Awesome Fans, Positive Feedback

I've recently received some extremely positive feedback on my work, so naturally I wanted to share it here. The first is a review of The Cupid War from my new friend Nicki Weisz on her blog, Books Complete Me. Read the review by clicking here.

Next, I have two emails from new fan Charlie Checkers. The first concerned his thoughts on the German edition of Evil, which is a first for me. The second is in response to my request to print his first email here.

Dear Mr Carter,

I've just finished reading the German version of 'Evil?' and I wanted
to express my gratitude towards you for writing such a great book. It
made me overthink my opinions on many topics even though I don't
consider myself as someone with many prejudices. Especially since I
often reflect on religion, this book gave me some thought-provoking
impulses. I think it is important to make people think about topics
like homosexuality (which I find especially important since one of my
friends is homosexual and people often meet her with prejudice and
hate even though they don't even know her), racism and masturbation.
These topics are all 'taboos' somehow, but I think it is crucial to
figure them out. Thank you for this great book. I'll also read 'Epoch'
as soon as I get my hands on it. ;)
Your demons are so cute. Fon Pyre was intimidating at first, but it
was easy to like him since he likes coffee and doughnuts and in the
end, he's really funny and smart and cool. I also like Stuart so much,
he's so cool and brave!

There are two questions I'd really like to pose: Will there be a
sequel to 'Evil?'? I'd like to know how Stuart's journey goes on.
There are so many other fallen angels in the world, sure he will meet
some of them sooner or later.
I'd also really, really like to know why the demons smell like
detergent. It's fun to imagine that the devil always cleans up his
hell, but what was your idea behind that detail?

Yours faithfully, Charlie

Dear Mr Carter,

thank you very much for your answer! Of course you may put my e-mail
on your blog - it's an honor for me. ;)
The short story is AWESOME! I think Stuart's my hero number one. He's
so smart. =) And Fon Pyre is the coolest demon in the world anyway and
it's so funny he doesn't like Starbucks. Everybody in my age drinks
Stabucks coffee just because everybody else does it too, but the
coffee really isn't that good. Fon Pyre rules! I'm totally looking
forward to another book about them!

Yours faithfully, Charlie


Needless to say, I couldn't help but feel grand after I'd read each of those messages. And I had similar feelings in response to the below email from Rowen Lohmann, which came with the subject line: Hey, Your Book Was Sorta Really Lovely

Hey there! I'm Rowen, and a first-time reader of your books as of yesterday.
So, it's hot. It's humid. It's gross, and I figure, 'what better to do with my time, than dig into a book about demons and elves?'.
So I did.
And I have to say, Epoch was pretty great. Yeah yeah, I could say the ending was a touch unsatisfying, but that's only because I felt so engrossed in the characters that it was almost painful to say goodbye.
...some could also argue that I sometimes exaggerate.
None the less, I really did love the book. Every once in a while it takes a book like yours to restore my faith in the, overly-stigmatized(and sometimes for good reason), wonky genre, that is Young Adult.

Get a bit of inspiration from the Westboro baptist church, did we? That place tends to be my fallback when I need inspiration, you know, a fleshed-out model of the perfect antagonist bad-guy.
Alright. I'm blabbering a bit, but here's the condensed version of what I've been trying to articulate:
1. I loved your book.
2. I hate characters, I loved others. You did it well.
3. thanks for writing something in the genre that didn't put young people to shame. The intriguing, layered personalities of your characters had me cheering, spitting, and grasping to find something to hug.

Well done, and I'll be sure to check out some of your other things.
Hopefully this won't be my last email before the end of the world,
-Rowen


Not a bad time to be an author! Thank you Nicki, Charlie & Rowen. Your feedback gave me a real boost.

Polaris 2012

Once again, Polaris was a fantastic experience for me. I sold 12 books, including five copies of The Cupid War, and I also sold off a large number of toys from my collection. Good thing, too, because I spent over a hundred dollars on Doctor Who toys! I felt a little guilty about that, but luckily my toy sales covered that bit of splurging.

My panels, for the most part, went very well.

I did six, five of them fandom-related and one of them focusing on Internet communication and social media. I would have liked to have done more professional panels and writing panels, but I’m still very grateful for the schedule I had. Along with the Internet panel, I did two Star Trek panels (Defending Voyager, remembering TNG), two Doctor Who panels (Madman With A Box, 50th Anniversary Approaching), and one on the 15th anniversary of Buffy The Vampire Slayer. The Star Trek and Doctor Who panels were lots of fun, with lots of interesting points raised, friendly disagreements on the quality of certain episodes, and plenty of fond memories remembered.

The Buffy panel, on the other hand, was very difficult. I was moderator for that one and the room was packed, making the juggling of speaking time and audience questions tricky.

That I could have handled without much stress, but I also had to contend with a live, in-the-flesh embodiment of The Simpson’s ‘Comic-Book Guy’. He called me an idiot in front of the entire room because I liked something that he did not. I was taken aback – that is not appropriate panelist behaviour, to say the least - and I did not let it pass. I told him if he insulted me again, I’d have him removed. Good for me for standing up for myself, I say. Still, I’m grateful the guy did not choose to challenge me on the point. I’m not sure what I would have (or could have) done then. He continued to be difficult, and showed no respect for my role as moderator, but I made it through the panel with most of my dignity intact.

