Writer's Grove

Can you guess how I started my day? That’s right, I went to Upstart Crow and got myself a Mexican Mocha! Nom nom nom! But this time when I went there were spiffy people to meet me there. These were people who wanted to say howdy but couldn’t make it to the con itself, so they brought some books with them, I signed ’em, and then we had a lovely time chatting together out on the patio while birds sang to us. Look! I has proof!

I didn’t spend too much time on the floor; I have this book called HUNTED due at the end of August and I really need to write all I can, so for much of the day that’s what I did. But I was a good boy and took a few random cosplay pictures as I walked around. Behold!

You know, you see a lot of the new Jokers based on Heath Ledger these days, and it may be easier to pull off in many ways than the old school ones. But Holy Wax Replica Batman, this one guy really nailed the old-school comic book Joker better than I’ve ever seen. I mean, his FACE! It’s perfect! The eyebrows! The jaw! The damned smile! Honestly this guy was kinda scary because he made the Joker real:

One of the coolest bits about Comic Con is that you can randomly run into legends. I happened to run into sic-fi legend Peter Hamilton at the Random House booth:

My wonderful editors took me out to dinner at Roy’s or Ray’s or something. Honestly I didn’t pay that much attention because on the way in my eyes were traumatized by the sign for another restaurant called Tequila in that execrable Papyrus font. DAMN YOU PAPYRUS FOR RUINING TEQUILA FOR ME!

We entertained ourselves and probably annoyed our waiter by complimenting all the food using largish words in the completely wrong way. He’d come by and ask how the appetizer was and we smiled and told him it was “perspicacious and stoic.” The beer we tried was “extremely bouffant” and the main course was “flippant yet sonorous.” For dessert I had a WTF moment. I ordered this one thing because once I read the menu it was sort of like a dare. It was called an “Almond Joy?” with the question mark being entirely intentional. Apparently you’re supposed to order it and sound like a Valley Girl: “I’ll have the Almond Joy?” But check out the description:

Okay, WTF! I thought there was only one form of coconut and it’s called A COCONUT. And what in nine hells is chocolate soil? Why would a chef ever offer to soil a plate? I had to order it just to see. So it turns out I was partially right: there was only one form of coconut on the plate and it was coconut; it did not vary from coconut at all. But they were not kidding about the chocolate soil. It had the appearance and texture of soil and it fucking tasted like soil too. I paid them to serve me dirt. WELL PLAYED, SIRS.

After dinner I went to the Penguin party because they were very kind to invite me. I got to meet authors Amber Benson and Myke Cole and Kat Richardson, all fabulous people. Kat is in The League of Reluctant Adults and I’ve wanted to meet her for a good while; she has a giant smile and we talked about how awesome her covers are. (Have you read Kat’s books, by the way?) And then I was entertained by Erica, who works for Penguin and I think may have been hired because she is the world’s leading expert in giving Anton Strout shit. Now, many people give Anton shit because, like a mushroom, he thrives on it, but Erica is a virtuoso at slinging it Anton’s way. At some point Myke Cole got up and took a picture of us with his phone and his flash lit up our eyes with the fires of hell:

If I ever run for office this picture will resurface because it looks like we are planning some seriously evil shenanigans. In truth our plans were rather tame: We planned to have another drink. Except for Anton. He planned to sit there while Erica gave him shit. Heh! Anton has a new series launching this fall, the Spellmason Chronicles, starting with ALCHEMYSTIC, so I’m looking forward to it.

Today (Saturday) I have my urban fantasy panel and I’ll do my best to take pics! More later!

WOW what a day!

There was joy. There was pain. There was Comic Con.

First—update from Preview Night: I got to meet Patrick Rothfuss again. For those of you who have followed me for a while, it is no secret that I consider him to be the finest storyteller walking the planet right now. (If you have never heard of him, I suggest you find The Name of the Wind immediately. You’re welcome.) He also happens to be an excellent human being. I met him last year and fanboyed all over the poor man. This year I managed to keep my shit together…but just barely. He has actually read the first three of my books and I gave him a copy of TRICKED. He wanted to give me something back. So I said I would trade it for a Crazy Eyes picture. Suffice to say you would not pick either of us up if we were hitchhiking:

I started my morning at Upstart Crow, which is a spiffy little coffee shop & bookstore in Seaport Village, just on the other side of the Hyatt. I discovered this place last year. Here is what they have: THE BEST COFFEE EVAR. They have this thing called a Mexican Mocha. It’s a mocha, you know…with spices. And it’s amazing. They hand-grind their chocolate, which I never realized was something that people did. OH LOOK THEY HAVE A SPECIAL JAR FOR IT.

