wyldemusick

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mac_stone

It's too hot to sleep

So I'm clicking my way around Youtube, instead.

My god. Remember this one? I was a kid, and it's very weird to me that there are adults who weren't even born yet:

kradical

Kill Audio Preview Book by Claudio Sanchez, Chondra Echert, and Mr. Sheldon ($5)
Kill Audio "monotone variant" vinyl figure ($40)
Farscape Volume 1: The Beginning of the End of the Beginning limited "Scorpius edition" hardcover by Rockne S. O'Bannon, Keith R.A. DeCandido, and Tommy Patterson ($50)
The Muppet Show limited edition hardcover by Roger Langridge ($50)
The Incredibles: Family Matters limited edition hardcover by Mark Waid and Marcio Takara ($50)
Cars: The Rookie limited edition hardcover by Alan J. Porter and Albert Carreres ($50)
The Incredibles: Family Matters #1 C and D holofoils by Waid & Takara ($20)
Irredeemable #4 John Cassaday sketch variant by Mark Waid and Peter Krause ($10)

Wednesday night through Sunday afternoon: Keith R.A. DeCandido (Farscape), Roger Langridge (The Muppet Show), and Michael Alan Nelson (Fall of Cthulhu, Hexed) will be signing throughout the entire show.

Wednesday (preview night)
6-7pm: Disney Pixar signing with Roger Langridge (The Muppet Show), Alan J. Porter (Cars), and Mark Waid (The Incredibles).
7-8pm: Mark Waid signing (Irredeemable, The Incredibles, Potter's Field)

Thursday
11am-12pm: Disney Pixar signing with Langridge, Porter, and Waid
12-1pm: Mark Waid signing
12.30-1.30pm: "Indie Comics Marketing 101," with Chip Mosher (BOOM! Marketing Director) along with Shannon Wheeler (Too Much Coffee Man), Heidi MacDonald (Publishers Weekly), and Sam Humphries (MySpace) [Room 4]
1.30-2.30pm: "Spotlight on Jerry Robinson," with Mark Waid interviewing legendary comics creator Robinson [Room 4]
3.30-4.30pm: "Digital Comics Now!" with Chip Mosher, along with Michael Murphey (iVerse), David Steinberger (comiXology), Rantz Hosley (LongBox), and Chris Folino (Catastrophic Comics) (Room 4)
4-5pm: "Spotlight on Gail Simone," with Mark Waid interviewing Wonder Woman's Simone [Room 5AB]
6-7pm: Mark Waid signing
9pm-whenever we fall down: BOOM! Drink Up, hosted by Mark Waid [Manchester Grand Hyatt Lobby Bar]

Friday
10.15-11.15am: "Farscape 10th Anniversary," with comics scripter Keith R.A. DeCandido and creator/executive producer Rockne S. O'Bannon, along with Brian Henson (executive producer), Ben Browder (John Crichton), and Claudia Black (Aeryn Sun) [Room 6BCF]
11am-12pm: Disney Pixar signing with Langridge, Porter, and Waid
1-2pm: "BOOM! Studios," with co-founder Andrew Cosby, managing editor Matt Gagnon, marketing director Chip Mosher, co-founder/publisher Ross Richie, and editor-in-chief Mark Waid [Room 32AB]
2-3pm: Mark Waid (Irredeemable) and Rockne S. O'Bannon & Keith R.A. DeCandido (Farscape) signing
3-4pm: Andrew Cosby and Ed Quinn (Eureka) signing
3-4.30pm: "Scribe Awards," with Keith R.A. DeCandido receiving a Grandmaster Award, along with Max Allan Collins (GI Joe), Stacia Deutsch (The Dark Knight: The Junior Novelization), Matt Forbeck (Mutant Chronicles), Robert Greenberger (Hellboy: The Lost Army), Nathan Long (Warhammer: Elfslayer), and James Rollins (Indiana Jones & the Last Crusade) [Room 4]
4-5pm: Claudio Sanchez (Kill Audio) signing
5-6pm: Mark Waid signing

Saturday
10-11am: Disney Pixar signing with Langridge, Porter, and Waid
11.30am-12.30pm: "Spotlight on Sheldon Moldoff," with Mark Waid interviewing "Shelly" Moldoff [Room 10]
1-2pm: Mark Waid signing
2.30-3.30pm: "Farscape Comics by BOOM! Studios," with editor Ian Brill, cover artist Joe Corroney, scripter Keith R.A. DeCandido, and creator/executive producer/plotter Rockne S. O'Bannon [Room 10]
3.45-4.45pm: Rockne S. O'Bannon and Keith R.A. DeCandido (Farscape) signing
4-5pm: Claudio Sanchez (Kill Audio) signing
5-6pm: Mark Waid signing

