Until Midnight (& Sometimes Later)

The short form: Best. Con. Ever.

The long form:
I sold books, thanks in part to the great team at Fortress Publishing Inc., who did me a favor by putting my books out for sale on their table. Thanks Brian, Chris and Christine!

I was on panels, which enabled me to meet and interact with some great people. I moderated^* the Steampunk Panel, which was a rocking good time. I finally got to meet Kevin Geiselman (Geis) in person, and shared time with Al Katerinsky and Michelle [Sagara] West. I don’t think anyone can spend too much time with Michelle–she is one of the nicest and most interesting people I’ve ever met.
I did a small press panel with Brian Koscienski & Chris Pisano of Fortress Publishing, Inc., and Eric Beebe of Post Mortem Press–we had a great time sharing the state of the world of small press.
I also participated in a Web Publishing & Web Comics panel, also with Michelle and with Richard Errington and Paul Anderson. That was a really fast-paced fun panel, even if we went off topic a time or two or three . . . .
I even did two readings, one from my story in In An Iron Cage, and a late Saturday night erotica reading with K T Pinto (aided by a bottle of Glendronach). I read a selection from Beyond the Vision of Dreams, a weresnake fantasy sent to me by my friend Stella Price, written with her sister Audra.

I squeezed in a shift at the Parsec table, which mostly consisted of chatting with the people who stopped by. I went to several panels, all enjoyable, and live-tweeted several of them (including the social networking panel). I spent a few dollars in the Huckster’s Room, and chatted with a number of the dealers. I roomed with Chris Cowan from Undiscovered Treasures, and finally had time to catch up with her. Best. Roommate. Ever.

I met a bunch of people, including the folks in charge of programming, Karen Yun-Lutz & Kevin Hayes, and several folks from the Seton Hall MFA program. I only wish I could have spent more time with all of them!

If you haven’t been to Confluence, put it on your calendar for next year. It’s always a terrific con. I’m already making plans for next year!

Oh, and I got a convention t-shirt that had my name on the back as one of the guests–how cool is that?

^*I gained the courage to moderate from talking to one of the best panel moderators around, Carl Cipra. I asked him how to be a good moderator, listened, and tried to apply what I learned.

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Hurog Duology: Dragon Bones & Dragon Blood by Patricia Briggs narrated by Joe Manganiello

Audiobooks published by Buzzy Multimedia Dragon Bones (book #1) ISBN-13: 978-0-9827792-1-7 Dragon Blood (book #2) ISBN-13: 978-0982779231 http://www.buzzymultimedia.com Rating: 5 bookmarks (out of 5)

Also available as Mass Market Paperbacks published by Ace

I’ve been a fan of Patty Briggs for years. I own and have read all her books, even to having a original edition of Masques, which I’m told had a first printing of two thousand copies. I saw it on the bookstore shelf and picked it up, ’cause it sounded like something I wanted to read. And indeed it was. I do that a lot–it may be a family thing^*.

I had previously read and enjoyed the Hurog books, and Buzzy Multimedia and I go way back. And I am positively addicted to listening to audiobooks in the car, particularly when I have to drive anywhere longer than five minutes away.

Dragon Bones, and its sequel Dragon Blood are the story of Wardwick of Hurog, who grew out of a hard childhood in his beloved homeland of Chauvig into a reluctant hero. He has a good-heart, loves his family, and has a magical bond [of sorts] to the land that he doesn’t understand.

Ward struggles to grow into his destiny and hold his part of the kingdom together.
It isn’t easy for him. He has to make some really hard choices, and get involved in a lot of politics he’d just as soon avoid.

Patty Briggs has created a complex, richly textured world full of interesting characters. The plot is twisty and unpredictable and the writing (listening) wonderfully descriptive. While each book is complete in and of itself, they leave you wishing there was more.

While these are the only books set in this particular world, Patty Briggs has written many others, some stand alone, and several series. All are worth reading.

A sample of each of these audiobooks can be heard at the buzzy website.
One of the terrific things Buzzy does with their audiobooks is a cross-pollination of fandoms thing. They start with a book(s) that are popular on their own, and try to bring in new fans by using a reader from another segment of fandom, with their own following. In this case the books are read by Joe Manganiello, currently in the HBO series True Blood playing “Alcide Herveux.” Hopefully, some of Joe’s fans have tried the audiobooks, and discovered Patty Briggs . . . .

^*My dad [D] once brought home an album and played it for the family. Said he thought the guy was going to “make it someday.” The album was Tapestry by Don McLean. A year later he would release American Pie. D did that a lot.

We had a cat club meeting at the fabulous Nautilus Diner in Timonium, Maryland on Sunday. Mike and I have a bit over an hour travel time each way, and due to our other plans for the day, ended up at the meeting a bit early. So we sat at the counter and had a drink while we waited (I indulged in one of their wonderful egg creams–there are few things one cannot get at the Nautilus).

I pull out my laptop and started editing (I’ve got a lot on my plate at the moment). Mike was reading. In due course, a few folks arrived and we joined them at a table and had lunch and the meeting. Both went well–we accomplished a lot at the meeting, and food at the Nautilus is always good.