By the way: You can’t get Mexican Mochas at Starbucks.  You can’t get them, um…anywhere else I’ve ever been. They’re amazing. BUT DON’T TAKE MY WORD FOR IT.

Ask my editor. I bought her one and brought it to the convention center. She is something of a coffee connoisseur and so I needed validation. I said, Tricia, you need to try this Mexican Mocha. It will change your life. And she tried it. And then she promptly turned into Galadriel for a few minutes. Not the scary blue one that was terrible as the sea. I mean the shiny happy one who gives strange dwarves three hairs from her head. That’s what this drink does for people. It turned me into Brad Pitt for like four seconds. And I’m talking about the sexy young one from A River Runs Through It.

After that I hit the floor. I got a signed copy of Alchemy from David Mack. I got signed copies of a special con-only foil cover of CHEW from John Layman and Rob Guillory. (If you like comics and you’re not reading CHEW…why?) Look, I has proof:

I also got to visit Cody Vrosh, an artist who did some fan art featuring Atticus and Oberon a while back. Beautiful watercolor and ink stuff. I’m going to have him do one of Atticus and Granuaile soonish. But he was turbo kind enough to give me a signed print of his first one so I could geek out:

I failed miserably at getting anything from Mattel. The line was insane. I tried three times and couldn’t get in. The aggressive bald man with a mustache at the end of the line did not want anyone else to fork over their disposable income and told everyone to move along, nothing happening here. So I moved along, and one guy tried to SELL me his spot in line, and to that guy I say, Dude. I will not leave this earth with that on my balance sheet. I will never pay to wait in a fucking line. There is some shit I will simply have to do without.

I am so glad I didn’t have to do without meeting Shawntelle Madison, the thoroughly awesome author of COVETED and the forthcoming KEPT. If you dig PNR and specifically werewolves, you’d probably dig her books quite a bit. Here’s the two of us, appropriately standing in front of a sign regarding PUBLIC DRUNKENNESS (it’s above Shawntelle’s head):

I also got to meet Scott Sigler and Troy Denning and famous agents and stuff like that. But at the end of the evening we were all standing around this fire outside of Fox Sports Grill wondering why the hell we weren’t roasting s’mores. It was not at all the sort of thing I would have expected when I woke up this morning.

Hmm. You’re probably disappointed in the profound lack of cosplay pictures at this point. I honestly didn’t take many today. But I’ll leave you with one: There was a pretty cool trio of DC comic characters walking around—Catwoman, Poison Ivy, and Harley Quinn.

More tomorrow!

WOOHOO I’m at SDCC! Shortly I will go in and buy ALL THE THINGS but first I thought I’d give you a few teaser pics of what I saw on the floor before it opened up to everyone at six. I got in early thanks to my spiffy publisher and got to walk around.

I got picked up from the airport in this hot little number:

Nah. Just kidding. But this and several other Batmobiles were outside the Hilton Bayfront hotel where I’m staying, so naturally I had to go clickety-click. Want to see another one?

So you walk in to the convention floor and WHAM HULK SMASH YOU PUNY NERD FRIEND OF BANNER!

They have ridiculously cool stuff here. Like Wampa hats. I think the Wampa hats are intended for children and I doubt they will fit my giant head but it’s my duty to try one on. They also have sweet replica Jedi stuff if you wanna practice your favorite galactic religion in style:

And yeah they have some coasters that I think are necessary in my life. I just can’t see my wife letting me put them out anywhere. She is wonderful about tolerating my nerdery but sometimes I try to take it TOO FAR and putting Westeros coasters out in our living room would probably earn me a judo chop. BUT. Aren’t these cool?!?

Anyway, you get down to the Random House booth and you see this big poster of Rob Reid’s book that just came out Tuesday called YEAR ZERO. I blurbed it, y’all. It’s funny. Uncle Kevin says, “Read it.” And then there’s a big poster for this other guy who writes a series about an ancient Druid.

