Special Guest Tonight on TMV Cafe Internet Radio

“I love talking about nothing. It is the only thing I know anything about.”

Oscar Wilde

I will be a guest on the TMV Cafe internet radio show Free Pie Night, tonight, at 9:00 PM Central Standard Time. There is also a chatroom on the website where you can interact with the fans, guests and hosts of the show. Go to www.tmvcafe.com to join the fun.  I will be talking about how I got my big break of being a published author, and about my experiences writing for the shared world anthology series Heroes in Hell, created and edited by Janet Morris and Chris Morris. My story “Remember, Remember, Hell in November” was published in the book Lawyers in Hell, in 2011. I have a story, “Ragnarok & Roll”  in the latest book, Rogues in Hell, which will be published this Summer in 2012.

Also I will try to mention some of the other anthologies I have been writing for which will be published in the next few months, like Sha’Daa Pawns, created by Michael H. Hanson, and What Scares the Boogeyman, a horror anthology created by John Manning. I also have a poem called “The Shadow People”,  that will be published in the collection A Book of Night, created by Richard Groller, which will be my first poem to be published in a book. I had a couple of poems that were printed in a collection of art and poetry contributed by students, that Grapevine High School created during my senior year, but this will be the first time my poetry is released by a real publisher.

I have been busy working a lot of overtime hours at my day job, trying to pay the bills, so I haven’t had much time or energy for writing lately unfortunately. Some of my works in progress though include a fantasy novel, a fantasy adventure short story, and a story for the next book in the Sha’Daa series. I am also working on ideas and an outline for a story to submit for the next Heroes in Hell book, tentatively titled, Dreamers in Hell. My goal is to have a story included in all of the new books in the series, so I am hoping this one will get the stamp of approval from Janet and Chris. I am thinking this will be a much more  introspective sort of story than my last two. I’m bringing in a new main character, noted psychologist and spiritualist, William James, who is going to psychoanalyze Anton LaVey for his post-life identity crisis of finding himself in a hell he never believed existed, serving a fallen angel that he denied even being real. Guy Fawkes will also return again from my first two stories, and try to blow things up as always, including possibly the pearly gates of Heaven itself.  It will be a fun story to write, and I hope, to read also.

I’m behind on my blogging about the various conventions I’ve attended as a guest  in the last couple of months, so you can expect my report on ConDFW, All-Con, and The Nightmare Machine, at some point when I get around to writing those. They were all loads of fun and I met so many awesome people, as I always seem to do at cons. I really enjoyed being on the discussion panels and doing the story readings and it was an honor to be part of those events.

That’s about all that’s going on for now. I hope you will all tune in tonight to listen to me on the radio show. Also the show that airs before it at 8:00 PM CST, After Rot, is hosted by a friend of mine, who goes by the name Zombie Zak. He and his co-host Jazzy talk about all things to do with comics, movies, superheroes,  zombies and all kinds of other random stuff. It’s always a fun show, you should check it out.

The Nightmare Machine Paranormal Steampunk Convention

I will be a guest at this paranormal steampunk convention, The Nightmare Machine, this weekend. I will be holding a discussion panel on the history of paranormal investigation Saturday 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM. I am also doing readings Friday night at 8:00 PM from my story “Shadow of a Doubt” which will be published later this year in the horror  anthology What Scares the Boogeyman and “Remember, Remember, Hell in November” published in 2011 in the anthology Lawyers in Hell Sunday at 11:00 AM . The convention takes place in historic Jefferson, Texas. Come see me and all the other guests at this fun and exciting event!

 

See The Short Pale Writer in the Long Black Coat at All-Con This Weekend

“It took me fifteen years to discover that I had no talent for writing, but I couldn’t give it up because by that time I was too famous.”
- Robert Charles Benchley, author

I will be attending All-Con in Dallas this weekend and will be there Friday evening, and all day Saturday and Sunday. I will have copies of the shared world anthology Lawyers in Hell which includes my first ever published short story, “Remember, Remember, Hell in November” with me available for purchase. I will also be a guest panelist at 4:00 PM on Saturday discussing the topic of writing for a shared world anthology.  