On a much more positive note, I made some new friends and cemented a few old ones.One fan and Facebook friend sought me out on Sunday to have her copy of The Cupid War signed. And she’d made a booklet out of Walk of Evil, complete with cover! That was extremely cool. Another friend I made that morning on the bus ride in picked up a copy of Section K. One of my fellow panelists, Graeme Burk, co-authored a book on Doctor Who, titled Who Is The Doctor? I look forward to reading it (even if he didn’t like A Good Man Goes To War!).

And I saw my favourite group of Doctor Who-costumed ladies – always a highlight of the con.

And there were Daleks! Woo-hoo! I mean, Ex-ter-mi-Nate!

When it was over, I left without feeling the usual crushing post-con depression. Instead I was simply content. Another good con. Let there be more!


I’ve heard there may not be a Polaris con next year. Things are changing – there’s talk of a different event in November – and nobody’s entirely sure what will happen yet. Time will tell.

Titanic - 15 Years Later

A few weeks ago, I saw Titanic 3D with my friend Farrah and her friends. It was a film that had meant a great deal to me when it first came out; I'd been a huge fan of James Cameron's work, and I'd closely followed the progress of Titanic when I'd first heard it announced. Back in 1997, I saw Titanic on opening night with a girl who was very nearly interested in me. The trailer had left me in a frenzy of anticipation, even more so than for the James Bond movie, Tomorrow Never Dies, opening that same day. I had read every article, commentary and review I could get my hands on. I loved it. Truly, madly, deeply loved that movie. Yes, it was corny. Yes, Leo-mania was annoying. Yes, they played that damn song way too many times on the radio. There were flaws, some of them glaring. And if the love story had happened on board a less-famous ship (one, say, that hadn't sunk), it would have been a fairly standard rom-com. Yeah, yeah, so what? To me, Titanic was a great movie. I stood up and cheered when James Cameron won the Oscar for best director and best picture (in your face, LA Confidential!). I bought the soundtrack. Both of them. And then I went back and saw it again. Seven more times. At each screening, I felt something that I can't quite quantify, something with tremendous meaning for me. I read a lot into that movie, and got so much out. I saw that life is full of unexpected events, and our time alive is not fixed. Each day, therefore, each hour, each minute is important. Every time I've walked out of the cinema after seeing Titanic, I've felt better about my life, and had a strong desire to live it well.

After my eighth time seeing it on the big screen, however, I'd more or less had enough. Several months later, I got the VHS copy for Christmas (in widescreen, of course), and watched it with my brother and sister. It was... different. Less affecting, somehow. And it didn't help that my siblings absolutely reveled in pointing out the film's flaws. I didn't pick up the DVDs, not even the 10th Anniversary Special Edition. Part of the reason was that the film was split onto two disks (why, James, why?). But mostly, seeing it on the small screen just couldn't compare to the experience of the cinema. The magic wasn't there. My heart had gone on. When I heard that Titanic was coming back to cinemas in 3D, I thought, "That's nice." I didn't go on opening day. Or even that week. When my friend Farrah insisted on seeing it as part of her birthday party, I wished she could have picked The Hunger Games instead. When the lights went down, I put on my polarized glasses and prepared to lose three hours of my life. The 3D did absolutely nothing for me, unfortunately; a few scenes had a bit more depth, especially those involving height, but that's it. But I didn't care about that. Five minutes in the magic was back, and I felt like I was visiting old friends. I let it all come back - everything I'd felt the previous eight times. And, because I was so familiar with the story, I had the opportunity to take in more of the smaller details. Like the look on old Rose's face when Lovett (Bill Paxton) tells her the diamond must have gone down with the ship. Or James Cameron's fingers, drawing the portrait of Rose. Or the scene where Rose points out people to Jack, and says "his little wifey's half his age and in a delicate condition. See how she's trying to hide it? Quite the scandal." This time I realized the delicate half-aged wifey was married to John Jacob Astor, played by that guy who was Victor on that soap. I cried, more than once. After the 3D screening, my friend asked me if I was having an allergy attack! Nope. I'm a sensitive guy, and those tears represented genuine emotion. I didn't cry because Jack died. I cried because of all the things Rose had done with her life, without him. It's both beautiful and tragic, just like the movie. And the ship itself.

I'm so grateful my friend Farrah insisted on Titanic that day. Nine times is a lot, but I could still see it on the big screen again. The film is timeless, as relevant now as it was when it was first released. And, for me, it is still just as powerful. Well done, James Cameron. Thank you.

An Evil Fan!

2012 is off to a wonderful start. Here is an email I received from a fan named Angel Albright last weekend:

Dear Mr. Carter,
I have always thought about reaching an author to compliment them, but your novel, Evil?, is the first that has pushed me to do so. I had first stumbled upon you when I was searching my local library's website for books that had homosexuality as a subject. I love reading 'homo-fiction', mostly because I'm a flamboyant les. However, your book was more than simply a gay main character. It starts out with such a jaw-dropping subject and leads into such peculiar circumstances that whenever I tried to explain the book, it was an agitated struggle and I quickly gave up! It was filled with humor, heart-warming dialog and unbelievable characters. The plot was mind-blowing. There were spins in the book that made me put it down and have a silent fit. It was definitely one of the best books I have picked up. Thank you (oh so much) for writing it.

Euphoric,
Andrew-Angel


I can't tell you how much that brightened my spirits! Good to know that Evil? is reaching people. Thank you, Angel Albright!