Good times at the Brooklyn Book Festival

On Sunday I spent the beautiful day in Brooklyn at the Brooklyn Book Festival and what a terrific day to support the local book trade. I arrived early with my friend Nancy and her colleagues who work at DK Books [part of Penguin] and helped set up their terrific booth, just as other publishers, book stores, and authors were setting up shop all around us. There is Nancy setting up the DK booth. [If any of my new friends at DK read this, thanks for letting me set up and be part of the action - I had a great time meeting you!]




I walked around a lot which was was just fine with me as earlier on in the day it was cool and overcast, but later on when the sun came out - wham - it was hot, over 80 I think. But the show pleasantly filled up with all kinds of Brooklyn's bookish best - and we all enjoyed the show. Here's a photo of the book mobile, open for passersby to enter and check out.

Several book publishers, such as Brooklyn's own Akashic books set up great stands [this photo below is of Johnny Temple, publisher of Akashic books being interviewed by New York 1]. I was more than happy to pick up one of the fantastic books in Akashic's Noir series [proudly for me it was Queens Noir edited by Robert Knightly - review to come soon.

Also many indy bookstores such as Brooklyn's Freebird books, who had what I thought was the most cleverly themed t-shirts of the event [and where I spent my good money], with their novel-t shirts. I grabbed the Ahab one, gotta love the "literary" team captain!

I also had the pleasure of meeting actor Wallace Shawn, a veteran of stage and screen, who has appeared in everything from The Princess Bride to recent episodes of Gossip Girl. I picked up his new book, Essays, which he kindly signed [to my wife] for me. So far the essays are interesting, and quite personal about his viewpoint on just about everything. Not finished yet.

Seriously, how does one look at a photo of this lovable actor and not just giggle. He's a riot, and has had such a long and interesting career, I was more than happy to support his book.

Another real treat for this comic book guy, was the fact that New York Comic Con sponsored panels all day long. I attended the panel entitled: Sci-Fi and Fantasy in NYC which comprised of authors living in and sometimes writing SF and fantasy in New York. The panel consisted of my good friend and fantasy writer Peter Brett, also fantasy writer S.C. Butler [with the quote of the day about genre writers and in essence genre lovers, "we're the orcs of the literary world"], urban fantasy author Anton Strout who helped us flashback to sortid RPG-playing days, and Dave Roman. This was all moderated ably by Brian Slattery. All gave good examples of how New York life influences their writing whether or not they actually write fiction based in a New York setting. The boys in action in photo below, probably talking about D&D.

It was a good day, full of an active scene of bookish people [something that always makes me happy]. I only see this festival growing every year. And it was great to see everyone embrace everything from comics to literary magazines. In a perfect world it all mixes together, and on Sunday, that perfect world was Brooklyn.

BEA weekend from my eyes.

It was a fun weekend for me, attending Book Expo America at the Javits Center. Long but fun. Lots of walking around, handshaking, grabbing books, grabbing iced coffee, and taking rests. But between seeing old friends, and meeting so many new ones, I was pleased. I know the press has reported that attendance and giveaways were down from the last few years, but it felt like a rallying show to me in the eyes of the larger world and the doom-and-gloom feelings. I had a blast.

I had the pleasure of joining in the Blogger Signing Event hosted by Firebrand & Netgalley on Saturday at 4pm, which was really neat. I was sharing the table with bloggers: Stephanie of Stephanie's Written Word, and Gayle of Every Day I Write the Book. They were super-nice and it was a treat to be seated with them and talk about books & blogging about them.



Also, I wanted to mention again, one of the books I'm most excited to finish, the graphic memoir by David Small, STITCHES. I snapped a photo of the advance copy, I scored at the Norton booth.

Creepy, sureal, and yet happy and sad at the same time, I'm less than 100 pages in and already swept away by the honesty and cruelty of the story, and I'm attached to the sad story, a touching memoir with emotional art reminiscent of Bill Plimpton and Chester Brown, among others. Here is a photo of the author signing at the W.W. Norton booth - I was glad to see so much buzz generated about this terrific new book.


As Heidi MacDonald summed up at The Beat, it didn't matter one bit that this was a memoir written as a graphic novel to anyone grabbing up a copy. Everyone I spoke with seemed highly impressed with the format and style.

More to come on books I'm excited to read that I picked up at the show and other assorted highlights.

My Lunacon panelist experience

I attended two days of Lunacon this past weekend, Friday and Saturday, and for a regional SF convention it was pretty good. Also, this was the first time I was a program participant, which meant talking on panels about my experience and opinions on different things.


I had been meaning to participate in panels for a long time, afterall, as a wandering editor I've been attending panels for years now, both at comics and science fiction & fantasy conventions. I figured, aside from being a lifelong fan, I also have years of professional editorial experience to back up my opinions.

Friday was easy enough for me, I wasn't on a panel, but went up with pal Peter Brett as he was a panelist and it was good to pick up my badge a day early as well as get the lay of the land within the hotel (anyone who knows me, knows I'm not the best with remembering directions, there's no internal map in my head).