Every time I see big posters of my books (which has been, uh, three times now) I feel astounded. Thank you all so much for reading and making my publisher feel that putting up a big poster of my books might be a Good Idea. It’s mind-blowing. Posters like this also make me miss my dad; he knew I was going to be published but never got to see it actually happen.

Biggest dilemma I now face is on Friday. There’s a CHEW panel at 2:30-3:30 and an Epic Fantasy panel at 3:30-4:30. I probably cannot attend them both. I will have to choose, and it’s TEARING ME APART with ultra trembly pathos like in that song by Jewel.

I’ll be going to Upstart Crow every morning for coffee because it’s insanely good. Looking forward to meeting lots of authors and geeking out on them. I’ll update with more pic-filled posts as I go, so check back!

Bacon is the Way and the Truth.

Going to San Diego Comic Con this week! Here’s my schedule:

Thursday: 12-1 pm: Signing HOUNDED at Random House booth #1515

Friday: I am a free agent. However, if you can’t go to the Con and you’d like to see me, here’s your chance. I’ll be at the coffee shop called Upstart Crow at 9 am chilling out. I’ll sign anything you bring, chat a bit, and enjoy life.

Saturday: An urban fantasy panel at 10:30 in room 5AB!!! It’s rather embarrassingly titled “Hot Town: Faeries in the City.” I did not make that up. Super spiffy authors joining me: Kat Richardson, Anton Strout, Jeanne Stein, J.F. Lewis, and Seanan McGuire. Afterward from 12:30-1:30 there will be an official signing thingie in the autograph signing area; all my books will be for sale by Mysterious Galaxy, though of course you’re welcome to come say hi without buying anything.

ALSO Saturday: Signing at the Random House booth #1515 at 3 PM. You can drop by there anytime, by the way, and snag a bookmark or five. I’m leaving TRICKED bookmarks there and I think they’ll have some bookmarks for TRAPPED. They will also be hosting authors there during the whole convention, so make sure you stop by to check out the scheduled appearances.

That will pretty much take care of my public appearances for a few months. Need to get lots of writing done after that. :)

I’ve been back from tour for almost two weeks now, but I’ve been super-busy finishing two shorter works and haven’t had the time to blog.

Quick recap of the last stops on the tour: had a glorious time in Charlotte at Park Road Books and at Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill. Got to hang out with some readers in Charlotte and that was awesome. Got to catch a minor-league baseball game in Durham and that was a wee dream come true. Met some fabulous people at the Library of Congress in DC and then got stranded in Denver on the way home, due to bad weather and a missed connecting flight. The miracle of social media worked in my favor: after I posted on Facebook that I could use a ride in Denver, I got far more offers of help than I needed. Thank you all for being so kind. ALSO! I stopped by the Broadway Book Mall on 200 S. Broadway and signed a ton of books. If you’re in Denver that’s the place to go!

Once home, I finished up TWO RAVENS AND ONE CROW, a novella that will be released in late August as a digital-only special. (If you don’t have an e-reader, that’s okay, you can download an app for free to your computer or smartphone and read it that way!) I’ll post the cover, price, and final date for that as soon as I’m allowed to, but I can tell you this in the meantime: You should consider this to be IDC 4.5. It’s important to the series and the events in this novella will be referenced in book five, TRAPPED. Many of you have noticed that there’s a huuuuuge time jump between books four and five, and TWO RAVENS gives you a peek at what’s happening in the middle of it. The novella is set six years after TRICKED and six years before TRAPPED. You get to find out what happened to Thor’s hammer. You get to learn why Airmid taught Atticus the recipe for Immortali-Tea. Plus: the Morrigan scared the bejesus out of me. And from what I understand, there will be an audio version of this as well, released on the same day as the electronic version! How cool is that?

I also just finished an IDC short story called “The Chapel Perilous,” which will appear in the anthology UNFETTERED early in 2013. It’s a story from Atticus’s past—the year 537 in Wales, to be exact. This anthology has the most incredible fantasy lineup I’ve seen, folks, and I am so honored to be a part of it. But I’m especially happy to help out Shawn Speakman, a great dude who recently beat cancer; sales from UNFETTERED will help him beat the medical bills. The full lineup is available at Grim Oak Press, but here’s a partial list of contributors besides me: Patrick Rothfuss; Terry Brooks; Naomi Novik; Brandon Sanderson; RA Salvatore; Tad Williams; Peter V. Brett; Carrie Vaughn; Jacqueline Carey; and MORE!