Sunday
10-11am: "The Muppet Show Comics by BOOM! Studios," with writer/artist Roger Langridge and surprise guests [Room 32AB]
11.30am-12.30pm: Disney Pixar signing with Langridge, Porter, and Waid
2-3pm: Mark Waid signing
2-3pm: "The Art of Pixar's Cars," with Alan J. Porter, along with Martin Arriola (Mattel), Ken Chang (Takefiveaday.com), and Ryan Gleason (Mattel) [Room 5AB]

mb_galleycat

http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/party_hopping/authors_favorite_status_galleys_121856.asp?c=rss

Last night GalleyCat braved the muggy July weather for the launch party for Granta 107 at the cozy Manhattan bookstore, Three Lives & Co..

We spotted a couple review copies of Thomas Pynchon's "Inherent Vice" floating around the party, and even struck up a conversation with Salman Rushdie about the reclusive author. It reminded us of the NY Observer's feature about 2009's "status galleys"--measuring how much credibility an advance reading copy of a hot book can lend to the regular reader.

Inspired, this GalleyCat editor interviewed some of the writers and editors at the party about their favorite status galley--including video answers from John Wray (author of Lowboy), Matthew Aaron Goodman (author of "Hold Love Strong"), and John Freeman, Granta's acting editor.

stacia_kane

Well, here we are. My first blog post in my new home. I hope it works. Have you all seen StaciaKane.net? Staciakane.com should lead to it too (waiting for the nameservers to change over) as well as decemberquinn.com. I love the site; it’s better than I could possible have hoped. The fabulous Frauke at Croco Designs did it for me; she literally took my logo and my few vague thoughts (”I like skulls and black and white” is basically everything I gave her, no shit) and created the most gorgeous site ever. So go check it out. And yes, there are still some lurking typos; we’re working on it, I swear.

Sorry I wasn’t here yesterday. It was the hubs’ birthday, which of course I forgot when I did my Monday post, as we actually did most of our celebrating on Tuesday; dinner at Trader Vic’s downtown and a night at the Hilton (so we could both drink, y’see, and not have to drive home. And boy, did we drink. Mmm…tiki drinks.)

Anyway. So that deadline I had? Yes. I am very pleased to announce that DEMON POSSESSED, the third Megan Chase novel, was turned in at about 4:30 am Tuesday morning. Overall I’m pretty happy with it. I didn’t get as much editing as I would have liked, but my editor will be sending it back with her comments next week, I believe, so I can fix whatever little issues there may still be then. But I certainly think I’ve managed to up the stakes exponentially in this one, and the main conflict of the book came off pretty much exactly as I’d hoped and had been planning since I wrote the first one. So we’ll see.

This is the main problem, for me. When I start I’m all excited and think the book will be fantastic. It never lives up to what I had in mind. I can only hope it comes close. I could tinker with a book forever. FOREVER. At some point I have to force myself to stop–or well, now my editors force me to stop–and release it into the wild like an orphaned baby animal who can now hopefully fend for itself. And hope it gets a decent reception.

Oh! And this is exciting. UNHOLY GHOSTS is listed on the HarperVoyager website (UK) and they’ve added their own copy, which I will now share with you cuz I think it’s pretty fucking cool:

The first book in a compelling new urban fantasy series, The Downside Ghosts. Murderous spirits and ruthless drug dealers combine to create serious problems for fiercely independent heroine, Chess, in these fast-paced, sexy and addictive novels – fitting for a witch with a serious drug problem.

Cessaria – or ‘Chess’ – Putnam is a troubled young witch who hunts down and banishes angry spirits (there aren’t any other kind). Her tools are few: magical tattoos that alert her to their presence, an arcane powder or two, grave dirt and her devious imagination. Chess’ employer is the only powerful institution left in the world: the Church of Truth. After the dead rose, twenty-three years ago, to slake their thirst for blood, governments and religious institutions fell, and the Church of Truth took their place. They harnessed the supernatural and saved the remaining population. The Church has been training witches ever since. Chess lost her family during Haunted week and grew up in a succession of abusive childrens’ homes and foster families until the Church recognised her talent and took her in. But she’s still haunted by those memories, and has developed a ’small’ drug problem in order to stifle them; a problem that could see her lose everything if it were uncovered, and one that frequently gets in her way. Not only is she caught between her addiction and Church rules, she is also exploited by her dealers, who see her as their own personal banisher; juggling her commitments has never been more difficult, especially when someone summons a Dream Thief: a dark force so powerful and malevolent that it even frightens the dead.