The annual All-Con convention is all about creating fun for fans of Science Fiction, Fantasy, Renaissance, Anime, Costuming, Theater / Performing Arts, Mystery, Art, Crafts, Collecting, and Film Making. So there is something to see and do for just about everyone at All-Con. It is located at the Crowne Plaza North Dallas at 14315 Midway Road, Addison, Texas 75001. The fun and events start  at 10:00 AM Friday and run until Sunday at 6:00 PM. If you have never been to a fan convention, this is an especially awesome one to attend. There will be plently of fans in awesome costumes, especially from Star Wars, since the 501st Imperial Stormtrooper Legion will be attending.
Also performing at All-Con is one of my favorite dramatic comedy acts, The Damsels of Dorkington. Don’t miss their shows, they will make you laugh until you can’t breathe. And check out the Dealers Room for the Roll2Play booth for everything to do with games, games and more games. Tell Tiffany I sent you.

I’ll have postcards with the logo for the Irredeemable Order of Hellions available to give out as freebies. Look for me this weekend in my “The Shadow” costume.  I hope to see you all there!

“Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows.”

The Short Pale Writer Appearing at ConDFW This Weekend

“It may be that those who do most, dream most.” – Stephen Leacock

I will be attending ConDFW in Dallas, Texas this weekend. I am scheduled for five discussion panels, a reading, and a book signing session over the course of Saturday and Sunday. I’ll be hanging out with friends and fellow authors Friday, and attending the opening ceremonies, and some panels. Come out and join me for a fun and informative weekend. Below is my schedule, but be sure to check out the ConDFW website for all the panels and events going on all weekend.

SATURDAY

Panel Room 3 – Canterbury-1pm –Horror without Focus: Writing the Apocalypse in Horror

 Panelists: C. Dean Andersson, Larry Atchley Jr., Gabrielle Faust (M), K. Hutson, Dusty Rainbolt, Brad Sinor

It is moderately easy to create a horror story where you have an obvious villain. But in this year of disaster and

apocalypse, we see the other side of Horror – where the villain is nature itself, whether by fire, flood or plague.

Our panelists discuss the Apocalyptic Horror genre and its future in a time where the future is never certain.

Panel Room 2 – Manchester-4pm –Horror vs. Urban Fantasy: Where is the Line?

 Panelists: C. Dean Andersson, A. Lee Martinez (M), Larry Atchley Jr., Stina Leicht, Gabrielle Faust, Sue Sinor

Sometimes it is difficult to find what section a particular Urban Fantasy book belongs to. It is sometimes found in

the Science Fiction/Fantasy section, but sometimes it is found in the Horror section. And to be honest, some

Horror has been Urban Fantasy before the genre really came about, like Anne Rice’s vampire series. But what

is the line between the darkness of Horror and the lightness of SF/Fantasy? Our panelists debate this dark topic

and perhaps find out what Urban Fantasy really is.

Panel Room 1 – Warwick-5pm –Ragnarok and You: Using Norse Mythology

 Panelist: Frances May (M), K.B. Bogen, Katharine Kimbriel, Ren Hobt, Larry Atchley Jr.

No discussion on the upcoming apocalypse would be complete without covering Norse mythology and

Ragnarok. What you may not know is that Ragnarok does not mean destruction at all, but means “the final

destiny of the gods”. Learn more about the classics from our experts on myth and legend, and try to forget about

comic book movies based on the same topic.

Readings: 6 pm – Shanna Swendson, Larry Atchley Jr., Ethan Nahte

SUNDAY

Panel Room 2 – Manchester-12pm –Body Language: Writing Martial Arts

 Panelists: K. Hutson (M), Larry Atchley Jr., A.P. Stephens, Stina Leicht

Sure, it’s easy to describe a punch to the stomach, and a sweep to the legs. But is it anatomically possible?

And what are some moves that are legit to use? We bring some martial artists to the table and let’s see if we

can describe what they do – without a video camera.

Signings: 1 pm – Larry Atchley Jr., Anthony Brownrigg

Panel Room 1 – Warwick-2pm –Apocalypse Later? What will be Our Doom?

