Tag Archives: schedule

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Balticon 53 Schedule!

balticon logoOnce again, I look forward to returning to my local convention this year, Balticon 53 in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor over Memorial Day weekend. And by local, I mean that I literally worked 2 blocks away from the host hotel for over 10 years.

It will be super easy to find me this year, since for the majority of the convention I will be hanging out in the dealer room! I will be selling my books, along with other titles from my publisher Raw Dog Screaming Press.

I am on programming as well, so here are the other places you’ll be able to find me:

Saturday

  • 4 PM: After Avengers: Endgame (panel)
    • Did Avengers: Endgame deliver on the buildup promised by earlier films? How do you feel about the prior films after all this has happened?
    • With Kim the ComicBookGoddess (moderator), Dame Dahlia, Liz Dukes, and D’Manda Martini
  • 6 PM: The Blurring of Genre Borders (panel)
    • Can you easily tell whether a work is science fiction, fantasy, horror, or literary? If you can’t, is it a good or a bad thing?
    • With Scott Roche, Sarah Pinsker, L.H. Moore, L. Marie Wood, and Roberta Rogow (I’m moderating!)
  • 8 PM: How to Self-Edit That Lousy First Draft (panel)
    • Panelists discuss techniques for editing when you don’t have an outside reader to help.
    • With Joshua Bilmes (moderator), Jay Smith, Karen Osbourne, Scott Edelman, and Ian Randal Strock

Sunday

  • 10 AM: From Fanfic to Pro (panel)
    • You’re confident at creating coherent sentences, and have become good at building upon the worlds of others. You have the discipline of writing pretty much in your grasp. How do you start creating characters that don’t feel like you’re borrowing them? How do you movie into worldbuilding when it wasn’t necessary before? Come talk to authors who have written both.
    • With T. Eric Bakutis, K.M. Szpara, Vivian Shaw, and Steven Howell Wilson (I’m moderating!)
  • 12 PM: Autograph session
    • With Jennifer R. Povey

Monday

  • 12 PM: Readings
    • With Gail Z. Martin and T. Eric Bakutis
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StokerCon 2019 Schedule!

StokerCon 2019 imageI’m excited to attend my first StokerCon this week, in Grand Rapids, Michigan! This is not a convention I plan to attend normally, but the stars aligned to make attending this year too awesome to pass up, such as my publisher Raw Dog Screaming Press winning this year’s Specialty Press Award.

For most of the event, you’ll be able to find me at the RDSP table in the dealer’s room, where my books will be available despite the lack of blatant horror. I do have some spots on the schedule though:

Thursday

  • 7 PM: Be a Diamond in the Slush Pile Rough (panel)
    • Tired of getting lost in the stack of unread submissions? Do you want your work to stand out as the diamond in the rough? Learn the top editing tips that can help you rise above the slush pile and get published.
    • With Michael Cieslak, Norman Prentiss, J.D. Barker, and April Grey

Friday

  • 12 PM: Reading
    • With Jeff Strand and Peggy Christie
  • 5 PM: Mass Autograph Session & Ice Cream Social

Saturday

  • 1 PM: Creating Stories by Changing the Past (presentation)
    • Join author and editor J.L. Gribble for an overview of the alternate history genre, followed by world-building activities with audience interaction to create various alternate histories of our own. Appropriate for both readers and creators.

I’m getting to the hotel on Wednesday evening and leaving Sunday morning, so there’s plenty of time to hang out if you’d like to meet for a meal, drink, coffee, or just a chat! I’m attending the awards ceremony on Saturday night, but not the banquet, so I’ll definitely be looking for dinner buddies for that time.

Will I see you there?

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Cleveland Concoction 2019 Schedule

Cleveland ConCoction logo 2019

I’m excited to return to one of my favorite annual events this weekend! I’ll be in Cleveland, Ohio, for Concoction 2019. The spouse is jealous because I’m taking the Tesla for it’s first-ever road trip, as in, I will have to stop at least once each way to recharge at a supercharger stop. But once I get there, I’ll be geeking out over my own pursuits. Check out my full schedule below. Continue reading →

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ChessieCon 2018 Schedule

chessielogoThis weekend, I will be recovering from Thanksgiving by hanging out at the Red Lion Hotel Baltimore North for ChessieCon 2018! My schedule is below.