As things were winding down, our club president pulled out her phone to check on something, and in due course flagged down the waitress. Before I realized what was happening, she had asked for the wireless password. The waitress had no clue.

After the waitress left, I explained that the wireless she was picking up was the secured hotspot coming off my phone . . . I had needed to spot check something on the internet earlier and brought it up and promptly forgotten about it. Sitting across from me, it was showing as a very powerful wireless signal, so it had to be the diner, right? Nobody from the cat world knows that I’m Until Midnight . . .

I gave her the password.

Confluence is just around the corner, 22 – 24 July 2011 in Pittsburgh. Confluence is near and dear to my heart–it’s the convention put on by Parsec, the Pittsburgh area Science Fiction Club.

Mike and I joined Parsec in September 2004, when we attended a pre-Worldcon BBQ hosted by Wen Spencer. Wen is a former-Pittsburghian–we met the members of the club there and had a great time. We’ve been members ever since.

We/I have attended several Confluences since then (we missed a couple that conflicted with cat show commitments). But this is the first Confluence I’m attending as a panelist/guest.

Without further ado, here is my weekend schedule for Confluence:

~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~*
Saturday, 23 July 2011
2pm Sizzlin’ Steampunk – Cogs, Clicks and venting vapors
Elektra Hammond (m), Alan Katerinsky, Michelle Sagara, Kevin Geiselman

8pm Small Press Publishing – A New Respectability
Eric Beebe (m), Elektra Hammond, Chris Pisano, Brian Koscienski

10pm Erotic Readings/discussion
KT Pinto, Elektra Hammond

Sunday, 24 July 2011
12pm Reading
Elektra Hammond

~*~*~*~*~*~**~*~*~*

I’m really looking forward to these panels–I love steampunk in any format, and I’d love to hear what everyone has to say on the panel. It will be my first try at moderating, so we’ll see whether the lesson I took at the feet of the master works out. I’m also looking forward to talking about small press with the fun guys from Fortress Press, and looking forward to meeting lots of new friends.

The reading on Sunday will be from my story in the just published In an Iron Cage: The Magic of Steampunk, Saturday’s late night reading will be a selection concerning very, very naughty weresnakes, courtesy of my friend Stella Price.

See you there!

ETA: I have been in contact with Geis, and he will be at the Steampunk panel. W00t!

Thanks to the efforts of Mike McPhail, Sparkito Press [an imprint of Dark Press Books] now has a steampunky logo of its very own. Let’s publish some books!

The first copies have arrived!!

In an Iron Cage: The Magic of Steampunk edited by Danielle Ackley-McPhail, Elektra Hammond and Neal Levin is now available in print on amazon.com.

In an Iron Cage contains the following stories: The Winter Court by Bernie Mojzes House of Automatons by James Chambers Drinking Down Death by Jeff Young Speaker For The Mayans by Brenda Cooper To Love And Hope by C.J. Henderson Little Girl With Pink Ribbons by Stuart Jaffe Scoundrel’s Magic by James Daniel Ross On The Wings Of An Angel by Danielle Ackley-McPhail The Trans-Siberian by A.C. Wise The First Flight of the Valhalla by Darren W. Pearce The Case of the Duchess’s Dog by Elektra Hammond That Voo Doo That You Do by Patrick Thomas Iron and Brass, Blood and Bone by Alma Alexander Greater Crater Gremlins by David Sherman

Also available for the kindle. Order early and often!

Classified as Murder: A Cat in the Stacks Mystery
by Miranda James

Mass Market Paperback 2011 Berkeley Prime Crime Books ISBN: 978-0-425-24157-8 Rating: 4 paws (out of 5)

Classified as Murder is the follow up to last year’s Murder is Due. Even though it’s part of a series, this is a solid stand alone story. I found it a stronger book, probably because it was less bogged down with character background than Murder is Due.

In typical cozy mystery fashion, life is strolling along merrily until a body drops into the story. From that point on, the pace really picks up as everyone is trying to figure out whodunnit. Charlie Harris is a very down-to-earth, realistic character, and it’s terrific fun to watch him investigate while determined to not run afoul of the local police presence. Or upset the killer enough to wind up dead himself. Once again, providing both clues and some comic relief is Charlie’s constant companion Diesel, his exceptionally well-trained maine coon cat.

The plot centers around a privately-owned rare book collection that Charlie the librarian is hired to help catalogue. The family surrounding the owner of the collection is eccentric to say the least, Charlie’s grown son has turned up for a visit with no notice, and a very valuable book may have gone missing. Suspects abound, as do twists and turns, and even when you have it figured out–you don’t.

I was especially pleased that Diesel’s extreme size (33 pounds) is covered early on in the book, noting that he is exceptionally large for the breed. I was at a cat show this weekend with a 15-pound maine coon boy and I fielded a ton of questions, most of them “How much does he weigh?” followed by comments about how much larger he is than the average cat. Diesel is very, very big indeed.