 Panelists: Cherie Priest, Larry Atchley Jr., Linda Donahue (M), Selina Rosen, Gloria Oliver

With all the talk of Apocalypse this year (and the past few days), one thing hasn’t been covered. What do our panelists think WILL destroy the world? Let conspiracies abound, and if the government is watching I was never here.

Also, I’m a bit behind on blogging about the last couple of conventions I’ve attended, so I’ll cover some highlights of the most recent events.

The Difference Engine was a Steampunk themed convention held New Years  Eve weekend, complete with a fancy dress ball. Musical acts for the ball included Darwin Prophet & The Chronus Mirror which upon hearing them for the first time instantly became one of my new favorite bands.

Also there was Donna the Bard, who brought many instruments with her and let audience members join her in playing some traditional folk music. Thanks Donna, for making it an interactive show, I had a lot of fun! Also performing that weekend was tribal Heidi Wunder with violinist Jennifer Sanders providing musical backing for the show. Both were excellent entertainers, and a pleasure to meet. Action, comedy performing was provided by Cut, Thrust, and Run who are always a blast to watch with their swordplay, quarterstaff whirling, and jokes. Lest I forget, the Master of Ceremonies  for the con was Peter Pixie, who was  fun and energetic to be around.

I had a good time attending the promotions table for the Irredeemable Order of Hellions selling copies of Lawyers in Hell, and Forrest Hedrick and John Manning’s  horror novel Black Stump Ridge. I met a lot of great people that weekend. The guys from geek culture website Nerdvana Inc. stopped by, and they included John and I in their write-up about the convention on their website. So our fame is spreading ! Ha ha!

Last weekend I attended the Dallas Sci-Fi Expo strictly as a patron and not as a guest. As I always seem to do at any event I go to, I met some great people and made some new friends. Particulatly artist Kathryn Crenshaw who correctly identified my costume of radio show and pulp classic character, The Shadow.  She said that her dad raised her on the old pulp classic books and comics, and that’s how she recognized my obscure outfit. She also told me that he had a vendor table at the convention, and that I should go talk to him because we probably had a lot of interests in common. It turns out that we did, and he also had the two Thieves’ World graphic novels that I had been looking for to complete my collection. He also had a lot of really great Robert E. Howard books, and much more stuff from the classic age of fantasy and science fiction. There were also dozens of tables full of collectable toys, action figures, shirts, patches, costumes, and anything else you can imagine to do with Sci-Fi/Fantasy fandom.

Anyway, that’s a wrap for the blog this time. I hope you will come see me, and all the other guests at ConDFW this weekend. I know it will be a lot of fun.

The Life of a Rogue Writer

“Writing is an adventure. To begin with, it is a toy and an amusement. Then it becomes a mistress, then it becomes a master, then it becomes a tyrant. The last phase is that just as you are about to be reconciled to your servitude, you kill the monster and fling him to the public.” -Winston Churchill

I hope everyone is having a great 2012 so far. Mine has been pretty good except  I’m still unemployed and looking for a full-time day job to pay the bills. Besides looking for work, I have also been busy learning as much as I can about improving my writing craft, the publishing industry, reading for pleasure and research, and I’ve been writing a lot as well. I have also been networking  quite a bit, and I am scheduled to appear as a guest panelist at five literary fantasy/science fiction conventions this year, including ConDFW, AggieCon, All-Con, The Nightmare Machine 2012 and LibertyCon. I really enjoyed all the conventions I attended last year, and met so many great people; writers, artists, musicians, performers, editors, and fans. I am really looking forward to all these events this year and I hope to see you there. If you’ve never been to one of these events, you really should check them out. They are a lot of fun for fans of the fantasy, science fiction, and horror genres. You can meet your favorite authors, listen to live music, attend panels about a wide variety of subjects, see some cool costumes, buy books, shirts, costume apparel, and other fun stuff.