I’m not staying at the convention hotel for this one, so give me a shout if you want to meet up for coffee or a meal. As usual, the best way to reach me during a convention is through a Facebook message or Twitter DM.

FRIDAY

  • 9:15 PM: Broad Universe Rapid Fire Reading
    • With Danielle Ackley-McPhail, Margaret Carter, Roberta Rogow, Michelle D. Sonnier, and Elektra Hammond
  • 10:30 PM: Alternate Endings for your Favorite Canceled TV Shows (panel)
    • The show was brilliant, but that’s how they ended it?! Firefly, Enterprise, Jericho, Terminator, to name a few, all ended before their time. This panel is a group discussion/impromptu exercise to make our own endings.
    • With Elektra Hammond, Jeff Gritman, Timothy Liebe, and Harrison Demchick

SATURDAY

  • 10 AM: Time Management for the Overachieving Creator (panel)
    • Wearing too many hats? Going it indie as an author or publisher can really fragment your time. Panelists discuss ways you can streamline your process to be productive while still getting necessary things done.
    • With Danielle Ackley-McPhail, Intisar Khanani, Valerie Mikles, and Linda Adams
  • 4:15 PM: Young Adult Fiction: Why Then? Why Now? (panel)
    • In 1967, highschooler S.E. Hinton wrote The Outsiders, and the YA genre was quickly off and running. Now, over thirty years later, YA is rapidly expanding again. Both adults and teenagers are reading it, and YA books pop up on every bestseller list. What happened then, and what’s happening now that causes YA to grow so wildly?
    • With Mary Fan, Tamora Pierce, and Intisar Khanami
  • 6:45 PM: Mass Author Signing

SUNDAY

  • 10 AM: Author Reading
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World Fantasy 2018 Schedule

World Fantasy 2018 bannerI’m very excited to attend World Fantasy this year! It’s in Baltimore, so I really have no excuse not to be there. I think it’ll be a great opportunity for me to start meeting agents BEFORE I have a novel to pitch to them (the UFO book, which gets written in 2020!), so it will be a more relaxed atmosphere for everyone involved.

As an added bonus, I’ll get to see so many writer friends from my grad school tribe and beyond, and I’m even on programming!

  • Thursday, 2 PM: Working with Editors
    • Workshop with limited space available
    • A broad discussion about editor interactions regarding short fiction and novels, including hiring developmental editors, finding sensitivity readers, submitting short fiction to magazines, sending queries for a novel to agents or publishers, and handling rewrites and line-edits. Plus a Q&A session with leading editors in the speculative fiction field today.
    • With Scott H. Andrews, Beneath Ceaseless Skies magazine
  • Friday, 11 AM: Writing as Sanctuary
    • Panel: How does the art and/or exercise of writing provide sanctuary from the world. Can writing take you away from the external or is that always carried through to your work? #SanctuaryWriting
    • With Jacob Baugher, J.D. Blackrose, J.L. Gribble, Anna La Voie (M), and K. Ceres Wright
  • Friday, 8 PM: Mass Author Signing
  • Saturday, 10 PM: Broad Universe Rapid Fire Reading
  • Sunday, 11:30 AM: Individual Author Reading

I’m staying at the hotel in Baltimore, so I’ll be around all weekend if you want to hang out and chat or grab a meal/coffee/adult beverage. As usual, the best way to reach me during a convention is through a Facebook message or Twitter DM.

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Capclave 2018 Schedule

Capclave dodoThis weekend I’ll be attending Capclave, sponsored by the Washington Science Fiction Association, for the first time! Even though it’s a fairly local convention to me, I’ll be staying at the hotel for the full experience, and I’m excited to spend time with everyone who will be there. Below is my schedule for the weekend, but as usual, feel free to PM me on Facebook or Twitter if you’d like to meet up for a meal, a coffee, or just a chat!

I will have copies of all of my books available all weekend, including the newly released Steel Time!

