The Reading Challenge!

I wanted to get this blog going again, but have had a heck of a time figuring out what to write. Then I remembered I have all these books…

The Collection

250 paperbacks (we double shelve) plus the same again in hardcovers and trades, plus comic books and graphic novels. Half are mine, half my fiancé’s. We have mythology, literary fiction, fantasy, horror, sci-fi, romance, children’s books, anthropology, history, geology, physics, archaeology, palaeontology, and biographies.

The Challenge

I work full time writing and ghostwriting, plus marketing and self-publishing (The Dark Season, beginning this fall, so watch for it) and looking after my daughter. I also suffer from depression, which I am fighting, but which sucks up a lot of energy and makes it hard for me to do other things. So how long will it take to read them all?

Let’s Find Out!

I'm starting this week with the paperbacks, alphabetically by author (anonymous goes first, anthologies are alphabetical by editor). Once I’ve finished those I’ll do the same with with the hardcovers and trades, then the comics and graphic novels. I’m excluding the martial arts manuals and cookbooks, but including (god help me) the books that I wrote (Small Magics, Cold Magics, and True Magics, which you should really read, if you haven’t). And to prove I’ve read them, I’ll post up a short review of each one here and on Goodreads. Because fun and social media marketing.

The First Book

Early Irish Myths and Legends

So join me on the journey, and feel free to tell me what you’re reading, because the more books, the better!
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Polaris!

Last night was the first night for Polaris 23 and a load of fun as usual. Attended the Blastoff party and got to speak with Matt Frewer, who is a very nice man and told me some interesting things about Doctor Doctor which he did in the 1980's and which was brilliantly funny.

Also got to meet Michael Hogan, another fine actor from Battle Star Galactica and many fine TV series including CTV's Cold Squad. Good actor.

And, finally (among the actors) got to meet the lovely Claudia Black who is as beautiful in person as she is on the screen and a lovely to talk with.

Saw and spoke with various other writers there, too: Douglas Smith, Julia Czerneda, Lesley Livingston, and Adrienne Cress.

Did my first panel at 11 p.m. and had great fun with it, but I didn't get to bed until 1:30 a.m. and my little girl got be up at 7:30. Man, am I tired.

Will be heading over there at noonish today. Looking forward to a good afternoon of schmoozing and book selling.

I'll be doing my reading at 7 p.m. tonight, and panels at 10 and 11 p.m., so do come out if you are in the area. My signing is tomorrow afternoon at 4 p.m.

Now, time to figure out which bit of Cold Magics I should read. First time reading any of it in public, too. Hmmm...

Polaris 21

Some time ago I said I'd talk about how Polaris 21 went. And now I am.

When we last left our bungling hero, I was stumbling around the house until 3:30 AM the night before, having gotten the dates for Polaris 21 completely wrong, and now was desperately scrambling to get organized. Finally, I succumbed to exhaustion at 4:30 AM.

Up at 7:30, I finished getting the stuff ready and them proceeded to call my assistant way to early to see if he was available. Of course he wasn't, so I went by myself.

And I had a blast.

There were great costumes, wonderful displays, great merchants (I bought a Bokken!). I sat on five panels ranging from the effects of TV, Film and Video game violence to how to manage using technical talk in your sci-fi writing without completely driving off the reader. Met some great people including Tanya Huff, who's vampire books (blood line, blood ties, and many others) are being made into a TV series. Good for you Tanya!

Both stage combat workshops went well and were reasonably well attend (though scheduled at the same time as Tanya Huff's and Barbara Hambly's signings, dammit), and the two people who showed up for my reading both said they liked the book very much and would buy it as soon as it comes out. And one of the people who was coming in to kick us out for the next group, said what he heard sounded really tense and interesting.

And if you figure that that makes three people who were there and three people is a crowd, then there was a whole crowd of people at my reading and everyone in it loved my book!

And if you're reading this, guys, go here to get an advanced copy!

Oh, well, that's what happens when you get put opposite Marina Sirtis signing autographs. I wouldn't have been there myself.

I'm on the clock in three minutes, but I wanted to end by saying I had a great time and thanks to David at Polaris for inviting me, and to everyone I met, played with, and talked with.

See you next year!

Well, How About That...

Back in high school I knew a girl named Angie Abdou. Now Angie is an author with a book of short stories out and a new novel. Here they are (click on each picture for their Amazon link):



Angie is launching her new novel, The Bone Cage, on September 21, 2007 at Pages on Kensington in Calgary, Alberta.

Congratulations Angie!

Small Magics: Update

A quick post tonight because I'm up way to late once again and 5:30 AM is coming far too soon.

Laura Diehl, my magnificent illustrator is doing great things withthe cover art, and Gwen, my publisher and I are just working out the schedule for the next two months before the book hits the shelf.

Meanwhile, I'm learning as much about generating publicity as possible, because I want to actually sell a few of these things!

Time for bed.

Of Great Books

So, I was reading Hamlet-

(wow, this is already sounding pretentious, isn't it? Bear with me...)

-using a 1955 edition published by the Great Books Foundation. It included a suggested reading list for a year, with some very interesting titles in it. So I went looking to see if they still exist.

They do.

And they are fascinating. Founded in 1947 to promote liberal education for the public, they continue today, and this is their mandate:

The Great Books Foundation is an independent, nonprofit educational
organization with a mission to help people think and share ideas. Towards this
end, the Foundation offers workshops in Shared Inquiry discussion and publishes
collections of classic and modern texts for both children and adults.

They have some excellent collections, ranging from literature to science to citizenship to human rights.

Have a look at their FAQ for a better idea of how they work, then check out their reading list. There's some fascinating reading there, and I'm planning on ordering some as soon as I finish this draft of Cold Magics.

Now I just need to get a book group going...