Speaking of fans, I am a big fan of this free online magazine, Lovecraft eZine  and this week they are having a contest giving away a Cthulhu sculpture and other prizes. I have read some great stories in this eZine and they are always posting news and links about everything to do with Lovecraft, Lovecraftian stories, Cthulhu Mythos, films, websites, etc. Go check it out and tell eZine creator/editor Mike Davis that I sent you.

I am very excited to announce that one of my stories, “Ragnarok & Roll” has been accepted for the forthcoming Heroes in Hell shared world anthology, Rogues in Hell, edited by series creators Janet Morris and Chris Morris. The book will be unleashed upon the world by Perseid Publishing sometime this Spring/Summer  2012 in print book and EBook formats. As before, when working on the previous volume in the series, Lawyers in Hell, it was a blast collaborating with my fellow Hellion authors on this book. I’ll wrap this post up with what the cover will look like.

Fun at YuleCon

“When you’re a writer, you no longer see things with the freshness of the normal person.” – Brian Moore

This past weekend I attended YuleCon in Fort Worth, selling and signing copies of the book Lawyers in Hell, which includes my story “Remember, Remember, Hell in November” as well as 21 other hellishly great tales. My good friend and fellow author, John Manning arranged for us to have a table in the dealers’ room so we could meet and greet fans. His story “Disclaimer” also appears in Lawyers in Hell, and he has a horror novel published, Black Stump Ridge, that we were also selling, which he co-wrote with long-time friend, Forrest Hedrick. We sold quite a few copies of books, so it was a succesful weekend as far as sales go and we made a lot of new fans who will most likely buy the books online as well.

These fan conventions are a lot of fun, and YuleCon was no exception. There are hundreds of people in character costumes,  many of them hand-made and quite elaborate. A lot of them are from anime and manga, which I have never gotten into, so I have no idea who most of these characters are, but nevertheless, they are cool to look at. You can go to my Facebook page and look at the album YuleCon IV, 2011 and see some photos I took at the con.

I met a lot of really great  people at YuleCon, including a lot of fellow writers, artists, and gamers. At the table next to us in the Dealers’ Room were artists Renee and Shannon, who make dolls and jewelry, and also run charity auctions at conventions. I also met Kurt who owns an online anime and manga collectables store and who had an entire wall across from us and who was very busy all weekend. There was also The  Iceman, whose real name I forget now, who was running con operations and security, and James, who founded and runs the convention. Also Ray who designed the graphic art for the con badges. I also met up with Tiffany, a fan of our book, Lawyers in Hell, who I’d met at FenCon, and who owns the online games store Roll2Play. She had a big area set up in the corner of the lobby where she was selling games and game accesories with the help of some of her assistants. Chris, one of John’s friends who was running some games for YuleCon, and also two mutual friends of ours, Alaura and Meghan, joined John and I for dinner Friday night after the Dealers’ Room  was closed up.

Over in the gaming room I met Kenneth, who was running a series of role playing games by Palladium. I also met Brian, who ran the Doctor Who tabletop miniatures game that I played in, on Saturday night with Wil, Daniel, and a young woman whose name I forgot, (sorry) but who was on my team for the game. Brian had designed and built the scale buildings and painted the miniatures for the game which was set in the ruins of post-apocalyptic Las Vegas. My team was the Daleks who, if you’ve never seen the TV show, are basically intergalactic bad guys, robots that want to take over the universe by exterminating mankind. The Doctor’s job in this game, along with help from his team of soldiers, was to stop them from setting off a nuclear bomb. The game really got rolling when the woman on my team asked Brian if she can have one of her soldiers can use his grenade launcher to blow up one of the ruined remains of a building that eleven of our opponents are hiding inside. He said that no one had ever asked him if they could do that before, but he would check the rules. Sure enough, he said she could try. She rolls the dice, and succeeds in blowing up the building, collapsing it on the enemy and killing ten of their soldiers. We were off to a good start! Later in the game a mobile artillery piece overheats and explodes, stunning the Doctor, preventing him from interceding in our plan to detonate the bomb which we can attempt to do on our tenth turn. The rest of the game does not go well for us however, as our soldiers get picked off one by one until we are down to only two left, one dalek, and a mercenary, against a dozen or more opponents. It’s looking more and more like we will lose pretty soon. The tenth turn comes up, however, and we have a chance to detonate the bomb if we can just roll a six on the die. My team member rolls, and behold, a six!  The nuclear bomb was detonated, everything was destroyed in the blast, and we won the game! Viva Las Daleks! Ah the sweet taste of victory.