I’ll be working on book six, HUNTED, for the rest of the summer, but I have other goodies on deck. There’s another anthology I’ll be involved in but it’s not ready to announce yet, and I also have a science fiction project coming down the road that I’ll be excited to share with you when it’s time.

There will be a couple of opportunities to come see me in July and beyond:

InConJunction, July 6-8, Indianapolis!

InConJunction is a spiffy sci-fi convention that invited me as Guest of Honor, so I’m geeking out about that and looking very forward to meeting the people out there! People from Chicago and other places even remotely nearby—this is as close as I’m getting to you for a while. I’m meeting you more than halfway, right? :) I can’t afford to visit every city, so I’m grateful to go where I’m invited and hope you can manage to swing by. There’s still time to register for this, so I hope you can!

San Diego Comic Con, July 12-15

I’m on an Urban Fantasy panel Saturday morning from 10:30 to 11:30, followed by an official signing thingie from 12:30 to 1:30. Unofficial signing thingies will be happening most every day at the Del Rey/Random House booth, so stop by there to check times! They’ll be giving away special con-only copies of HOUNDED there and I’ll be signing ’em, so I hope to catch up with you if you’re going! Full details of my panel can be found on my Events and Appearances page.

Heart of the West Writers Conference, October 5-6, Utah!

So grateful to be invited to this. It’s a conference in Deer Valley sponsored by the Utah chapter of the Romance Writers of America; they asked me to speak to them about creating dynamic characters, regardless of genre. The guest of honor is Sherrilyn Kenyon, and if you’re an aspiring writer, a wonderful agent from my agency will actually be there hearing pitches! It looks like a great conference and there is still plenty of time to register and make plans to attend.

There will be a signing on Saturday, October 6, from 5-7 pm, that’s open to the public. If you’re in Salt Lake City or anywhere else near Deer Valley, Utah, please do come see me!

Since I have a wee bit of time, thought I’d update you on the tour so far!

Here’s what I have confirmed (I would say “learned” but I already knew this): My readers are awesome! Plus: Southern BBQ is tasty.

Flew into Dallas on Thursday to meet fellow Leaguer Jaye Wells and her delightful family. Over dinner we talked about writer stuff and beer. Then we went to a Real Bookstore where we ALSO talked about writer stuff and beer. We had a Flagon Contest where Jaye revealed her awesome Texas Drinking Horn and I revealed my wooden flagon carved from genuine Walnut Entwife driftwood. We decided that everybody wins when you drink beer out of epic containers. You know what’s cool about a Real Bookstore (apart from the awesome staff and, you know, books)? They serve beer there! So yeah, it’s perfect. If there is a house for sale within staggering distance I might have to consider moving there. Here’s a shot of us hard at work:

Something cool about Dallas: it’s home to two of the best book bloggers in the business, Chelsea with Vampire Book Club and Kristen with My Bookish Ways. They’re both professionals and I can tell you that authors can’t wait to work with them because A) they really know what they’re doing and B) they provide great content for their readers. I regularly read their blogs to keep up with what’s going on and find new authors myself. So it was a privilege for me to finally meet Kristen (I had met Chelsea in AZ earlier because she was visiting family a few months ago):

Another cool thing about Dallas: There’s a book club there of some wild n’ crazy ladies who wanted to make sure I remembered them. Their Fearless Leader, Brandee, said something like “Brandee don’t play! I bring belleh!” She meant the belly of a very pregnant book club member. She had me sign that belly, and I though I was embarrassed at first, I was quickly amazed to discover that baby bellies are fabulous writing surfaces. Here’s proof, which includes some directions for the baby, who will be named Oliver if a boy and Clarissa if a girl:

I also signed the arms of a whole brood of kids from Kansas City. Their mother is raising them to be proper geeks and I hope they know how lucky they are. One day they will rule the world. I also got to meet author Michelle Bardsley! Squee! And to top it off, a fan gave me some hand-made dice crafted of oak, ash, and thorn! HOLY CRAP I CAN’T WAIT TO PLAY HORDES AGAIN! These are Fae dice! They will totally roll fives and sixes all the time! My buddy Alan is going down. These dice, combined with the power of my fez, will make me unbeatable!

