presents : TV Gods – Summer Programming! 18 stories taking your favorite pantheons and mashing them up with memorable TV shows to allow hilarity to ensue. Only $16 and available from Fortress Publishing after 5-27-17.

I’m really looking forward to the book launch at this year’s Balticon!

My story “Somebody’s Got Talent” will be one of the stories in there! IF you want a little teaser – here’s the cover art:

Giving

A friend of mine is hosting an event. IF you’re in my area (Central PA) I really hope you’ll come out for The Resurrection Pact launch for Leukemia Research & Family Support event.

Saturday May 13th at the FABULOUS Cupboard Maker Books in Enola from 1 pm to 3 pm is when it all goes down!

The part I find most exciting is that I was asked to help. Here are the details:

“Welcome to your alternate life!”

This is the theme of our The Resurrection Pact book launch and signing event taking place at Cupboard Maker Books on May 13th from 1-3pm to benefit The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society of Central PA and Vickie’s Angel Foundation Both assist the greater Harrisburg area and do great work.

The theme reflects the idea of who you project into social media and virtual worlds like Facebook, free-play realms like Second Life, and online role-playing platforms such as World of Warcraft. What mask do you wear online? Are you a troll? A romantic? A super-heroic adventurer? A robot from the future? Fry Cool on Venus? Come out and show your “alt-self”!

Cupboard Maker Books has agreed to donate 50% of ALL used book sales on Saturday (open to close) split equally between LLS and Vickie’s Angel Foundation. Jay will be donating all proceeds from book sales from 1pm to 3pm. There will be auctions, some small prizes awarded, and we’ll have some special guests (to be announced). Best of all, you’ll be supporting a great cause.

Plus, The Wicked Kitchen will provide some amazing snacks for those stopping in to the event!

This event is intended to benefit the programs that help research new treatments for leukemia and also assist families and survivors pay their bills and help them in the rigorous daily challenges of supporting loved ones fighting cancer and help survivors offset the costs of returning to life after winning the toughest battle of their lives.

Come out and help support a friend and a worth cause!

Reviews

From time to time I get to post reviews of military science fiction over at MilSciFi and I’m really happy about that. I like being able to share what I thought about various works in a field I enjoy.

When I’m not writing “official” reviews over there, I post up reviews of what I’m reading over at Goodreads. I cross post a lot of my reviews from there to my blog here, but I think it’s worth being on a list like that to see the recommendations (or warnings) from friends about what’s good to read out there. I’ve posted about all this before…

The part I don’t think I’ve written about before is the fact that when I signed up I made a choice. I decided not to go backward. I hadn’t thought about that choice until a book popped up in a friends feed the other day that I remember reading years ago.

I remember this being a good book!

I used to read a ton of epic fantasy. Everything I could lay a hand on. I’ve got hundreds of books here at the house… but I haven’t gone back to list any of what I have on Goodreads. None of them, unless I read them again. There are a couple of aspects to this. First, my memories of how good something was vs. how good I would think something is now matter to me. Second, if I just listed a couple hundred books up on the site would anyone consider my “stars” relevant?

It seems like a daunting task to go back through all the shelves and list all those works. What do you think? Should I figure a good way to list all the books I have up on Goodreads or let it go? What have you done?