After the game I wandered around the convention hotel checking out the various events that were going on. They were showing anime films in some rooms, holding discussion panels in others, and there was a rave party going on. I walked into the rave amidst the sounds of fast techno music, flashing lights, and glowsticks being waved around. I thought to myself that everyone in this room is half my age or younger, and damn they were moving fast. I think I remember being able to move that fast. I hung out for awhile and watched all the kids have fun and then decided it really wasn’t my scene, so I left to see what else might be going on. It was almost midnight, and I should have headed home so I could get some sleep for attending the con on Sunday, but some intuition kept telling me to hang around.

Sure enough, I run into Renee and Shannon, from the Dealers’ Room.  They hadn’t slept much the night before because a fire sprinkler had been damaged by someone in the room above them which caused water to start pouring from the ceiling and walls of their room in the middle of the night. This led to them having to change rooms and move all of their belongings with them. They were both worn to a frazzle, I could tell. They had just gotten out of a discussion panel, but couldn’t get up to thier room on the second floor, because the elevators weren’t working due to some electrical problem. They both have  health issues that prevent them from being able to get up and down stairs safely, so this was a real problem. The hotel restaurant had already closed and they hadn’t eaten dinner yet because they had been so busy with the panels. There were no restaurants within walking distance of the hotel, and both of them had recently taken medication that kept them from being able to drive. So naturally I offered to take them in my SUV to Denny’s for a late dinner. We had a good meal, and talked about stuff like conventions we had been to, and other fun things, and later that night I dropped them off back at the hotel and headed home for the night.

The next day at YuleCon was a good one as well. One of our fans, Sherry, who bought John’s novel, Black Stump Ridge,  way back in March at All-Con,  stopped by our table and picked up a hardcover copy of Lawyers in Hell. We talked about all kinds of things from books to music, and writing, to funny and scary things we’ve had happen to us over the years. We sold a few more books, met a lot more cool people, and had a really good time.

All in all it was a really great weekend and a really fun convention. Sorry if I missed mentioning anyone, but there were so many great people it was hard to keep track, especially all the names. I’ve added a few email addresses and friends on Facebook though so I’m hoping I can keep in touch with at least some of you. I’ve decided I really need to have business cards made so I can hand out to people. Not only to promote myself as an author, but to maybe make it easier for people to connect with me in the social media and stay in touch. That’s my next project anyway, and I know there are some places like VistaPrint that will print cards for free if you pay the shipping & handling.

Thanks everyone for making it a fun, great YuleCon, and hope to see you all online and at the next Con!

Depression, Deadlines, & Determination

“A writer is a person for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people” – Thomas Mann

Sorry I haven’t posted a blog entry in so long. So many things in my life, both positive and negative have conspired to keep me from writing as much as I’d like. The really big negative factor was losing the job I had for nine years and the subsequent depression that followed. Also time and energy spent in looking for another job has whittled away at my available hours as well. The lack of finding another job and the financial woes that entails led to yet more depression. You can start to see the vicious cycle my life has been in for the last four months.

One positive thing has been that I have been invited to submit short stories to several anthologies during this time. I have been trying to get these stories written, but the bouts of depression have often left me mentally defeated and feeling like I was unable to write anything, good, bad or otherwise. I have broken through these frustrating periods now and again, and made some progress at least, on the stories. I am coming up on impending deadlines however, so it is crunch-time now to get these finished, but I am determined to get them done, and done right.

Another good thing that has happened while all this has been going on, is that my wife started her own freelance photography business specializing in portrait photography. She does her shoots outdoors on location wherever the clients want the photos taken. I have been helping her with these shoots as her assistant, whenever I am available, and it has been hard, but fun work. Normally a photographer would take on an intern as an unpaid assistant, but she got so busy, so fast, having booked so many clients in a short period of time,  that she didn’t have time to find someone. So while I’m not working at a regularly scheduled job during the day, It was only natural that I should be the one to help out. If there is anyone in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex in Texas  looking to become a photographer’s intern and is available both weekdays and weekends, contact Sussie at Photography by Sussie Atchley at info@sussieatchley.com and she will be more than happy to interview you for the position.

Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy working with my wife, but at some point I hope to have a full-time day job again and then I won’t be availabile to help her out. Plus, the extra time at home writing and doing research for my stories is always good to have, as I have to schedule that around job hunting, keeping up the house and yards, eating, and staying in shape by riding my bicycle, and practicing Qi-Gong Kung Fu. I also need the occasional break to read, and watch a movie or TV show recorded on the DVR to clear my head from the writing process. Oh yeah, and sleep too.

Anyway, I hope to get back to posting here more often, probably after I get stories done for these upcoming deadlines, or when I need a break from writing my stories but feel compelled to write something meaningful here in my blog. I hope you are all having a wonderful November so far. I know many of you are participating in NaNoWriMo this month and so I hope you all will have a very productive output of words on your novels. I am focusing all of my time on these short stories so I won’t be working on a novel anytime soon, but I have a couple of unfinished ones that I will get back to eventually.

Until next time, everyone keep writing, and don’t let depression derail your determination.

 

 

Fun at FenCon VIII for The Short Pale Writer in the Long Black Coat

Last weekend I attended FenCon VIII, a fan-operated science fiction and fantasy literary and filk convention in the Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas Metroplex. They were hosting DeepSouthCon 49 this year, which added to the attendance and guest appearances. Guests of Honor included: Gail Carriger, Joe Bethancourt, Steven H. Silver, Les Johnson, Vincent Di Fate (who actually had to attend via video conference due to other commitments). Also there were Bradley Denton as Toastmaster, and Special Guests Lou Anders, who held a writers workshop during FenCon, and Stephan Martiniere.

My friend and fellow author, John Manning, had reserved space at a table in the main hallway right outside the dealer’s room, for us to sell and sign copies of the shared world anthology Lawyers in Hell, in which we both have stories published. He was also selling his novel Black Stump Ridge, that he co-wrote with Forrest Hedrick, who couldn’t attend FenCon, but who I had met at AllCon earlier this year. We had a lot of fun promoting the books, selling a few, and meeting fans and potential fans who we hope will buy the books later. We handed out a lot of promotional cards for both books, which are available online at Amazon.com and Barnes&Noble.com and Lawyers in Hell is also available from our printing publisher Kerlak Enterprises.

I only started attending literary fan conventions earlier this year, but so far my experiences have been very favorable. FenCon was no exception. There were a lot of really interesting discussion panels. Some of my favorites were the Small Press Roundtable, and Still Not Panicking: Douglas Adams Remembered. I have been reading Douglas Adams’ books since I was about 13, and I have everything he has written. I brought along a rare book,The Original Hitchhiker Radio Scripts, to show the panelists and audience. Hearing other fans talk about his work was really enjoyable, and brought back a lot of memories, as he is one of my favorite authors. He died in 2001 and his wit and humour is sorely missed but his work in books, radio, television, and video games, will not be forgotten.

Another fun thing that I got to do was audition and rehearsal panel for a radio play that Generic Radio Workshop was performing live on stage Saturday night after the awards ceremony. I was selected to play Richard Hammond, in an 1899 steampunk version of the BBC show Top Gear. Myself and the other three performers had a great time reading our lines before the packed room at the convention. Afterwards, I had a lot of people, who I don’t even know, come up to me and say that I and the others had done a great job! Being able to perform in front of an audience, and actually pulling it off pretty well, really made my day special. And it wasn’t any old ordinary day either. Saturday was my 40th birthday, and I had a wonderful time!

I got to meet with friends I’d made at previous conventions and through online networking. Great folks like fellow Lawyers in Hell author Brad Sinor, and his wife and author, Sue Sinor, both who I had met in person earlier this year at ConDFW. Also Amanda Green, author and Senior Executive Editor at Naked Reader Press, who was in the Small Press Roundtable panel, who I know from being a member of her Bedford Library Friends Writers Circle critique group. Author Sarah Hoyt, who I met last year when I attended her writers workshop, which I will be attending again, this weekend. Matt Sims, who ran the Gaming Room at FenCon, who I had met at another convention earlier this year. 