So after snagging four hours of sleep (which meant I was operating on a total of eight hours in two days, since I’d only gotten four the night before), I flew to Cincinnati on the 8th to hang out with some folks at the Joseph-Beth Bookstore there. Hailey gave me a picture of Granuaile and that was turbo sweet of her. Then this dude had me sign his arm, which wasn’t that unusual after signing a baby belly, but OH NO, I WAS WRONG. Later that night, I got the surprise picture below—the dude had gone straight to the tattoo parlor and gotten it tattooed! It’s the kind of thing you hear about but never expect to happen to you. Really flattered.

I was just a warm-up in Cincinnati for John Scalzi, who was going to be in that same store to sign REDSHIRTS that night. Though I wished I could have stayed to worship him and be a fanboy, I had to evacuate before the truckload of Coke Zero arrived, and besides, I had to do another signing at the Joseph-Beth in Lexington. It’s a really beautiful store, two stories, and this is what I saw hanging from the balcony when I got there:

Stuff like that is truly a trip for me. I was expecting maybe a flyer with Comic Sans on it, not a banner thingie with tasteful typography. Mike and Brian at JB were so kind and they’re really passionate about books there. Great group of people in Lexington! There were these two teachers from eastern Kentucky who had a different accent from everyone else and it was SO beautiful. I asked them to keep talking while I signed their books because the language sounded so lovely. I wish I could get a recording of a bedtime story read that way; wouldn’t it be more soothing and send you to sleep with hope in your heart when words can be spoken with such round softness and care? I also met a fabulous and talented reader named Ash who gave me a portrait of Atticus and Oberon, as well as many more spiffy people! Love you, Lexington!

We motored down to Nashville the next morning, looking at horses, horses, horses, and then—CASTLE! WTF!!!

Sorry about the electric wires there. This was taken very hurriedly through the window as we drove because I didn’t think anybody outside the local area would believe that someone had built a castle in the middle of horse country. My daughter has decided we now need to have our own castle in Kentucky. I’m working on it. Mine will have waffle cannons.

In Nashville I got the pleasure of hanging out with readers Helene, Ellen, and Tripp. We all met at 5th and Church at Puckett’s for BBQ. They had a tasty local brew on tap there called Lynchburg Lager and they served it in wee jars. The pulled pork and sweet potato fries were pretty awesome. Proof:

Helene had originally planned to attend the release party for TRICKED but due to a series of unfortunate events could not make it. Glad I could hang out with her to balance the scales; she and her friend Ellen are five kinds of spiffy. Tripp is a member of Fully Integrated Geeks, a bunch of (you guessed it) geeks who do a weekly podcast about comics, movies, video games, sci-fi TV shows, and the like. I’ll be a guest of theirs after the tour because who doesn’t love a good geekout?

We discovered a cool retro candy & soda shop on 2nd and Church called Rocket Fizz. They have some very unusual potions in there—among them, Bacon Soda (for Oberon!) and cans of Whoopass. Proof:

After a walk down to Broadway with Helene and Ellen, where we stopped in a few bars to listen to music—lots of places had live music in the afternoon because of the CMT Festival—we sallied forth to Nashville’s indie bookstore, Parnassus Books. They were wonderful hosts and the readers were so swell! Some folks had driven from Memphis, Knoxville, and even Alabama to see me and that made me feel all melty inside. Cool husband and wife story: this one couple reads a lot but generally they don’t read the same things and they don’t recommend books to each other because of their differing tastes. But one night, the dude is reading HOUNDED in bed and his wife walks in wearing a THIRD EYE BOOKS & HERBS T-shirt and then they realize—HEY! That store! It’s in this book! And yeah! Holy crap, we like the same series!

Well, I thought it was funny. :)

Today (Sunday) we really had to make like a bread truck and haul buns. We woke up late and then lost an hour driving from Nashville to Atlanta, so I rolled into A Cappella Books almost precisely at 2pm when I’d originally planned to have a much bigger cushion than that. The truly sad bit: because of the time crunch, I didn’t get a chance to stop and say hi to one of my favorite people, author Cherie Priest. She’s in Chattanooga now and we drove through it but couldn’t stop. So I had to just sort of hug the whole city and hope she felt the love.

