My third panel at Ad Astra 2010, this one on keeping characters’ voices distinct. This was the largest panel I was on (always kind of a problem when you’ve only got a little under an hour to cover the topic)–I joined Hayden Trenholm, Grant Carrington, Karin Lowachee and Kate Story. Again, watch out for the couple of spikes in the audio volume.
Category: Media
Ad Astra, April 9, 2010–Same Old Settings
My first of four panels (three posted here, one over on the Academic side of my site) at the 2010 Ad Astra convention in Toronto, and I thought this was the best–it was ostensibly a panel on “overdone” settings in fantasy and science fiction, but as it happened the discussion ranged more widely than that…but without going off the rails, which can sometimes happen. Thoughtful discussion and a good mix of writers in the group made for a good panel (and actually well-attended, despite starting at 9 p.m. on Friday night)! I joined Rick Wilber, Karina Sumner-Smith, and Derek Kunsken for this one. (Be warned that the audio for all the 2010 Ad Astra material, while good quality most of the time, has some occasional volume spikes despite my best attempts to smooth them out.)
Destinies Radio Interview–March 5, 2010
This was my first interview with Dr. Howard Margolin at WUSB, who has been running Destinies, the science fiction and fantasy show,for over twenty-five years–and though he may not have Jim Freund’s author list, he makes up for it with an incredible group of luminaries from all portions of the fantasy and science fiction spectrum (artists, actors, directors, musicians, authors and others). He’s also exceedingly well prepared, and asked a series of thoughtful and unusual questions I hadn’t fielded before. And since the DJ after him never showed up for his show, we ended up turning a planned half hour interview into a ninety minute long epic, which means I was able to talk about/promote just about every aspect of my professional life–an unexpected and very cool thing. (Plus he did it with the soundtrack of LADYHAWKE in the background–how cool is that?)
A Brief Excerpt From Writers’ Symposium, Gen Con, August 13, 2009–Great Opening Lines
This is a brief video excerpt of a panel I did at Gen Con for the Writers’ Symposium–you can find the full audio for the panel above. (Apologies for the audio and video quality, which was not the best.)
Reading at Riverdale Library, Riverdale, NY–July 18, 2009
My second live reading took place at our local library–appropriate, since the publisher for my first novel has a long standing relationship with libraries (as do I). Turnout was small but enthusiastic, and everyone (including my daughter Senavene, who you’ll hear a couple of times in this reading) seemed to have a good time.
Reading at University Bookstore, Seattle–June 26, 2009
This was my first “official” live reading after the release of The Third Sign, and I was lucky enough to have not only good turnout but a good venue–the University Bookstore is perhaps the best place for a fantasy/science fiction reading in the Pacific Northwest, and longtime SFF buyer Duane Wilkins has been bringing in big names as part of the author series here for years now. I’m looking forward to more readings here in the future. (My young cousin-in-law, less than a year old here, decided to make her presence felt in the early part of the reading–sorry, but you can take it up with her when she gets old enough to understand what you’re saying!)
Hour of the Wolf Radio Interview, Take Two–January 23, 2010
My second go-round with Jim Freund and Hour of the Wolf; here I read a previously unheard short story featuring a character from my third novel, Grayshade. With luck you’ll see more of this story in the months to come, though I can’t say anything more about that yet! (Again, this is a two hour interview.)
Hour of the Wolf Radio Interview–June 20, 2009
My first interview with Jim Freund, who has interviewed literally every fantasy and science fiction author you’ve ever heard of (that’s almost not an exaggeration). Hour of the Wolf has been running since before I was born, and I was honored to be added to the list of authors with this appearance. (Be warned–this is two hours of interview goodness!)
Gen Con, August 15, 2009–Writers’ Symposium–The Writer’s Spirit
Another of the Writers’ Symposium panels at Gen Con, this one on what motivates writers to do what they do, roughly speaking. But the panel ended up ranging widely through a number of topics, which was an interesting (and good) experience. I joined the inimitable Elizabeth Vaughan and Richard Lee Byers for this one.
Gen Con, August 15, 2009–Writers’ Symposium–Hunting Dragons
A second Writers’ Symposium panel at Gen Con, all about the scaled things which cast long shadows over the genre of fantasy. I joined Paul Genesse, Richard Lee Byers and Daniel Myers, all of whom have a lot more dragons as such in their work than I do in mine, for this one…lots of fun. (Apologies in advance for the subpar sound quality here.)