FRIDAY

  • 4 PM: Secret Origins of Writers (panel)
    • To MFA or not to MFA. Pros and cons of workshops like Odyssey, Clarion, Taos Toolbox, and MFA programs such as Stonecoast and Iowa Writers Workshop.
    • With Scott Edelman, Suzanne Palmer, Jack Stillingstead, and James R. Stratton
  • 6 PM: Reading
  • 7 PM: Taxonomy of Fantasy (panel)
    • Urban fantasy, paranormal romance, dark fantasy, high fantasy, epic fantasy, mythic fantasy, etc. How many types of fantasy are there? Reader’s tastes evolve over time. Which types of fantasy are currently the most powerful, which are becoming less popular, where is fantasy headed, and why?
    • With Craig L. Gidney and Lawrence Watt-Evans
  • 9 PM: How to Self-Edit that Lousy First Draft
    • Sometimes a first draft of a story is just not in a state your want to send to an editor or publisher, and yet too promising to simply set aside. What’s a good mindset to identify the pieces that can best be salvaged in revision? How can a first draft go from lousy to respectable with the least amount of exertion that could perhaps be spent on other works?
    • With Doc Coleman, Michelle D. Sonnier, and James R. Stratton
  • 10 PM: Author Table

SATURDAY

  • 10 AM: Throw Out the Genre Definitions (panel)
    • Intersections of YA, horror, romance, erotica, literary fiction, and SFF and their current successes. Who is doing it well?
    • With Jeanne Adams, Kelly Dwyer, and Joan Wendland
  • 1 PM: What Makes Alternate History So Compelling? (panel)
    • Alternate histories continue to proliferate, though in accordance with Sturgeon’s Law, most fail the plausibility test, the storytelling test, or both. Why do the what-ifs continue to fascinate us, and what makes a power story in this subgenre?
    • With Tom Doyle, Bjorn Hasseler, Alan Smale, and Jean Marie Ward
  • 5 PM: Writers as Fans: How Fandom Influences Our Writing (panel)
    • A panel of writers discusses their favorite fandoms and how their passions have inspired and influenced their writing.
    • With Andrew Fox, Victoria Janssen, and Hildy Silverman
  • 7:30 PM: Mass Autographing Session

SUNDAY

  • 10 AM: Ask Me Anything–Author Edition (panel)
    • Ask our panel of authors absolutely anything about what they do–writing, getting published, elevator pitches, getting an agent, dealing with writers block, writers workshops, etc. Includes many non-writer-parts-of-being-a-writer, such as being your own boss, setting schedules, and so on
    • With Alyssa Wong, Jonathan Brazee, Suzanne Palmer, and Lawrence M. Schoen
  • 12 PM: Don’t Go There–Unless You Really Want To (panel)
    • Taboo subjects in fantasy and science fiction. Are there any? What lines won’t you cross? What lines should you cross?
    • With Sarah Avery, Shahid Mahmud, and Lawrence Watt-Evans
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Confluence 2018 Schedule

Confluence 2018

For my second annual trip to western Pennsylvania this summer, I’ll be headed for Confluence, the speculative fiction literary convention hosted by Parsec, Pittsburgh’s science-fiction and fantasy society. I have a great time there every year, and I’m excited to head back this upcoming weekend.

Due to miscommunications in a few different fronts, my schedule for the weekend is lighter than normal. That means more time to hang out with people and have fun! Let me know if you’ll be around and want to grab a meal, a drink, or a coffee (I like all of the above).

FRIDAY

6:00 PM: Bring On the Bad Guys (panel)
What makes a good villain? What makes great villains so memorable? With R. K. Thorne, Joshua Bellin, Frederic S. Durbin, and Stephen C. Fisher

SATURDAY

11:00 AM: Blurring the Lines: Writing Across Genres (panel)
How we blend SF, fantasy, horror, romance, mystery, and other genres. With Brian Koscienski and Larry Ivkovich

12:00 PM: Reading from the Steel Empires series

SUNDAY

12:00 PM: Autograph session with S. C. Butler and Barbara Doran