I felt the love in Atlanta! A Cappella is a wee but very cool store on DeKalb and Haralson and it was crammed. A nice fella gave me a DVD of Viking sword fighting techniques and I can’t wait to check it out when I get back to AZ. Also: I signed a onesie for a future Druid named Lilah. She hasn’t quite joined the world yet, but she will soon!

After that we went down the street to Fox Bros. BBQ, which I was told was pretty dang amazing. I began to buy into the hype once I saw how popular it was. No parking spaces and a 45-minute wait at 4 pm. Whoa. It WAS good, y’all. And my education in BBQ continued with a new side I’d never seen before: A frito pie. They open a bag of Fritos, pour some brisket chili in there and top it with cheese. Daaaaaang.

Many thanks to all of you who have come to see me; you’re so kind and I enjoyed meeting you! If you’re on the road ahead, I’ll see you soon! Charlotte on Monday at Park Road Books at 7pm, Durham-Raleigh-Chapel Hill on Tuesday at Flyleaf Books at 7pm, and on Wednesday I’ll be at the Library of Congress at noon in Washington DC! Bring your own books to the LoC because they won’t be selling any copies there. ALSO: A ninja signing at the downtown Barnes and Noble at 3:30—that’s 555 12th Street NW. I’ll just be there, you know, signing whatever they have in stock, which might  be two books or ten, I don’t know. If you can’t make the LoC, which is entirely understandable, you can pick up a signed copy of my stuff at the B&N until they run out. :)

May harmony find you but NOT THOR,
Kevin

Very excited! In less than a week, I’m off on a quick tour of the south—hope I can see you there!

Before you say, “Come to my town!” please understand that this is my best attempt to do so. The tour is out o’ me own pocket and I can’t afford to visit every place I’d like to. I’m trying to meet you more than halfway, in other words; you might have to drive a little bit to see me, especially since I might not make it back to your neck of the woods soon. I’m planning on doing the west coast in the summer of 2013.

The best and easiest way to get me out to your neighborhood is to have a local convention or writers’ conference invite me—that’s why I’m going to Indianapolis July 6-8 and heading to Utah October 5-6. Otherwise, I design road trips during the summers and visit places I wanna visit. So here’s where I’ll be—very soon!

June 7, Dallas, Texas

June 8, Cincinnati, Ohio and Lexington, Kentucky

June 9, Nashville, Tennessee

June 10, Atlanta, Georgia

June 11, Charlotte, North Carolina

June 12, Durham/Chapel Hill, North Carolina

June 13, Washington, DC

Woohoo! Good times!

So here’s what I’ve heard from people who have been to SDCC “back in the day”: Phoenix Comicon now is what SDCC used to be like. It’s every geek’s happy place. You can move around freely. You can get in to see panels. And yet, there are still plenty of great artists and attractions and a freakin’ ton of cosplay. We had William Shatner and a bunch of other dudes visiting…honestly I didn’t pay much attention to the TV side of things because I didn’t have the time. But the important takeaway here is that Phoenix is fun and not overcrowded—at about 35K people, it’s not too big, not too small, but juuust right.

The argument I’ve heard is that SDCC is too dang big and the Hollywood types have sucked all the joy out of it. Now it’s insane to move around there and you can’t even get in to see the panels you want to see. Okay, I think that part of that argument is entirely valid. Though last year was my first year, I did see more armpits up close than I would have liked. I’m not expecting to enjoy a surplus of personal space this year, either. But there is something awe-inspiring about the size of the spectacle, the utter abandon with which people leave behind their attempts to conform to some perceived standard of normal and just geek the fuck out. It’s a place where you’ll be praised rather than teased for dressing outside of the mainstream…and get photographed a whole lot.

Despite the crush of the crowd, methinks SDCC has sorta reached pilgrimage status now for geeks and nerds and assorted dorks. “Someday, I gotta go there…” Well, it’s darn tough to get in, and I’m here to say that Phoenix is cheaper and really quite pleasant. It’s a very acceptable secondary pilgrimage. If you want to buy a fez and pose with a badass Hulk, this is the best place to do it.

Comic Accomplishment Unlocked: I scored 24 back issues I was looking for! I just need two more and hopefully I’ll find them at San Diego.