Saturday started for me with a 10 AM panel called: Working Without a Net: Personal and Financial Planning for Creative Professionals. I was the rookie on this panel, but well steeped in what it is like to be a freelance editor as that is what I've been doing for the past almost 2 years. My comments added to the overall discussion as mainly things were discussed for writers, and I added to that from the prospective of an editor. The ice was officially broken, I was now a panel participant. There was a few hour break before my next panels so I roamed the con for a while.

My 2 PM panel was: The Year in Comics. As a lifelong comics fan and former comics buyer for SFBC, I held my own contributing to the fine panel. We covered lots from the mega-crossovers to the future of digital comics. I lastly brought up the recent trend of publishers putting out nice collections of classic comic strip material - and was pleasantly surprised to hear--on the panel--that a second volume of Fletcher Hanks material is being released by Fantagraphics, called, You Shall Die by Your Own Evil Creation! by Fletcher Hanks and Paul Karasik. See, even I learned something new. It was a fun panel (it's always fun to talk comics).
Then at 3 PM I had to run to my next panel, affectionately named: What the *$&% Happened to M. Night Shyamalan? This sounded too good to pass up. I was on the panel with people who were more steeped in motion picture lore than I, but I could talk M. Night with the next guy. It was fun, and we all lamented on how difficult it was to follow up the pure genius that was The Sixth Sense. We finished with hopeful, if not fearful, anticipation of his next film, due in 2010, an adaptation of a fantasy-based Nick' TV series.

After a few more hours of wandering around and a lunch with some friends, I was gearing up for my last panel of the day at 7 PM, of which I was the moderator: Writing Combat Scenes in SF. Although I was nervous and started off as a low talker, the panel just took off with great conversation and audience participation talking about all the realistic details to focus on when writing combat scenes. We were all in the presence of greatness with Eric Flint telling stories, sharing conversations he had with David Drake, and making it quite easy for me and our other panelists to have a solid conversation about writing combat.

My other co-panelists, James D. Ross, writer of the Radiation Angels books, also got really involved in the discussion, and I got the chance to chat with him a few times over the weekend. Also, author Mike McPhail, rounded out our panel, and gave great examples of how the details make up such an integral part of describing the reality of warfare.

Overall it was a great weekend, and this Combat panel really made the weekend for me. Thanks to Lunacon for including me in the program participation. I'm sure I'll be back next year.

No Empire Lasts Forever

The PublishersLunch daily email reported today that major changes occurred at HarperCollins, and it seems change continues to be in the air, reminding me once again the delightful reprieve of Comic Con is over. For more details see the link.

Also Reed [the company responsible for both NY and San Diego Comic Con] announced that BEA [Book Expo America - the annual trade expo for the publishing industry] will be in New York through at least 2011. It will be shorter as well, with the floor open for two full days with preliminary special events and various conferences the day before the floor opens.

To some this may not be good news, but for this independent professional, that makes it a bit easier attend as well as find "patronage" for a weekend badge in exchange for some of my services or assistance. I realize this is little comfort for those smallish publishers who struggle affording a booth in the Javits Center. But New York is the publishing capital of the world and I've attended whenever it's been here.

It remains to be seen how this news will be received.

NYCC 2009 is over. What a ride.

What a show. The con has come and gone and man, did it feel like it flew by. In years past I had the luxury of randomly wandering conventions, be it SDCC, Book Expo America or London Book Fair as a book club editor (i.e. - no booth), it was kind of like Kane in Kung-Fu. I'd walk around and get into adventures.

But as I learned last year while attending BEA in L.A. with Osprey and again this weekend helping out at the Titan Books booth... working a convention booth is a lot of work. And a lot of standing, incidentally. It's great to have a home base, a place for your bag of goodies and your coat, but working the booth, the boxes of books, the customers, etc. really wears you down.

Overall, the buzz I've been reading is the show was a success. Retailers reported in good sales which is uplifting to hear (because who can take the nightly news anymore, it's so depressing).

And today - Kid's Day - seemed full of little Spider-Mans and other assorted costumed mini-mates grabbing swag and books and just about whatever they could get their hands on.

I worked the early shift and when I left the Titan Booth, Dave Gibbons was about to start a signing of his Watching the Watchmen book. The line criss-crossed in front of the booth 3 times. I wanted to stay and help, but I was there at 9 a.m. man, my feeble feet needed a break.

I left the con with some great advance reading copies of books like Jackie Kessler and Caitlin Kittredge's new superhero novel, Black and White (which I can't wait to read and will review here!) as well as a few others which I'll write about as soon as I get into them.

My pal Peter V. Brett's signing went great (I've posted most of my con pictures on facebook) so here's a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY PEAT! His, The Warded Man, publishes in less than a month now - sweet!

I was happy and sad to help out for a bit on Saturday at the Comic Foundry booth (last issue out on February 18th...tears). But they've been great. I wish Tim and Laura the very best of luck with everything.

I wrapped up Sunday grabbing a few superhero gifts for the nieces and nephews... and okay, a few Revoltech toys for myself (come on, it is comic con). And in these hard times, if I can't share a little love with my friends with some comics, books, and toys - then what am I in this business for anyway?

