News, events, and general discussion

[Radthorne]

Greetings to you all. I'd like to use this thread to keep everyone up to date on what's going on with my books, the status of up-coming titles, and where I'll be showing up (book signings, conventions, and the like). And, any general purpose questions are fair game. I'll probably initiate some other threads on specific topics, and of course you are free to start one if you like.

Just as a quick note (I'm updating this one at work so will have to wait until this evening to put in a lot more stuff), I have a radio interview playing this week on the web. You can listen to it as a streaming audio file at DragonPage.com, which is a weekly talk show of SF and fantasy topics.

Also, this weekend I'll be at Rustycon, a regional convention here in the Seattle, WA area, in the U.S. I'll be on a panel on Saturday at 3:00 PM discussing Good and Evil, and which one should die at the end of the book. That's my only panel of the con (a light load this time), but if any members are going be sure to let me know and we can arrange to get together.

More later!

[Radthorne]

As promised, a bit more stuff.

I'll be appearing at a number of conventions in 2005, including:
Rustycon, as noted above, this weekend.
RadCon in Pascoe, WA on Feb 18th - 20th.
Norwescon in Seattle, WA on Mar 24th - 27th.
CascadiaCon in Seattle, WA on Sept 1st - 5th.
Foolscap in Bellevue, WA on Sept 23rd - 25
World Fantasy Con in Madison, WI Nov 3rd - 6th.

In addition, I'm working with the University of Washingon Bookstore on a reading when my next book is released in March.

If you miss the radio interview on DragonPage.com, it should show up in their archives next week. Also, I'll be posting the interview on my website at some point.

[Rocket Sheep]

My goodness you get around!

Another rumour I've heard about you and I was wondering if you could verify is, that you go into the office an hour early every day and spend that time writing. Do you do that every day without fail? Are you THAT dedicated?

[Radthorne]

Another rumour I've heard about you and I was wondering if you could verify is, that you go into the office an hour early every day and spend that time writing. Do you do that every day without fail? Are you THAT dedicated?

Whew! When I saw the bit about a rumour I thought I was going to have to distract the wife and say, "Don't mind what's on the screen, it's nothing..."

Actually, it's worse than that. I work for an hour and a half writing before I go into the office, and then drag in my laptop and write for another hour during lunch (bread crumbs in the keyboard are an occupational hazard). I use the term work for the writing on purpose, because you can't keep up that level of activity unless you think of it as a job rather than as a hobby (a perhaps particularly poorly paying job, but a job nonetheless...) And it is every day, although often the lunch time session gets interrupted for "real" work meetings (always getting in the way, that annoying money-paying job...) If you're going to write big books, you really have to put in the time or the things will never get done.

Now, if I could just get my fingers to start uncurling from overtyping...

[JRMurdock]

RadCon in Pascoe, WA on Feb 18th - 20th.

Radcon! You got your own con! That's so cool.

Sorry, had to.

Glad to see you're getting around to the con circuit. Any chance you'll be in San Diego any time?

P.S. I'm reading a few books about Gems and Trees and such. When I get done with those, can you guess which books I'll be picking up next?

[Radthorne]

I knew I always liked gnomes... Thanks - I look forward to hearing your feedback on 'em!

Yeah, I rather thought it would be appropriate to show up at RadCon. And of course one of their regular guests is also Irene Radford. So the two of us will have to sit next to each other at the signing table and be the "official" con signers...

I don't have any immediate plans to head for San Diego, but it's possible I'll get down there at some point. I visit family in L.A. several times a year, so once Sabakushi is out I may try to work in book store events with those trips. After I hit a few in the L.A. area, I'll see if I can get some going down in San Diego.

[alison]

The con thing is something I don't know anything about. Are they fun? How often would you go, and what do you get out of it?

[Radthorne]

The list that I posted up top is pretty typical for me for a year - mostly regional things that I can drive too from home (and go back to home each evening), with one or two more distant ones where I need to get a hotel room and pay for air fare. I try to serve on as many panels as I can get, and do a reading whenever they'll let me.

Are they fun? No, not really, at least for me. The primary reason I'm going is for the networking - interacting with other professionals and making contacts that may someday turn into something. I may sell a set or two of books during the weekend, if I was on a number of panels and people liked what they heard me say. That's another shotgun approach thing - by your presence (and the bookmarks and postcards you leave on the freebie table) you hope to attract the attention of the buying public in the genre (if they can be pried away from the big names long enough).

I'm at Rustycon this weekend, but I only had one panel today so not a lot of exposure (although the panel itself was pretty good - Jane Fancher was on it with me, and she's quite entertaining).

