Category Archives: Blog

Blog

Whee! Phx Comicon Schedule

TWENTY THOUSAND NERDS IN ONE PLACE! That’s going to be Phoenix Comicon, and I can’t wait! It will be a good warmup for San Diego, where I hear it’s supposed to be just like Phoenix except with a HUNDRED THOUSAND BONUS NERDS and some extra famous people.

Here’s my schedule for Phoenix—hope to see you there!

Friday, 3-4 pm, Room 124A: Being a Newbie Writer
Definitely my panel. Think I’ll be the newest of the newbies. Gini Koch, Jordan Summers, Marcy Rockwell, and yours truly.

Saturday, 10:30-11:30, Room 122: The Big Idea
John Scalzi, Cherie Priest, James Owen, Jordan Summers, Sam Sykes, and moi

Saturday, 1:30-2:30, Room 124A: Urban Fantasy Authors Go to Town
Allyson James, Cherie Priest, Jordan Summers, Yvonne Navarro, and me

Saturday, 4:30-5:30, Room 124A: Using the Southwest as a Setting for Stories
Allyson James, Gini Koch, Janni Lee Simner, Weston Ochse, y yo

I’m also going to have a table thingie in the exhibit hall that I’m sharing with Sam Sykes. Table 632. Sometimes I’ll be there! Sometimes I won’t! Sometimes Sam will be there and you might be confused, so just remember that he is very tall. Actually, I can be quite specific on when I’ll be there. I’ll be there for a little while on Friday about four-ish to see if anyone wants to chat. Then on Saturday afternoon I’ll be hanging out there between my afternoon panels from 2:30-4:30. Mysterious Galaxy will be sellin’ my book nearby, I’d be happy to sign one, five, or ten copies that you’d like to give as gifts… :) Seriously, come on by and say hello. I’ll probably be staring at my laptop otherwise. :)

Blog

Awash in Aftermath

“Aftermath” is a very strange word. It has vaguely negative connotations, doesn’t it? I find that odd, because to me it should be a word of unbridled joy. Any time aftermath is a good time. I often experience dread beforemath and existential horror duringmath, but aftermath is a time for frolicking with hummingbirds and singing show tunes with denizens of the forest.

Well. Here I am in the aftermath of my first week of bein’ published, my first book signing thingie, and I haven’t posted any pictures yet. I feel badly about this, but I haven’t had the time. The Day Job has been swamping me since it’s getting darn close to finals. I’ll do my best to squeeze in some time somewhere…

In the meantime let me say how grateful I am to everyone who came to Changing Hands to see me. It was a lovely night and it seemed that everyone was entertained. I’d also like to thank the spiffy people who have contacted me either on Facebook, Twitter, or the blog here to say how much they’re enjoying HOUNDED. It gives me warm fuzzies!

I will be at the East West Exchange in Payson this Sunday at 12:30. It’s a neato little bookshop with free wifi and what I believe to be the best darn fancy-schmancy coffee drinks in town. I’d love to meet you there if you’re in northern AZ or wouldn’t mind a nice drive up to visit a place with trees.

May your aftermath be serene and full of joy. :)

 

Blog, Nerd Cred

Nerds Included!

Whew! Release day was fun! I visited eight bookstores and two Irish pubs! Met many cool booksellers and raised a flagon to Atticus n’ Oberon, my editors and my agent, and my readers. Thanks very much to those of you who have been sayin’ howdy on Twitter, Facebook, and here on the blog; I appreciate it sincerely and am glad you’re enjoying Atticus n’ the gang.

Thought I’d share with you a couple o’ new Nerdscapes with the NERDS INCLUDED! First one requires a wee bit o’ setup.

Last weekend I went up to a secluded cabin in Pine, Arizona, the kind of place where Kathy Bates can tie you up in a bed and knock off your feet with a hammer and no one will EVER KNOW. I was there with The Confederacy of Nerds, comprised of the following: two IT guys who routinely say things like “I don’t want to migrate that to my cluster” and “Fu** Microsoft”; one guy who started out in the A/V Club in high school and somehow translated that into a career where he makes videos and double entendres like “I know how to coil my cable”; and one guy who speaks two languages other than English—Calculus and Klingon. We were there to play games and conduct gastrointestinal experiments.

We played this game called Zombies. It’s simple: You have to make it from the town square to the helipad. The problem is that all the other players are trying to stop you and of course the zombies want to snack on your braaaaaains. So here’s a Nerdscape with zombie action figures from the game, Goldfish and a random pineapple for the food, an ARC of Ari Marmell’s forthcoming release, The Goblin Corps, Longboard Lager and 90 Shilling Ale, and a genuinely excited nerd named Andrew:

Zombies and Bottles and Nerds, Oh My!