Fan Recognition Unlocked: I was just about to go all fanboy on John Layman, Eisner-Award winning writer of CHEW, when for the first time, someone actually geeked out on me. A loud voice behind me shouted, “Hey! You’re Kevin Hearne!” I turned around and spoke to this nice fella for a while, and when I was finished, John Layman had mysteriously disappeared. He may have sekrit powerz. I caught up with him the next day, though, so that was all good.

The popularity of Doctor Who really leapt forward in the past year. I think I remember two whole Who cosplayers last year, but this year there were many. And not just the Doctor, either—lots of companions and even some Daleks and folks dressed up like the TARDIS. Can you identify all the characters in the photo below? I love the Doctor’s Wife nestled back in there.

Other cool stuff! I got to hang out with spiffy artist Ashleigh Popplewell, who did this really spooky marker study for me of Vainamoinen and the sea serpent from HAMMERED—you remember that bit, where Vainamoinen summoned a serpent out of the fjord with his kantele, nothing but firelight to illuminate the scene?

I also got to meet Cody Vrosh, an illustrator who did a beautiful watercolor of Atticus and Oberon a few months ago. He and his wife are fans of the series and I’m fans of theirs. I’m hoping I can talk Cody into doing some more stuff.

The best bits were meeting readers and chatting with ’em for a while.. That’s something else I can do at Phoenix that I can’t do too much of in San Diego. Though I had a steady stream of visitors, there was never a gigantic line where I felt pressure to hurry the person along and get to the next one, so that was quite lovely—and I imagine that’s also a huge benefit for fans. Whoever you want to talk to, you can probably find ’em and enjoy a conversation beyond “Hi! Big fan!”

Okay enough o’ this for now…I have books to write and I’m finally free to do so. :)

Woohoo! It’s taken me a while to get to this, but I promised pictures from the release party of TRICKED, which we called Atticus n’ Oberon’s Sausage Fest. Held at Rula Bula, the Irish pub on Mill Avenue featured in the series, it was a completely spiffy gathering during which I got to hang out with some of my awesome readers. I won’t put up every single picture here because there are far too many, but if you’d like to see more than what I post here, please go to my author Facebook page and look for the album.

Quick business first: John Bonfiglio and Jenn from Tynga’s Reviews—you are #10 and #40, respectively, chosen by Random.org to be the winners of Shawntelle Madison’s COVETED! Please shoot me an email with your address so we can ship it out to you. Congratulations!

These pictures were all taken by Mike Ruggiero, the head honcho of Mike Ruggiero Photography. He does weddings and family portraits and all kinds of events…like Sausage Fests. Give him a call if you’re in Arizona and you need someone good.

Hey everybody—

I’d like to introduce you to a new talent on the shelves, Shawntelle Madison. Shawntelle is a wonderful person from St. Louis with quite a story behind her road to getting published. She was handpicked out o’ the submission pile by my own editor, Tricia Narwani, and her debut, COVETED, is now available. It’s a paranormal romance with a delightfully neurotic (yes, delightfully neurotic) heroine. Here’s the summary, followed by a guest post and giveaway by Shawntelle herself: SOMETIMES WHAT YOU COVET IS IMPOSSIBLE TO KEEP.

For werewolf Natalya Stravinsky, the supernatural is nothing extraordinary. What does seem strange is that she’s stuck in her hometown of South Toms River, New Jersey, the outcast of her pack, selling antiques to finicky magical creatures. Restless and recovering from her split with gorgeous ex-boyfriend, Thorn, Nat finds comfort in an unusual place: her obsessively collected stash of holiday trinkets. But complications pile up faster than her ornaments when Thorn returns home—and the two discover that the spark between them remains intense.

Before Nat can sort out their relationship, she must face a more immediate and dangerous problem. Her pack is under attack from the savage Long Island werewolves—and Nat is their first target in a turf war. Toss in a handsome wizard vying for her affection, a therapy group for the anxious and enchanted, and the South Toms River pack leader ready to throw her to the wolves, and it’s enough to give anybody a panic attack. With the stakes as high as the full moon, Nat must summon all of her strength to save her pack and, ultimately, herself.

