Leprecon 34 This Weekend! (Here’s My Schedule) Thursday, May 8th, 2008 Per my last shout, I’m in Arizona this weekend at Leprecon 34. If you’re in the neighborhood, come on by and get your geek on. These local SF/F conventions are my very favorite kinds of events for a reason — they’re FUN. The complete convention schedule PDF can be found here. I’ve excerpted the Howard Tayler bits below: THURSDAY Fly to Phoenix. Drive to Casa Grande. Eat. See sights. Miss my regular Thursday RPG. THIS IS A HUGE SACRIFICE, PEOPLE. FRIDAY 4:30pm - GoH Dinner: meet in the Hotel Lobby for the Guest of Honor Dinner with Howard and the other GoHs. 8:30pm - Palo Verde Room: Sci-047 - “Will Space Colonies Be Like Hippy Communes or Military Bases?” (Howard Tayler, Emily and Ernie Hogan, Hugh S. Gregory, Wolf Forrest, Mike Wilmoth, G. David Nordley) ALSO at 8:30pm - Art Show Walkthrough with the Guests of Honor… I may start my leg of the tour an hour late, since this covers a two-hour block. SATURDAY 1:00pm - Mesquite Room: Lit 004 - “You Don’t Have To Be An Expert to Write About It, But You Do Have To Do Research” (Howard Tayler, Emily and Ernie Hogan, Adam Niswander) 2:30pm - Mesquite: Lep 003 - “Meet Howard Tayler” (My “Guest of Honor” Panel… here’s where you can ask me all those Schlock-specific questions and expect me not to deflect them for being off-topic. 4:00pm - Palo Verde: Lit 003 - “You’ve Made The World, Now You’ve Got To Write In It” (Howard Tayler, Hugh S. Gregory, Adam Niswander) 8:30pm - Boardroom: Lit 005 - “Web Publishing and The Free Content Business Model” (Howard Tayler, Emily and Ernie Hogan) 10:00pm - Palo Verde: Lit 006 - “Writing Believable Characters” (Howard Tayler) SUNDAY 2:30pm - Mesquite: Lit 007 - “Space Opera vs Military Fiction: Is There A Difference?” (Howard Tayler, Bennie Grezlik, Kit Townsend) MONDAY Fly home, take a half-day off. Maybe paint some minis. I can’t tell you exactly when I’ll be sitting down and doing signings and sketchings, but I’m sure that’ll happen at some point every day of the convention. I probably won’t have time for complex commissions, but I’m bringing my markers with me, so hope springs eternal. I’m ALSO bringing the complete (though not completely COLORED) Teraport Wars bonus story with me, should you feel inclined to read it and spoil it for yourself three months in advance of publication of the book. I won’t have the new T-shirts or mousepads with me. Those aren’t being printed until next week. Sorry! Filed under Conventions | 3 Comments »

Leprecon 34 is This Weekend! Monday, May 5th, 2008 If you’re in Arizona, this weekend come see me at Leprecon 34, Arizona’s science fiction and fantasy convention. It’s being held at the gorgeous Francisco Grande Resort in the lovely desert hamlet of Casa Grande. I’ll have books, pins, shirts, and maybe even some of the new shirts and mousepads. I’ll also be on a number of panels, answering Schlockiverse questions, and discussing a wide range of topics of interest to science fiction fans everywhere. You’ve heard me on Writing Excuses… now you can hear me in person, and try to stump me with your own questions. Ask whatever you like! (Note: There are plenty of panels to attend, whether or not I’m on them. Check out the Leprecon 34 Programming Schedule here in PDF format.) I’m bringing my markers, so I’ll probably be able to bang out a few commissions, and I’ll definitely be able to throw down lots of free sketches. Don’t miss this chance to have me deface your Schlock book, or doodle in your sketchbook. Filed under Conventions, Merchandise | 6 Comments »

Writing Excuses: The Second Stacy Whitman Episode Monday, May 5th, 2008 This week’s Writing Excuses features Stacy Whitman, as well as a healthy helping of “no Howard.” If you’re interested in getting your writing published “Submitting to Editors Part 2” is a must-listen (though you should also must-listen to last week’s as well.) In this podcast Stacy, Dan, and Brandon cover how to approach editors at cons, how to inquire about work you’ve already submitted, and how to butter editors up by asking about their current projects. Filed under Podcasts | No Comments »

Event Report: Free Comic Book Day 2008 Sunday, May 4th, 2008 Free Comic Book Day at Dragons Keep is always fun, and this year we had a great ensemble of talent. Chad, Mandy, Kevin, JJ, Dave and I had a good time talking, sketching, and committing commerce. Spider-Man himself dropped by for a bit (he even signed a few comics as “Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man”). My only complaint… Smart Howard never even checked into the building. I did a bunch of sketches, but didn’t have the brain space to tackle anything complex. Chad, meanwhile, knocked down some GORGEOUS sketch cards, inked AND colored. It was pretty humbling. A couple of interesting merchandise ideas reared their heads. The most amusing: Schlock cross-stitch patterns. They’d be cheap as nothing to print, but kind of a pain to design. Question: would YOU pay $10 for a nice cross-stitch pattern (you stitch it yourself) of one of the SHoHEPirates Rules with an illustration? Following the event, Kevin Wasden, Chad Hardin and I went out to eat, and I ate too much. Good friends, good conversation, good sushi, good times… Filed under Merchandise, Events | 14 Comments »

Ooops. I forgot one! (More merch…) Friday, May 2nd, 2008 For the longest time these were “convention-only” goodies. Now, however, Sandra is prepared to ship all kinds of shapes and sizes of things besides just books, so we’re putting the Tagon Logo Pins in the store. These solid metal pins add a measure of authority to whichever fishing hat, convention vest, or legionnaire sash they may adorn. And we know those particular articles need whatever measure of authority they can get. Filed under Merchandise | 35 Comments »