Next Nerdscape features an author who walked into Changing Hands bookstore and discovered a little display thingie they’d created for him in advance of his signing party on May 9:

Me Pointing at Me

Heh! I am amused. But now that I’ve introduced the subject, I hope I can meet some of you if you’re in town. I’ll be at the LepreCon at the Tempe Mission Palms on Saturday, May 7, sittin’ on a UF panel with Seanan McGuire and Gini Koch at 2 pm, followed by an autograph session afterward. I also have a reading at 11 am that day. Then, as the picture says above, I’ll be having my own little event at Changing Hands on Monday, May 9, at 7 pm. Hope to see you there!

If you’re in northern AZ, I’ll be at the East-West Book Exchange in Payson on Sunday, May 15, at 12:30. Then during Memorial Day weekend, I’ll be at the Phoenix Comicon. See their website for details on my appearances.

Thanks again for all the support n’ well wishes! :)

Blog, League of Reluctant Adults, Publishing Stuff, writing

Release Day Shenanigans!

HOUNDED is now available! I'm a real author! Squee!

Well, I’ve only waited twenty years for this day. What shall I do first?

Coffee! Ahhhh.

Right. Next, how about a handy-dandy list of all the places I’ll be on the Internet(s)?

1. John Scalzi’s Whatever blog, where I’ll be featured on The Big Idea sometime today.
2. Many o’ my friends in The League of Reluctant Adults graciously let me guest blog in their spaces about various doodads, and the next six are they: first, I’m at  The Biting Edge talkin’ about the query letter that got me my spiffy agent. That’s the blog of Mario Acevedo and Jeanne Stein, both of whom write excellent vampire series.
3. Over at the blog of urban fantasy author J.F. Lewis, I share my looong path to publication to give toiling writers hope. If a day like this can happen for me, it can happen for you.
4. Some time ago, author Kelly Meding challenged me to insert something into a book of mine and I manfully made it happen. I return the challenge on her blog and she has NO HOPE of meeting it. Mwah-ha-ha-haaa!
5. I discuss my back-to-back-to-back release schedule at Stacia Kane’s blog because she went through a very similar schedule last year with her Downside Ghosts series.
6. I want to start a flagon revolution. Jaye Wells, author of the Sabina Kane novels, shares this passion, so I’m talking about it over at her blog.
7. Because I’m a nerd, I’ve been working on a card game based on the events of my books. It’s the kind of thing that makes nerds happy. I spill the beans and give a sneak peek at the game over at the website of Dr. Nicole Peeler. She’s also doing a giveaway for me, so check that out!
8. I think I’m supposed to be on the blog of The Guide to Literary Agents today. If not, oh well, it’s a cool blog anyway!
9. I have an interview up today at the spiffy book blog called The Qwillery. There’s a giveaway going on there too! I think. I’m having trouble keeping track of this stuff.
10. My run at Babel Clash continues with Chris Wooding. Have you seen this yet? We started on April 26.

In all likelihood I’ll be elsewhere as well. I think I’m supposed to have something on the RTBookReview blog, but, um…not sure. Some reviews might pop up too, and I’ll do a roundup of those in a couple o’ days. Aside from the web, I’ll be tweeting more than usual today. Part of what I’ll be tweeting is my manic drive around the valley going into bookstores and signing whatever they have in stock.

Something else I will most likely tweet is a 140-character SQUEE! HOUNDED is finally published! To my editors, Tricia and Mike, I give you an uncomfortably long virtual hug! Thank you so much for your expertise and your enthusiasm for the Iron Druid! And to my agent, Magic E, you are the disco to my fries.

To the book bloggers and reviewers who have been so kind to me with your reviews n’ interviews—Jessica, Kristin, Mihir, David, Gail, Sally, Kat, Joanne, and more—can I just say how grateful I am that you take the time to promote genre fiction? I didn’t realize how many bloggers were out there or how awesome they were until I kind of got into this gig. I hope I get to meet you someday. Literate people rock.

For the celebratory dinner, I’m headin’ to Rúla Búla, the best darn Irish pub an Irish lad could wish for, either real or fictional. I go there in real life, and Atticus goes there in fiction—often. You should too, if you can! Cheers, my dears; my flagon runneth over. I hope you enjoy the adventures of Atticus n’ Oberon. :)

Blog, Nerd Cred

Nerdscape Winners!

As I suspected, this was a ridiculously fun contest. I had a blast laughing over these and I can’t resist posting up a few o’ my favorites in case you missed them in the comments. I applaud your creativity and envy your action figure collection! And I am very glad you’re not too old enough to play with them! Thank you all so much for entering!

Check out this one from Hillary: I love the Mystery Science Theater stand-ins watching Terminator. “Have You Seen This Boy?”