As Rocket will attest I'm not much of a social butterfly. So the whole networking thing is hard for me, but it's really a necessary thing. If I was better at it, I'd stay at the local cons in the evening and go to all the parties or sit in the bar (both places where a lot of the networking occurs), but that's just not really my thing. Instead I'm here posting messages (and networking with you!)

One concrete benefit has been that over time, by associating with other authors there (everyone from other bottom-of-the-food-chain types like me up to some good sized names), I've gained a lot of confidence about walking in those circles and not feeling like some sort of imposter.

Oh, and I did meet my publisher at a convention, where she offered me my original contract. So I suppose that was a pretty concrete benefit too!

[alison]

Thanks Rad - I'm a bit schizoid and tend to waver between being a butterfly type and cocooned anti-social solitude. I guess I'd probably be in the bar - I'll have to drag you in if we ever meet - when I'm away from home, I like to gad a bit. I've done the odd writer's festival, and it sounds as if the sff cons are kind of similar events. Only bigger, I believe? It's true, that thing of working out that famous writers et al are just, after all, human beings, and what a relief it is. I was once so shy I couldn't speak to people because it felt like my jaw was wired shut, but I've mainly got past that. Though I have my moments.

And hey, cyber networking is fun, especially if you're supposed to be doing something else I'm the sort of person who was probably born to sit in cafes boring other people about the wonderful things I'm going to do, so I do love email - if other people's eyes glaze over, they can trash it without my seeing - and if my social circuits suddenly shut down, which they are prone to do without warning, well, it's not like you have to look for a taxi...

[Radthorne]

Certainly, feel free to drag me into a bar. I keep trying to entice Rocket Sheep to come up here to the States to attend either World Con or World Fantasy; perhaps we can swing an Australian package deal on writers and I can get both of you? Or, if Lise and I ever make it down for a trip to NZ, we can "swing by" for a visit to see my Aussie friends. (Something tells me, though, that it would be difficult to get you and Rocket out of the bar once we went in...

I wouldn't say that you're any slouch on the appearances front, judging from your website: let's see, last year you did a tour in the UK, went to Bern, and also hit various locales in Australia. Sounds pretty busy to me!

Feel free to include me on your emailing list, by the way, anytime that you want to chat.

[Rocket Sheep]

Yes, well... the bar... I went to my first con last year and ended up in the bar on the first night with a guy known to all as "Scary Costume Man". He actually was more hilarious than scary. And I didn't mind that but the con went downhill from there.

There were room parties that became mobile, ping pong championships that stole my pants, an anti-Clarionborg campaign, being labelled Trailer Trash because a group of us couldn't afford the hotel, the chance to meet every drunk in the city, and a stalker who took two days to figure out I wasn't a man (I'd offended him via the internet, you see). Anyway, it ended up being a very weird con... not something that could ever happen to a normal person on their first con experience. I tend to attract trouble. There were good things too. I got to chat to lots of great writers privately. They were hanging out in all the quiet spots I found to avoid the stalker. And some of the panels were interesting.

This year I'm going to this one: Continuuum but if anyone is thinking of heading downunder check out the Nat con in Tassie 'Thylacon' and also the Canberra one 'Conflux' and there's also something in Adelaide and Perth... this year too... but the first three I mentioned are all around the middle of the year... oh an there's one in Auckland about the same time... and you can drive off and check out Hobbitsville later.

[Radthorne]

...ping pong championships that stole my pants...

This is, um, an Australian phrase, I take it?

...and you can drive off and check out Hobbitsville later.

I've heard that the sets that are left are unpainted, de-foliated, etc. due to some agreement with New Line Cinema. Probably not quite as pretty as in the movies, I imagine...

[alison]

Certainly, feel free to drag me into a bar. I keep trying to entice Rocket Sheep to come up here to the States to attend either World Con or World Fantasy; perhaps we can swing an Australian package deal on writers and I can get both of you?

You're on! Though do you think they might iris scan and send us back? It's been happening to a few Australians lately, and if Rocket Sheep is as wicked as she says, and gets around with no pants after pingpong games (I don't know what it means, either - but I'm sure there's a story there) - well!!!!

[Rocket Sheep]

Those are the rules of ping pong. If you get no points before the other person gets to 21 you have to run down the street with no pants on. Don't you know the rules?

[alison]

I bow down and grovel in my ignorance, o Rocket Sheep. (If I knew how to use those smiley things at the side, I'd put up the shocked looking one.) But Great Flaming Ovine One, forgive me for observing this, but you must be pretty bad at ping pong, if you got no points at all. Or were you seeing two ping pongs, and kept hitting the wrong one? I don't want anyone seeing the parlous state of my knickers, so I'll take note and gracefully decline any challenges that might come my way...

I guess we should let Rad get back to his news...