Party on! And don't forget... the Watchmen are coming. 3.6.09

NYCC - Friday, mini-post and recap.

Yesterday was a blast at NYCC. It was great to see the place booming with activity in light of a stressed out economy. With Saturday passes and weekend passes sold out, that is a real sign that the comics industry is hanging in there.

Activity at the Titan Books booth was intense all morning during the professionals-only hours, then grew when the con opened to the general public. An early highlight for me was that I met George Perez, just a quick handshake but I'm a big fan. George is a legendary comics artist for anyone not in the know - and a really nice guy.

One thing that was surprisingly cool, aside from all the interest in Titan's various Watchmen books was the response to their Cream of Tank Girl book - released in October of 2008, some fans hadn't yet seen this and it's been flying off the table. I'm sure we'll be out of stock by the end of the show. I've captured a few fans as they purchased books [sorry gals, I didn't get any names but thanks for the photos]. Fotini and I are huge fans as well, & it's a beautiful book.

More to come tonight or tomorrow, I need to get ready for today at the show.

New York Comic Con this weekend

Set up for New York Comic Con starts tomorrow, and although it doesn't open to the public until Friday at 1 pm (open to anyone with a Professional badge early in the day Friday), I'll be there tomorrow to help set up and also working each day at the convention in addition to geeking out and checking out all the events, booths, books & toys that I can.

I've volunteered to work with my friends and former colleagues at Titan Books. Back when I was an SFBC editor, I used to buy some of the great books coming from Titan and I'll be glad to helping at their booth this year. Titan has some exciting books right now. Red hot stuff like the awesome, WATCHING THE WATCHMEN.

I'll be at booth #1514 each day until about 2 pm, if you're stopping by the con be sure to stop by and say hello. I'll be the slightly bearded fellow, in his element, with a big grin on his face. It is comic con after all.

They'll be so many cool events, panels, and signings going on all weekend. For a quick round up of highlights, check out Heidi's updates at The Beat (as always, she's got it covered).

Also, I must mention my good friend, and Del Rey's newest author, Peter V. Brett will be signing copies of his debut novel, The Warded Man, which publishes next month, at the Del Rey booth on Saturday at 4 pm. And if you're lucky, you may snag a convention badge promoting The Painted Man as Del Rey is promoting on the badges this year (see Pete's blog for more on this).

[All photos in this post are actually from the 2005 San Diego Comic Con, just trying to get into character].

Off to Calgary and World Fantasy Con

I wanted to quickly chime in because bright and early tomorrow I’ll be heading to Calgary to attend my second World Fantasy Convention. I’m very excited as I’ve never been to Canada before and I really enjoyed WFC last year in Saratoga, and this year looks to be a great convention as well.

The WFC con last year was great, and not only because I was there trying to build interest for a new SF imprint I was developing at the time (which sadly didn’t pan out) but also because it is a professional convention and I’m still working my way up in this world. It seems there are so many people to meet and much to learn as I go.This convention is a great opportunity for me to see publishers, editors, writers and artists talk about their craft and experiences. I’ve met so many wonderful people over my years working in publishing and I’m glad to have finally begun attending WFC as I’ve been a lifetime reader, proponent, and book seller of fantasy fiction.

Also, I’m glad to be joining my good friend Peter Brett in this endeavor, as he is scheduled to have his first public reading at WFC, from his forthcoming book, The Warded Man (I might have mentioned it on this blog once or twice).

I plan to attempt some mobile blogging from the road, but we’ll see how all of that goes. I’ll report in personal highlights and tidbits of news as best I can. Please note that a large portion of this convention is experienced at the hotel bar talking shop and attempting to hold your own. I’ll do my best.

I look very much forward to finally visiting the homeland of Wolverine. And on that last note, the only book I plan to bring with me is a new copy of a collection I've been dying to read: WASTELANDS: Stories of the Apocalypse, edited by John Joseph Adams, whom I hope to meet while at WFC.

I'll be sure to post a review of the collection here, when I finish it up. As many of my close friends know I've got post-apocalyptic stories on my mind. Until next time!

Back in the saddle

I enjoyed my weekend in Albany attending this year's Albacon but now I am back at home, at my desk, and hard at work editing a book for the good folks at Casemate. It seemed like serendipity that although I was in Albany to geek out on panels and discussions about science fiction and fantasy, I also walked through town and saw many sights and plaques dedicated to events from the time of the Revolutionary War which is related to the project I'm working on at this moment.


My partner-in-crime, Peter Brett, [red hot new fantasy author], participated in many panels at the convention, and it was fun for me to participate as part of the sometimes intimate crowd. We made the best of the show and met some really nice and interesting people along the way, some of whom I may write about here once I get their "ok". We also attended the con's "Ice Cream Social" as anyone who knows me knows I can't pass up free ice cream [and being social].


Aside from our adventures into some questionable neighborhoods while looking for a place to eat, we honestly spent most of the time in the Crown Plaza bar, sometimes eating, usually drinking and often waxing philosophical on all things book related.