Kristin over at My Bookish Ways, who is Three Kinds of Spiffy and has a Ninja Bird, sent in this Amphibious Nerd Assault:

Evie sent in two really beautiful photos and I suspect she Knows What She’s Doing with a camera. Here is her Nerdscape, and you have to check out the reflection in the sunglasses!

Click to embiggen

Synde sent over this beautifully dark photo with primo vodka, skull action, and a weeping angel (don’t blink!):

Click to embiggen

Random Winners Chosen Randomly from Randomizer Thingie

VVB for Zombies n’ Nutella on a copy of FEED

Braaaaains and Nutella (click to embiggen)

Candice J. for “Dwight’s Hike to Mt. Doom”

Dwight's Hike to Mt. Doom (click to embiggen)

Winner of the Kevin Thinks That is Balls Rad Award:

Teri C’s Dinosaurs and Disney. I don’t know why, but this just cracks me up every time I look at it. There are so many Disney characters I would love to feed to velociraptors. I admire the depth of field here. There’s bonus beer in the background, too!

Jurassic Attack (click to embiggen)

So! Teri C, Candice J, and VVB, please contact me using kevin at kevinhearne dot com with your snail mail address and tell me how you’d like to have your books personalized! Congratulations, and thank you for entering!

Please come on back on Tuesday, my release day (SQUEE!), for a rundown of all the shenanigans I’ll be up to—I’ll have, um, six or seven posts up? I think? And by the way, if you weren’t aware, I’m doing a Babel Clash thingie with Chris Wooding until May 9, and we’ve been talking about filling in the space between sci-fi and fantasy, Insanity Points, and so on. It’s a good time.

Thank you all again for your awesome nerdiness!

Blog

First con is even earlier!

I suppose I should be getting used to this by now: if I announce a date for something, it will change a few days later.

My first convention won’t be Phoenix Comicon anymore; it will be my second. I’m still going and I’ll be on the Urban Fantasy panel with Cherie Priest, and you can imagine the geekout I’m having about that since I love her work. But now there’s another convention I’ll be attending, and it’s just a sort of mind-blowing coincidence.

It’s called the LepreCon, and it’s being held from May 6-8 at the Tempe Mission Palms, right next to Rúla Búla. So let’s get this straight: there’s an Irish-themed fantasy convention being held the week I release a novel about an Irish Druid who likes to hang out at Rúla Búla, the best Irish pub ever? I can’t NOT go to that! There’s actually a scene in HAMMERED (book 3) that is set in the Tempe Mission Palms, so I’m kind of flabbergasted at the confluence of time and place for this convention.

I’ll be there on Saturday, May 7, participating in just one panel, and I’m seeing about setting up a reading too. If you can make it out, I’d love to see you there! But I’d really, really love to see you at the signing/reading I have set up at Changing Hands bookstore on May 9! Please see my Events & Appearances page for all the goodies.

Meanwhile, have you made a nerdscape yet? No? They’re EASY! You take one book (comic or otherwise), one action figure, and one item o’ junk food and arrange in a composition. If you wish to use more than one of any element, go right ahead! Take a picture. Mess with it in Photoshop or some other kind o’ software, then post with an epic title! Here’s one of mine:

Eomer Musters the Rohirrim to fight the Kindly Ones

One does not simply walk into Mordor and fight the Kindly Ones. Eomer sees Death coming for Dream and he tries to stave off the inevitable because that’s the kind of manly man o’ Rohan he is. Dream has that stubborn twinkle in his eye, though, that lets you know he’s going to keep on doing his thing and the series will eventually end. See? Nerdscapes are easy AND full of pathos. You should make one today and post it on your Facebook or something. If you haven’t “liked” me on Facebook yet, I do tend to post a bunch of wallpapers and stuff in there for people to have fun with. I’ve just started a Nerdscape album and will periodically add more as I make ’em. :) Cheers!

Blog

First Con Appearance

I thought my first convention ever would be San Diego Comic Con, but it turns out now that I’ll be at Phoenix Comicon first over Memorial Day weekend!

Details still being worked out, but I should be on a few panels and manage a signing or two. There will be quite a few spiffy people there, but I’m geeking out over seeing author Cherie Priest, because I love her books. Leonard Nimoy is going to show up. Stan Lee, for crying out loud! Actors from Battlestar Galactica and True Blood!

Anyway, memberships are cheap and they got a huge new space this year, so it won’t be terribly crammed! Please go if you can, I’d love to see you there!