I also made a lot of new friends, like Stacey Irish-Keffer who was in the radio play with me, Tiffany Franzoni, owner and founder of online game store Roll2Play,  author Ric Locke, and author Michele Bardsley. If I met you and you didn’t get a mention here in my blog, please don’t hold it against me. I met many, many great people, most of whom I’m sorry to say I either didn’t get their names or can’t remember what their names were. I’m sure I’ll see most of you at the next convention, and hopefully take down names better next time.

I also met some editors in the Small Press Roundtable  panel, like Kevin Hosey, author and editor at Cliffhanger Books, Maggie Bonham, with Sky Warrior Book Publishing, and Elizabeth Burton, with Zumaya Publications. One of the most important things a writer can do at literary conventions is meet with editors and publishers, to develop a relationship with them, and potentially open the door to being able to publish your work with them in the future. Maggie Bonham went as far as to declare that she wouldn’t take an unsolicited story submission from a writer she hadn’t first met in person. Even in this digital age of online social networking, person to person contact is still very important in the publishing industry.

Another goal I had in mind while at FenCon was to talk to the organizers of other local area literary conventions and try to get on the roster as a guest and be included in discussion panels at their next events. This is not only to become more officially involved with the conventions but also a great way to promote myself as an author, and my published works. I made some good  contacts with a couple of Texas conventions, ConDFW and AggieCon, so we;ll see if they decide they want me or not as a guest. Otherwise I’ll just attend as a patron and promote myself as best as I can. One of the cool things about conventions is the promotions tables set up in high traffic areas. These include cards, posters, flyers, and even free magazines, and books. It’s a great place to find out about authors, publishers, conventions, and events. This year there was a copy of Realms of Fantasy magazine’s 100th issue that published in March this year on the table for the taking. I had bought this magazine’s first issue back sometime around 1994, when I was working in an independently owned bookstore. I used to subscribe to it back in the 1990′s, but hadn’t read one in years. I was glad to see it was still in publication and had hit its century issue mark. As soon as I have a full-time job again, other than writing, bringing in regular income, I will subscribe to it once more.

Another cool event at FenCon VIII was a viewing of the Japanese live action movie Space Battleship Yamato which was released in 2010. For those of you not familiar with, or too young to know about it, this movie is based on the anime show, Starblazers which aired in the early to mid 1980′s. It was one of my favorite shows when I was a kid. The movie was pretty awesome, and although the character names had changed, the premise of the story hadn’t. Even watching the movie in Japanese with English subtitles didn’t deter me from liking this movie. I watch a fair amount of independent foreign films so subtitles don’t really bother me.

The whole FenCon experience was fun, energizing and tiring all at the same time. There was always plenty of good food and drinks in the Con Suite available free of charge, to patrons and guests alike. All the organizers and volunteer staff were friendly and helpful. The art room was amazing and the dealer’s room with all the books, t-shirts, pins, costumes games, and other stuff was great. The gaming room was incredible, with  a lot of games running almost the whole time. There was a really cool table-top strategy war game of Axis & Allies that was set up with beautiful maps and miniatures. There were all kinds of board games and role-playing games, and card games going on all weekend. The gaming room ran pretty much 24 hours a day during the three days of the convention.  I didn’t get to spend much time in there unfortunately, because of attending panels, selling and signing books, meeting with people, listening to the bands play filk music (fantasy/sci-fi fan folk music), and wandering in and out of the many party rooms Saturday night. Meeting so many new people and walking around the convention all day for pretty much three days straight, staying late Saturday night for the parties.  It wore me out and by Sunday afternoon I was ready for some rest at home, even though I hated to see it all come to an end.

Well there is always FenCon IX to look forward to next year, and I will definitely not miss it for anything. I hope I will see the same friends next year, and meet a lot of new ones. I hope all of you reading this blog will be there too, to share in the fun! I’ll be the short pale writer wearing my long black coat again, so look for me and say hello!

