I'm over a week late with this post, but I wanted to say a little something about Polaris 24, the scifi/fantasy convention I was at July 16-18. As with last year, it was a lot of fun. I did five panels, I sold books at my table, and I handed out promotional flyers for Evil?, Epoch, and my upcoming Cupid War. I also got involved in two geek-offs, where I competed against other genre experts on trivia questions about the Doctor Who universe, and the worlds created by Joss Whedon (Buffy, Firefly, etc). I have my friend Shira to thank for encouraging me to participate.

I only have one picture from the event:

That's me and my wife Violet standing with Captain Jack Harkness, from Torchwood. One of the highlights for me from this convention was the panel I requested and moderated: Torchwood: Children of Earth - One Year Later. If you haven't seen this fantastic miniseries, go find it right now! I'll wait.

No I won't. The panel took place between eleven and midnight on Saturday, but the room was packed! Everyone had something to say, and emotions were very high. And then Kai Owen turned up! He's the actor who plays Rhys on Torchwood, the husband to Gwen Cooper. He's a terrific guy with a heck of a sense of humour, and he added a great deal of insight to the panel.

As with last year, I felt a profound sadness when the weekend was over. I want more! MORE!

And I got more. I made a lot of new friends, most of whom I've found on Facebook. Not all of them, however - Nick Lowry, if you're reading this, I need help finding you!

Naturally, I can't wait for the next con.

Polaris Coming!

In one week's time I will be back at Polaris, another great Toronto-based Science Fiction convention. Last year I had tremendous success promoting Evil? and selling books, to say nothing of the grand time I had meeting fans and doing discussion panels. I look forward to having another excellent time, and hopefully get the word out about The Cupid War.

This year I've managed to snag five panels. I tried to get on to some writing panels, but the only ones I did get all have to do with the British TV series Torchwood and Harry Potter. Not a bad thing - Torchwood is a great show, after all - but I did hope to talk to people about the writing process. Curiously, they still haven't responded to my request to be an author guest. Seems I still have a way to go before the organizers treat me seriously.

A shame, because I love their conventions. I plan to keep going for many years to come.

Who's Honouring Me Now?

I can't help but steal a line from Stephen Colbert. The man is tremendously quotable!

I was delighted to get an email from the good people from Nerds Heart YA, who are currently doing a contest to draw attention to young adult literature. They wanted Evil? to be part of the contest, and who was I to say no? Do follow the link and check out the progress of the contest. And keep your fingers crossed for Evil?!

Nicole, the blogger at Linus' Blanket, is the one judging my book. She was kind enough to interview me for her blog, and asked some great questions. Follow the link to see my replies!

One of the replies to that interview really touched me. I'll reproduce it here:

Sandy
June 16, 2010 at 6:45 PM
This guy is FUN! I enjoy hearing from all kinds of authors, but this one seems to absolutely love what he is doing. That has to translate to his work. I’m so glad he is being recognized through this competition. Nice job and nice questions, Nicole!

She's right, I do it because I love it. Thanks, Sandy!

Shameless Self-Promotion At Anime North

This weekend I attended Anime North, a huge convention dedicated to Japanese animation spread out over four hotels near the airport. I'd been two years ago and had some success, and hoped to repeat that success this year.

Sadly, I wasn't able to rent a table, as they'd sold out. At least, that's what they told me. A not-so-thorough glance around the artist tables revealed quite a few empty ones that could have been mine. Perhaps there were a lot of last-minute no-shows. Anyway, I didn't really have enough books on hand to sell this year, so it wasn't too big of a deal.

I went armed with over a hundred flyers to hand out, and I handed out every one! I also spoke on four panels: Fandom Entitlement; Fan Fiction; Transformers; and Writing Basics. The first, Fandom Entitlement, was about how much fans can expect from creators, and vice versa. This was my only Friday night panel, and it took place at 11 at night. I was worried about getting home afterward, but luckily the bus routes kept running long enough. The panel was quite interesting, and I met the fine panelists who would be joining me for the Fan fiction one the next day.