In other news—sometime today over at The Spinecracker they will post an interview and give away five copies of HOUNDED. Right now there’s a very kind review of HOUNDED up there, and I’m flattered because she doesn’t give five stars very often. Cool way to win a copy of the book if you’re so inclined! Peace~

Blog

Still Life with Fantasy and Fruit #12

For the uninitiated—and a reminder for everyone—I just do these to share what I’m reading because I’m a happy nerd who can’t stop himself from geeking out in public. You can assume I’m going to like these books without me delving into details. Now that I’m an author, I feel kind of squidgy about critiquing the writing of others. (The exception to this is Charles Dickens. He deserves every critique I can muster.) I do occasionally put something up on Goodreads, but these are usually exceptional bits of praise; you shouldn’t expect me to smack anyone down (apart from the aforementioned Mr. Dickens). These are books I’ve either spent my own dough on or I’ve specifically requested from the Holy Vault o’ Sci-Fi/Fantasy Treasure at Del Rey/Spectra, which is guarded by two gnome paladins and an editorial assistant named Mike. So here’s what I’m enjoying these days:

Still Life with Fantasy and Fruit #12

You might notice that this particular composition is profoundly lacking in fruit. There is an excellent reason for this: I need to go to the grocery store. But I found a jar of this jelly substance in the fridge called Simply Fruit, and apparently it’s composed of naught but smooshed strawberries and sugar, which is clearly the way nature intended us to eat strawberries. To balance things out, I put a cuppa hot chocolate in there. It has schnapps in it to make it edgy.

The books are all continuations of series I’ve been enjoying. The River of Shadows is the third book in Mr. Redick’s epic at sea. If you haven’t heard o’ him yet, start with The Red Wolf Conspiracy—and you’re welcome. :)

I just finished Moon Over Soho, the second book featuring Constable Peter Grant, a London copper who’s out to catch some mighty creepy buggers. You know how you get all worked up sometimes by the events in books or movies and you start talking to the characters like they can hear you? Like “GET OUT OF THERE OR YOU’RE GONNA DIE, YOU FOOL!” or “JUST NUKE IT!” or “WAIT FOR BACKUP, FOR THE LOVE O’ CHRIST!” There were a couple of those moments in this book and I scared the hell out of my wife when I shouted the first line unexpectedly in my house. That got me in a wee bit of trouble, because she was in another room and thought I might be talking to her. I had to explain that no, she wasn’t a fool, and if there was any danger to be faced in our home office then I would run in there to face it and not simply shout at her from a place of safety. I think this is a fun series.

Look at that cover for The Curious Case of the Clockwork Man! I freakin’ love it! I enjoyed The Strange Affair of Spring Heeled Jack so I’m looking forward to this too. I think the chubby dude kind of looks like the Kingpin a little bit. What do you think? And what are you reading these days?

Blog

50-Page Friday

Click to enlarge. You know you wanna.

My publisher does this neato-schmeato thing where you can read the first fifty pages (or more) of selected books online. For FREE. It’s like grabbin’ a book off the shelf at the bookstore and just readin’ it for awhile, except without anybody walking by and asking if they can help you. And reading it at home is probably infinitely more comfy than standing in the fantasy section. I mean, you can fix yourself a sandwich and everything.

This sneak preview feature is called 50-Page Fridays, and as of this particular second, you can go on over to Scribd and read the first fifty-nine pages of HOUNDED for free! If you can’t make it over there today, no problem—it will still be there tomorrow (and for many moons afterward), STILL FREE. On Suvudu, they have a button at the top of the site page called 50-Page Fridays, and if you click on it you’ll see a whole list of books you can check out for free in addition to mine. Fabulous books, too, like Peter Brett’s The Desert Spear, The Red Wolf Conspiracy by Robert V.S. Redick, and Midnight Riot by Ben Aaronovich. There is also a little sidebar doohickey on the right side with the same title…find what you want, click, and read!

Enjoy! And I hope you make yourself a really good sandwich to go with it.

Blog

Rocking out

I’m probably a bit late to this particular game, but I console myself that plenty of people haven’t figured out cell phones yet and they have yet to hop on the Internet(s).

I’ve discovered Pandora. I read an article about the site in Rolling Stone months ago, but then forgot about it completely until my Twitter peep Hillary Jacques reminded me. I tried it out and DAMN. This is awesome.

I created a bunch of different stations and have been really surprised at the quality and variety of new music it pulls up, especially on a station I made based on Rodrigo y Gabriela. I really like to write to instrumentals because there aren’t any lyrics to distract me from the words trying to escape m’head. Guitar instrumentalists don’t get a lot of publicity, however, so I’ve never heard of most of the artists Pandora is pulling up. Coolest new find for me is Strunz and Farah; their music is a world beat sort of thing, some Middle Eastern rhythms mixed in with flamenco and other neato stuff.

Of course, I have also have a DragonForce station for those times I need to write fight scenes.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ym5TTqPY2sk&feature=related&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1[/youtube]

Because of that station, I’ve learned about bands like Hammerfall and Kamelot. Kamelot’s latest album cover, Poetry for the Poisoned, is some pretty messed up stuff. I want to write a short story about these undead clockwork snake ladies:

Have you tried Pandora yet? Who have you discovered?