The Unconventional Author, or The Pale Writer in the Long Black Coat

“When I am dead,I hope it may be said: ‘His sins were scarlet,but his books were read.’ “ - Hilaire Belloc

This weekend, Sept 23rd through Sept 25th, I will be at FenCon/DeepSouthCon, a science fiction, fantasy, literary and filk convention in Dallas, Texas. I will be selling and signing copies of Lawyers in Hell, the shared world anthology edited by Janet Morris and Chris Morris that has my short story, “Remember, Remember, Hell in November” included within. I’ll be at the promotions tables Friday 2-4 PM and Sunday 2-4 PM with fellow author John Manning whose story, “Disclaimer” is also in Lawyers in Hell. I’ll be at the convention most of the weekend promoting the book. I’ll also be promoting the Irredeemable Order of Hellions, the official fan club for Perseid Publishing which publishes the Heroes in Hell series,  The Sacred Band series, and many more great series soon to be announced in the future. Those of you who read my post last week know I’ve been thinking about what my look, or brand, should be to promote myself as an author. Since the weather cooled off, I’m thinking of wearing the trenchcoat this weekend. Look for the short pale man in the long black coat. It will probably be me. I hope to see you there!

Branding the Writer

No, I’m not talking about the kind of branding you do on cattle. I’m talking about creating an image for yourself as a writer to use in promoting yourself. Some writers create a persona or alter ego for themselves that makes them stand out, and be memorable. They will even go as far as creating a costume or particular outfit to wear to public appearances, book signings, conventions, so they are easily recognizable. 

An example is fellow author, Zombie Zak. He has branded himself as a cookie eating, world domination scheming, verse spewing zombie who writes poetry, horror, and fantasy. He has done such a great job of promoting himself that he has become quite well known with this persona.  So much so that I don’t even know his real name. Another is Louis Agresta, writer, role-playing gamer, entertainer, who wears a loud orange suit and hat to conventions, making him visibly stand out among the crowds. Author Richard Evans utilizes an online persona of a dwarf named Brodder Foamymugs, complete with an illustrated profile picture of a fantasy dwarf in armor with a tankard full of beer.

A fellow author and I were discussing promoting our works and ourselves as writers. We were talking about how projecting a certain memorable image can help you with book sales, and certainly make you stick in the minds of readers and fans. It got me to thinking about what my personal image, or persona as an author might be, or what I could develop to become more memorable.

My interests in life are quite diverse. I am a paranormal investigator, Qi-Gong Kung Fu martial artist, writer of poetry, fantasy, horror, science fiction, non-fiction among other things.  I am known for collecting  and repeating famous or infamous, quotes. As far as clothing goes, I have a penchant for wearing a full length black trench coat when weather allows. I also like to wear a lot of black or dark colors.  I own a long black cloak for a costume based on my dark fiction novel main characters called The ShadowRogue. I  have a pirate costume that I wear to renaissance and other historical faires, at Halloween and to costume parties. Also I’m actually quite short,  just over five feet tall, and people often remember me for that. Larry the short, story writer?

But which of these things makes me stand out, and will make me memorable? Do I want to be known as The Pirate Writer? Not really, since I don’t usually write about pirates. Although I did write a short piece of fiction creating a character based on my pirate costume. When I finish my ShadowRogue novel, I can see that dressing up as my main character to promote the book makes sense, but I’m not ready to do that yet. Paranormal investigation and martial arts are both things people identify me with, but how to develop those aspects into an image?

So what is my outstanding characteristic that typifies my brand? I don’t know. Larry the Quote Meister? Larry, the short guy who writes short stories? Larry the paranormal Kung Fu author? The black trench coat is certainly something I’m known for, but it’s not always practical when the weather outside, or the temperature  inside even, is too hot. And do I even need a theme or a  ”look” that is representative of who I am as a person, or as a writer? Again, I don’t know. But it’s fun to think up ideas for it, and maybe by the time one of the next sci-fi, fantasy conventions rolls around, I will have figured it out.