Shawntelle: It’s amazing sometimes to realize what I’ve reached at this point. I’ve published a book. Yippee! But this blog post isn’t about what I’ve accomplished today. It’s what I’ve experienced in the past and what I hope for in the future. So much has happened in the past year. A year ago I was still waiting for my first book to come out. I’d completed edits and soon I was looking forward to copyedits and more. At the time I was impatient, I had no idea what was coming and how much work and stress would be waiting in the wings. It’s so easy to think, I can’t wait. I want my book out now. Well, now that I’ve had my book come out, I can say the wait is worth it. Rest up. Stock up on pain meds. Get sleep.

I remember back when I was in high school. I’d written a book in a folder than had pictures from my time in middle school. Life was a lot different back then. I was living in Perry, Iowa, a small town with a small library. At the time, I didn’t know their selection was small, but for someone like me who loved to read science fiction, it was perfect. After school I could lose myself in a book. I could sit and read Robert Heinlein, Harry Harrison, and more. My relationship with Stephen King’s books began at that time as well.

But what resonated with me the most were the books by Octavia Butler. They were incredible. I can’t recall the first one I read off the top of my head. I think it was Kindred. I loved it so much. I’d read nothing like it before. It was fresh. New. And I’d read a lot of books. I’d never read a book before where the main character was African. An African in a science fiction book! It was so awesome! After I read it, I devoured her books. I tried to find out anything I could about Octavia Butler. She was not only a fantastic author–she was a black woman. That to me was so inspiring. I’d written a little, but I’d never imagined I could be a writer. Hell, I’d aspired to be a surgeon. I was that high school geek who looked up careers in the counselor’s career book and picked the one that made the most money–the surgeon. It was all about the money. I guess I just couldn’t see myself being an author. I knew my writing wasn’t the best. I also didn’t have any relatives who wrote. No mentors to offer advice or help me along. I didn’t keep up with my writing in high school. I actually spent more time drawing and working with computers. (486 anyone?) After high school, I pursued a degree in math.

Fast forward a few years. It wasn’t until I began to write that I noticed there were other authors of color who wrote in the genres I preferred to read. They were just as amazing and inspiring as Octavia. The late L.A. Banks and Tananarive Due were some of the first authors I added to my collection.  I loved the romance that Leslie wrote. I thoroughly enjoyed Tananarive’s darker works. To be honest with you, I wondered how come I didn’t see more authors like them. Was that a sign I wouldn’t succeed? I learned that wasn’t the case when I got my literary agent and then a year later sold my first book in a two-book contract to Del Rey (It was later switched to Ballantine.)

I still remember the day when I visited Betsy Mitchell’s office at Random House. (She’s the former editor-in-chief. An amazing lady!) I was with my editor Tricia Narwani and we stood outside of Betsy’s office. At the time, I was so excited about the future. It was July 2011 and I was in NYC for the Romance Writers of America Conference. I still had many months until my book came out. As we talked, I revealed my admiration of Octavia. I learned from Betsy that she’d been Octavia’s editor. She’d edited her Nebula award winning piece, Parable of the Talents. Now that I’ve had time to think about it, it felt like things had come full circle. Octavia’s editor had read my book and thought my work was worthy of publication. She thought a geek like me had potential. (Makes me smile fondly every time I think about it.)

So, what have I learned from this wild ride? I always say, stay hungry to finish a book. I mean it. Persevere. (At this point, I’d say after you release a book you should take a much needed break. Zone out for goodness sake!) It’s all about your passion and the book. I was just as determined as other published writers to finish a book, edit that puppy, and then get it published. Anyone can do it. I still have to sit down and get to work in the next couple of weeks. The characters from another story are starting to get chatty. I’m tired, but since the muse has arrived, it’s time to get back to work again. I want to write more books. I want to write a story to stretch myself to write a good story that readers will enjoy—whether they like romance or not.

Are you that kid or adult who asked yourself, could I ever be a writer? Or an even deeper question, could I ever be an author of color? To that, I reply, “Oh, hell yeah.” But you gotta fight for it and you have to be prepared to trip and fall many times. I don’t have a degree in English (a degree in math hasn’t been too handy as of late) and my grammar skills can be quite lacking. But I do have are dreams and that’s something everyone has in abundance.

Thanks so much for stopping by to say hi! I’d like to offer two copies of Coveted to two folks who leave a comment. :)

Okay, I’m headed off to zone out again!