Salt Lake Comic Con Recap

Posting this now as a recap etc, etc even though another idea I'm excited about is brewing...

I just gotta get this outta the way.

I ended up on more panels that I initially posted about = that's pretty cool. I got to meet a bunch of great people, old friends and new. It was fun to sit down and not have any idea who some people were until they introduced themselves - during one of the writing panels, I was sitting next to a bearded guy I didn't recognize, probably around my height and then he says he is Brian McClellan author of the Powder Mage series and I was like Wow! Awesome! - I have truly been meaning to read those.

I did some other great networking and such with some other pro's and have laid groundwork for bugger better more in the publishing world.

I did not sell as many books as I would have liked but recouped my costs and then some. The real important thing I had to keep reminding myself was the networking.

In some ways I didn't have as much fun at this con as others in the past but in other ways this may have been the most important - business wise. Here I am repeating myself. I did get a number of books and gotta make the time to catch up on my overwhelming TBR pile.

and now a few shots etc...

 Me selling and signing some books.

Me and Rosanna Rocha, she has a great Red Sonja pinup - which is where I first knew her from. (she didn't do it this con though) the morning I found her she was cold and thus wearing these pj's  - I did share some more nubile pics earlier on twitter but I got in trouble - sorry Honey. In any case Rosanna did share a great story on how she started cosplaying as Red Sonja - it was her mom's favorite character from back in the day and she did it as a tribute to her mom and powerful women. Which I thought was cool.

While standing in line to get my special guest pass who ends up a couple people behind me? but Frank Coniff from MST3K, I let him cut in front of me and we chatted for a few minutes. super nice guy. He asked who I was and what I did and we had a nice short chat about these events etc. I've been a big fan of MST3K for about the last 20 years so it was great to meet him.

Three Days of the Con Man

And the big Con for me starts today! I'll be at Salt Lake Comic Con for the next three days, I've got a panel everyday, discussing fantasy fiction and writing and such. I always have a good time in part because I get to hang with so many cool writer friends and its just a fun reckless geek atmosphere.

This is a promotional banner my brother in law made for me. And as it says I'll be at table BLACK 15 which from what I've heard is a great spot in a heavy traffic area of the con floor. Kind of in the neck of the big L which the conference floor looks like.

In addition I'll be speaking on panels at
Thursday 2:00 pm in room 151A: Its The Good, Bad and Very Ugly of Writing.
Friday at Noon in room 150 G: It the Forgotten Gems of Fantasy and Sci-Fi (You regular readers have a good idea on the things I'll want to talk about to the hipster crowd.)
Saturday at 8:00pm in room 255F: Its Writing the Sins - This is one of the panels I volunteered for and it sounds like we'll be working a little blue - perhaps more so than I ever actually write. But who knows that will be the last panel of the whole con.

I'll post updates here in a few days, and I'm sure I'll have plenty of pics and stories,.

Also in my writing news, the latest issue of UGEEK Magazine #7 is up with the seventh chapter of my Walking Through Walls novella :Tentacles and Pentacles.

The tale took an unexpected twist because I made sure to throw my protagonist Kenaz and his accomplice Lysandra into a world of trouble that I wasn't sure how they would extricate themselves from, the muse gave me something I think quite unique and it was exciting for me to discover where it was taking me along the way.

The Big Things in Life

I've neglected my posting for a bit now, but you know I have some good excuses.

My newest daughter (she's my fourth!)was born just three weeks ago. Her name is Athena Eve West, I wanted
something feminine and powerful and unique in that when she is in school there won't be a passel of others kids with the same name, That's my own hell with a good  but incredibly common name -I can't tell you other writers out there how many times I  pondered using a pen name for that very reason but at the same time I want everyone to know that I am me = ego wins.

That all said, despite the many sleepless nights (giving my wife all the breaks possible) this has been my most productive writing summer I have ever had. I don't have an exact count but I have probably nailed down about 70K words just this summer. And that is my personal all time best I believe. So progress has been good and I am working at keeping that drive and progress up and running.

Coming up very soon is Salt Lake Comic Con and I so hoped to have my latest quick project out but it won't quite make it - instead it will be available in time for October, which is fitting considering its ghost stories. Largely inspired by the weird tales I love by Robert E. Howard etc but also by a new favorite ghost story writer M.R.James, I'mm nearly thru all of his tales and think they are magnificent. His are all very English but I am borrowing a lot of his framing devices though set in the American West rather than the English countryside, a whole lot of found letters and the like  and a lot of this is really true, type verbiage. I'll have Whispers Out of the Dust available shortly.