I notice they’re calling it the “Downside Ghosts” series, which is also pretty cool. I’ve been (as you know) calling it the Downside series; I’ve seen it referred to as the Chess Putnam series and assumed that was how Del Rey would refer to it. But whatever.

Anyway. Monday we start our Summer Series on critiques and critique partners. And I am going to try to figure out how to do lj-cuts at WordPress and start tagging all the old entries.

sfwa_admin
sfwa

If you are writing fiction that’s set at any point in the real world’s history, the subject of research can take up countless hours of time.  The nitty details can tie up you up while writing anything from alternate history to urban fantasy.  Sometimes though, you just need to know a quick date to set the  background of your story.

Check out the Google News Timeline, as a quick place to start your search.  It  will either save you countless hours of research or suck you into hours of distraction.  What’s particularly handy about it is that you can see what happens on the days or weeks on either side of the even you are looking for. This is useful in setting your context or avoiding blunders.

Mirrored from SFWA | Comment

mb_galleycat

http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/web_tech/harry_potter_and_the_iphone_apps_121873.asp?c=rss

As the Harry Potter franchise launches the adaptation of J.K. Rowling's novel, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," a number of companies are experimenting with promotional iPhone apps. Will they sell books?

In Apple's App Store Potter fans can find an official free application that imitates Dumbledore's Pensieve. Users can uncork digital memory vials, revealing scenes and other film content. Readers can also paste their pictures into Wanted posters, imitating the boy wizard's adventures as a magical outlaw.

The Christian Science Monitor uncovered a wizard wand app called Magic Wars, allowing young readers to cast spells with a smartphone. Check it out: "[The app] trains Hogwarts' newest students in the art of casting spells and prepares them for duels with other wizards. The game, launched three weeks ago by pocketfungames, preps players for wizard battles by having them practice motions with an iPhone while reciting an incantation."

mb_galleycat

http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/lit_crit/literary_journal_pays_contributors_1000__121891.asp?c=rss

In a Flavorpill interview, the editors of a new journal explained how they manage to pay contributors $1,000 for a story in this difficult economy.

mb_galleycat

http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/authors/salman_rushdies_dinner_with_thomas_pynchon_121888.asp?c=rss

Last night a crowd of literature lovers filled up Three Lives & Co. bookstore and spilled into the West Village street for a literary block party--celebrating the release of Granta 107. Among the attendees were Zadie Smith, Joshua Ferris, John Wray, and Granta acting editor John Freeman.

During the festivities, GalleyCat caught up with Salman Rushdie (pictured, via), who just finished a screenplay draft for his classic novel, "Midnight's Children." The author said he was looking forward to reading a copy of Thomas Pynchon's "Inherent Vice" this summer. "It sounds like his most lighthearted book since Vineland," he told this reporter, recalling a dinner he had with the reclusive Pynchon while reviewing "Vineland" for the NY Times.

"He was extremely Pynchon-eque. He was the Pynchon I wanted him to be," explained Rushdie. He wouldn't describe the secretive author, but wished he could have befriended Pynchon. "He never called again," Rushdie concluded, ruefully.

mb_galleycat

http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/adaptation/percy_jackson_rides_harry_potters_capetails_121883.asp?c=rss

As unhappy kids around the world ponder the eventual end of the Harry Potter franchise, "Percy Jackson and the Olympians" series is poised to replace the boy wizard at the multiplex.

This weekend, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" screenings will feature that trailer for the adaptation of the "The Lightning Thief," the first installment in the series by Rick Riordan. According to the Examiner, the book follows an ongoing quest led by a young half-god. The movie is directed by Chris Columbus, who helmed the first two Potter films.

Here's more from the article: "These books have a Harry Potter meets Chronicles of Narnia feeling that becomes a fresh and unique take on the young hero story by drawing on Greek mythology. Casting for this movie includes familiar names like Pierce Brosnon, Rosario Dawson, Uma Thurman and Kevin McKidd."

mb_galleycat

http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/on/journalists_debate_ebook_pricing_121877.asp?c=rss

Today on the Morning Media Menu, the show featured Lisa R. Cohen, an Emmy Award-winning television news magazine
producer and author of the investigative nonfiction book, "After Etan." Cohen shared some thoughts about the state of the publishing industry and told the story of a world-famous kidnapping behind her book.