My first panel on Saturday wasn't until 2 PM, but I got there for eleven anyway so I could spend some time handing out flyers and investigating the dealer's room. The dealer's room was located in the Toronto Convention Centre across the street from the Doubletree International Plaza hotel where most of the goings-on went on. And it wasn't just across the street - I think it was located in area F or something, which meant a ten-minute walk around the building to find the right place to go in. If it's one thing I wish Anime North could improve, it's to keep things closer together if not in the same building. I got myself a new toy and a couple of anniversary gifts for Violet (it's our 5-year anniversary in five days!), then went to Harvey's for lunch. The lineup was almost impossibly long, and yet I got to the counter in only five minutes. Kudos to the staff there!

Two of my three remaining panels went fine. The Fan Fiction panel was very interesting, and quite well attended. We discussed how some creators get really angry when they learn fans have written stories using their characters. As far as I'm concerned, I'd be delighted if someone wrote some Evil? or Epoch stories. It would mean the authors really loved the books! The next panel was the Transformers panel, and the first half was quite a bit of fun. Sadly I had to leave halfway through in order to get to the Writing Basics panel, located in another hotel a ten-minute walk away. Some swine in programming will have to answer for that! Writing Basics was moderately well attended, and gave me a chance to speak with authority on a subject about which I knew a great deal. I fear I may have become a bit negative toward the end, however, when we got into the all-importance of sales numbers and how marketing is left mostly in the hands of the authors. I do hope I managed to be inspiring during that panel. Am I becoming jaded already?

All in all it was a good if tiring experience. I might attend next year, but only if I can get a table next time.

My Next Novel!

I'm happy to report I have a new book in the works with Flux. I'd called it Cupidity, but was never very happy with that title. They renamed it The Cupid War, which I think does a much better job of describing the book. I've signed the contract, and the book is due sometime next spring.

Please watch this blog for further updates of The Cupid War!

Ad Astra 2010

Last weekend I attended Ad Astra, Toronto's convention for all things SF and Fantasy. As usual, I had a great time!

I was unable to attend last year, partly due to my financial situation. It was important for me to make it this year, and I'm very glad I did. I shared a table in the dealer's room with my friend Monica S. Kuebler, editor and publisher of Burning Effigy Press, who published my adult-themed sci-fi comedy Section K. Sales were adequate but not fantastic, but they paid for our weekend expenses. My wife, Violet, also attended, and helped us to run the table.

I spoke on four panels: Choosing A Format, which was about deciding if a story idea should be a novel, a story, a movie script, etc...; Fandom and Mental Health, examining the link between mood disorders and creativity; Who's Your Doctor, a panel on your favourite incarnation of Doctor Who; and Torchwood Children of Earth, One Year Later, a discussion of the brilliant miniseries that aired last summer. That last one was my suggestion, and I was the moderator. Unfortunately it wasn't very well attended, as we were on at the same time as the masquerade. We had a good discussion, however, and that's what counts.

I wasn't originally supposed to be on the Fandom and Mental Health panel; I asked them politely if I could join, and when one of the panelists didn't turn up I got my chance. Having a mood disorder of my own to deal with, the subject matter was very important to me.

This year I got to sign in the autograph area! That was a very big honour. I only stayed for half an hour, though - by that point I'd left Monica alone to watch the table for nearly five hours, and she was more than due for a break. I also did a reading on Sunday morning. Sadly, the room hadn't been cleaned out after a party the previous night, and my friends had to ask the maintenance staff very politely, five times, to please do the vacuuming after the reading, not during. I shared reading time with Kate Story, there to promote her first novel, Blasted. We had Violet and three of my friends in attendance, but that was it. Morning events on a Sunday morning at a convention are rarely well attended. We made the most of it, and kept our small but very dedicated audience well entertained.

I made new friends, some of whom I've friended on Facebook. I'm still hoping to get friended by Ian, Lisa and Cyn, the cool cats I ran into in the Tim Horton's on Friday. Are you guys out there? Do I have to start stalking you again, Cyn (inside joke)?

Violet and I also made friends with Bumblebee, as you can see from this photo.

Overall, the weekend was a lot of fun. I may not have made fantastic book sales, but I did promote myself and get myself out there, so to speak. When it comes to self-promotion, every little bit counts. I'm currently planning to attend Anime North in May, and Polaris in July.

Review from CCBC

My publicist at FLUX sent this to me a while back and I've only now gotten around to posting it. Evil? was reviewed in the Cooperative Children’s Book Center, Choices 2010, which is a publication of the School of Education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The CCBC reviews around 3,000 titles for children and YA, and EVIL? Was selected for inclusion in this year’s publication. The review is below:



Another stellar review for my collection!