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I’m a little late on this newsletter. I generally write them on Sunday, but I was at Norwescon, and just didn’t have the time or energy to do it. So I was going to do it earlier today (Monday) but then I got drawn into other things.
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Last week, while I was preparing for Norwescon, I had a couple of deer come to visit. The darker one is male, the lighter one is female. They’ve been hanging around for the last few days.
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So while I’m working in TH1, the male deer decides to come up and see what’s going on inside this strange smelling place.
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Here’s a shot of both of them. She’s in the background.
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Eventually, he gets bored and decides to wander off. So she comes over to investigate. She didn’t stay for very long, so I wasn’t able to get a good picture of her. He stayed for quite some time, just looking through the door.
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They stuck around for the rest of the afternoon, even after I left TH1. Blaze and I frequently comment on how petrified the deer are of us, because they just go about their business when we cross the yard. These two would look up, but then their heads would drop back down and they’d go back to eating.
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ION, this weekend was Norwescon. This is a fairly large SFF con that happens over Easter weekend. This year was its 48th year, so it’s been around for a while.
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I’ve attended Norwescon off and on over the years. I went in the early aughts, then I probably missed a decade, and am considering attending more often again. We’ll see.
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Please understand that part of my lack of enthusiasm for the con this year is tainted by Blaze getting really sick Friday night. He spent all day Saturday sleeping, and was okay by Sunday, but not great. He’s better today and will probably be fully recovered by tomorrow.
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But it meant a bit of mental stress for me, and I’m still trying to separate out what was good and what wasn’t.
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Norwescon has a trad pub bias. They are starting to make room for indies. The con is good at being what we’d call a comfy con, the con that you’ve gone to for decades and you meet and talk with your friends and that’s about it.
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While I’m aware of some issues with programming, particularly talking with some of the big name authors who didn’t get what they’d specifically asked for, overall the programming was good. Norwescon programming does a couple of things that I like. One is to take a topic, such as world-building, and split it into three panels. This year was geography, systems, and beliefs. They also had a story structure, split into three parts, beginnings, middles, and ends. They’re trying to have content that goes beyond 101 into 201 or 301.
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What I personally would like to see more of, and am going to suggest for them for next year, are two things. One, a series called indie publishing 101, 201, and 301.
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The other, an entire track on the business of being a writer. Let’s have an entire panel on how to communicate with your fans. Maybe another crowdfunding panel. Possibly something on advertising. Maybe building your brand. More on marketing. Etc. These are panels that would be good regardless if you’re indie or trad.
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I believe that the panels that I was one went well for the most part. (You’ll have to buy me a beer to get me to talk about what I didn’t like about the panels I was on. Not going to bad mouth people here. But I have Strong Opinions about some of what went on.)
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I did attend some absolutely lovely events while at the con. Ursula Vernon, A.K.A. T. Kingfisher, was the Guest of Honor. I went to her interview, as well as her reading. She’s absolutely delightful and I’m looking forward to many of her books.
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I also attended a workshop that taught you how to hand-paint the edges of your books, using watercolor paint. I foresee some of this happening in my future. Of course, I didn’t take a picture of the book I painted. I can’t take one now because I sold it.
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Side note - I had some really good book sales over the weekend. Something called The Book Nook sold books for panelists. In addition, I had an hour in the dealer room where I was able to sell my books as well. I certainly didn’t completely offset the cost of the con. I would say, though, that the book sales paid for all our meals. Mind you, that meant one meal per day, as there was a fridge in the room and we brought a lot of snacks. Still, I’m pleased with that.
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Anyway. There will be some NEWS in the future about things inspired by the con.
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For now, I’m still recovering. And hoping that I don’t catch whatever it was that Blaze had. I have another event coming up this weekend!
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Los Angeles. The city that never sleeps.
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These stories take inspiration from those hard-boiled detectives of yore, with broken noses and steely eyes. The white knight you could rely on because the rest of the world had soured like a rotten apple. Even if he (or she) didn’t follow the rules.
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Or maybe because they broke them in order to see justice done.
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Come see what the MCM Syndicate has to say about these types of “heroes” as we enter our seventh year of publication.
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MCM – So Criminal, It’s Good.
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And now for something a little different...
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For the month of April, Birth of the Star Dragon, a science fiction novel written with an 1950s pulp flair by Blaze Ward, is on sale for $0.99!
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Two tiny lizardmen scientists/criminals power up their illegal wormhole generator, getting ready to kidnap their next victim by pulling the poor human across the galaxy in an instant, forever trapping him in the Accord of Souls.
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Maybe this human won’t destroy everything they love.
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The last human they kidnaped killed the big boss, took over their criminal gang, and now, threatens to conquer the entire galaxy.
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The problem? Despite being criminals, the human they want to kidnap is a cop.
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What could possibly go wrong?
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Birth of the Star Dragon—science fiction written with an 1950s pulp flair—opens new vistas for readers of Blaze Ward. Fantastic, weird worlds, populated by aliens, criminals, and, oh yeah, one human cop.
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Previously published as Awaken the Star Dragon.
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