The show was hosted by GalleyCat editor Jason Boog and AgencySpy editor Matt Van Hoven. At one point, Van Hoven questioned the actual production cost of a digital book, sparking a uniquely 21st Century debate.

Cohen replied: "You pay $25 to eat in a restaurant instead of the $1.50 it would cost for you to make it yourself. You're paying for all kinds of other things. You're paying for the rental of the restaurant, the cost of paying all the waiters and cooks. When you write a book, there are all sorts of costs that go into it that don't have anything to do with the actual production cost."

mb_galleycat

http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/web_tech/the_author_who_sent_his_story_out_on_the_blog_tour_121860.asp?c=rss

Yesterday, readers of the literary website Juked were treated to the first chapter of Forecast, an online serial with a twist. You see, Shya Scanlon isn't just publishing his novel's 42 chapters in regular installments over the next five months—he's lined up 42 different websites to host the story as it unfolds. The story, described by one advance reader as "part SF, part noir, part road narrative and part love story," will appear in venues ranging from the Emerging Writers Network and Opium to the personal blogs of authors Jami Attenberg and Matt Bell. "My hope," Scanlon writes, "is that if you aren't familiar with them already, you'll explore their rich offerings long after this project has concluded."

Here's the complete Forecast schedule; links to each chapter will be added as they're put online; you can also get updated by Scanlon via Twitter.

mb_galleycat

http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/lecture_circuit/richard_wilbur_day_sewanee_121857.asp?c=rss

Miriam Berkley sent us a photograph from a reading poet Richard Wilbur gave earlier this week at the 20th annual Sewanee Writers Conference. She reports that his selected presentations from The Disappearing Alphabet "had the audience in stitches." Earlier that day, William Logan, Wyatt Prunty, Mary Jo Salter, and Brad Leithauser paid tribute to the 88-year-old Wilbur with essays on his long career in poetry and translation.

mb_galleycat

http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/people_of_color/deadly_charm_by_claudia_mair_burney_117932.asp?c=rss

My Featured Book of Color Pick of the Day is by Claudia Mair Burney.

It is called Deadly Charm and is part of the Amanda Bell Brown mystery series.

It features a forensic psychologist whose plight to turn her life around after losing her husband and best friend finds herself solving the mystery of the death of a baby who'd died in an "accidental drowning." Bell's antennas are up as something is fishy.

This is the third (and final) book in the can’t miss series. It has been well-received by book clubs across the country and was given rave reviews by the #1 Book Reviewer on Amazon.com, Harriet Klausner.

Jeff Rivera is the author of "Forever My Lady" and the founder of GumboWriters.com

mb_galleycat

http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/buzzpr/youll_want_to_break_out_your_headphones_121858.asp?c=rss

If you've been reading GalleyCat for a while, you may recognize GumboWriters.com founder Jeff Rivera as the columnist who provides our "People of Color" coverage—he's also the author of the novel Forever My Lady, and to promote that book he's teamed up with FilmSound123.com to create an aural "book trailer" with a difference. The two-and-a-half-minute clip presents a dramatization of a scene from the novel, recorded in "holophonic sound" that is intended to create a "3-D effect," putting the listener in the center of the scene, as it were. And, according to a press release, the holophonic presentation generates such a realistic effect that it influences other sensory perceptions; it's claimed that the sound of a match being struck can make listeners believe they smell sulfur.

Here's the "virtual boot camp" scene from Forever My Lady. You'll want to listen to this on headphones, not only for the full holophonic effect but because the dialogue, while not strictly speaking NSFW, isn't 100% office-friendly, either.

mb_galleycat

http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/bookselling/harvard_up_to_sell_1000_books_on_scribd_121778.asp?c=rss

As the battered university press industry struggles with the recession, Harvard University Press has decided to sell 1,000 digital titles on Scribd.com--using the popular reading site as bookselling platform.

Titles range from the $68 digital version of "General Equilibrium, Overlapping Generations Models, and Optimal Growth Theory" to the 17.95 poetry collection, "Invectives." The press will post digital content alongside other university presses, including New York University Press and MIT Press.

Scribd CEO Trip Adler had this comment: "Scribd's goal is to collect all the world's written information -- whether for free or for purchase -- in one place and then make those works available to as many people as possible ... Harvard University Press has brought to light some of the world's most thought-provoking ideas in the form of printed books. We're thrilled to bring this amazing content to a much larger potential community of information seekers."