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!

CM Profile & Teens Read Too Interview!

More fun Tim appearances have popped up on the Internet! Please check them out.

First, CM Magazine has posted a very in-depth profile on me on their site. Everything you ever wanted to know about me (and maybe a few things you didn't!) are on display there. All this came from a great interview I did with Dave Jenkinson last summer. Thanks, Dave!

And speaking of interviews, there's one posted up at TeensReadToo! It's shorter but no less thorough, getting to the heart of that which is me. Thanks go to Jennifer Wardrip for that one.

More happy reads! Very cool.

More Great News!

I received an email from my publicist at Flux yesterday with some exciting news. Check it out:

Evil? by Timothy Carter was named to ALA’s Rainbow Project 2010 list for GLBTQ Books for Children and Teens. Books on this list were found by the committee to be of exceptional quality and impact, and are highly recommended.

The Rainbow Project is a joint project of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgendered Round Table and the Social Responsibilities Round Table of the American Library Association. The Rainbow Project presents an annual bibliography of quality books with significant and authentic GLBTQ content, which are recommended for people from birth through eighteen years of age.

The list can be seen here. Further details on the Rainbow Project can be found here:

Yay!

More EVIL? Reviews!

I'm finally catching up on my blogging. Time to post links to some new reviews!

First, there's this one from Sister's Library. I had tea with Mary-Esther Lee, a lovely woman who shares many of my tastes in books and movies. I liked her blog so much, I posted a link to it on the right side. Check it out!

Then there's this one at TeensReadToo.com, reviewed by Lauren Ashley.

Finally, there's this one from School Library Journal. You'll have to scroll down a bit to find it. Not the most positive review I've ever had, but any attention is good for me. And it sure beats the review The Globe and Mail did for Epoch!

Enjoy! I know I did.