WriteTip: The Dangers and Benefits of Vernacular

A recent Facebook post in a writing community I am part of got me thinking about using vernacular in fiction and writing. The post quoted from a 1987 Star Trek novel How Much For Just The Planet by John Ford which featured the following:

The poster’s comment was that this dated the fiction of a future universe by discussing video in tape format when that has now, many years before Star Trek is supposed to take place, become all but obsolete. And while this point is valid, I pointed out that the author was using vernacular in the 80s when discussing video playback commonly was referred to as tapes because that was the most common format. And authors, inevitably, are products of their time, even when writing far future stories. They struggle for balance between their imagined futures and worldbuilding concerns and communicating familiarly with readers in order to connect with them. This is where the use of Vernacular can be helpful at times. As we see from the example, however, it can also be limiting.

Now just to be clear we’re all talking about the same thing, the Oxford Dictionary online defines Vernacular as follows:

Language and dialect uses common terms that develop out of every day usage to promote unity and provide common reference and aid the sense of unity and community. Referring to video playback as tapes can be considered one of those. And for about twenty years, that vernacular was a broad common frame of reference for a great many people. The problem is that in the 2000s, tapes became almost obsolete. At first they merely stood alongside CDs and DVDs, but now they have been replaced by them entirely. With rare exceptions. Now, there was no way for John Ford to know this would happen, and the Star Trek TV series did have referring to playback of tapes as part of its worldbuilding because the TV writers didn’t anticipate it either, so in a sense he was writing within canon and established boundaries. But is that really an excuse? Shouldn’t he have anticipated the possibility that term would become outdated and avoided it just to be safe? Such was the argument of the person posting the example on Facebook, the problem I see is that in practical reality that creates close to impossible expectations for writers.

The fact remains that whatever you write, whenever you write it, you will always be a product of your time and so will your work. Anyone who wants to dig deep will be able to find from future perspective holes that date your material. It may be just an antiquated turn of phrase or, a word or two, or it may be something more glaring like technology that is outdated, but regardless, there’s virtually no way to make you work bulletproof from this occurring. You can make it hard for them, sure. There are many examples of older works that hold up so well they continue to amaze modern readers. But many more examples exist of older works that show their age with time. And the thing is there’s nothing wrong with that. I think it’s a mistake to be dismissive of something just because of small errors in anticipating future changes like this or modifications to vernacular. It doesn’t make vernacular any less useful a tool for communicating and connecting with readers. And it certainly doesn’t make the story any less powerful or effective unless you are so petty as to allow such minor glitches to do that.

My feeling is that none of this should make one avoid use of vernacular in writing stories, but it should inform it. But not more than it informs any other aspect of worldbuilding when it comes to futurism. Keeping material as non-dated as possible for future readers should almost always be given consideration when setting stories in the future, the only exceptions being perhaps stories that are particularly tied to historical events or specific dates in some way, thus requiring direct reflection of those periods. But this consideration should never be paralyzing for the writer. Doing your best to keep the story relevant and avoid it being dated by future generations is noble but not if it keeps you from writing well or telling the story you feel inspired to tell. In the end, no one can anticipate everything, because no one has the ability to accurately predict every aspect of the future down to language, vernacular, technology, and beyond. Even if you guess, you could get it wrong. And using future trends research can only take you so far as accuracy goes as well. When it comes down to it, you can only do what you can do and let the chips fall where they may, and that’s perfectly okay. As long as you do your best. No one can ask more of you, and you shouldn’t ask more of yourself.

For what it’s worth…

Introducing Boralis Books, a new small press

Some of you know I’ve been working on a new project with friends called Boralis Books. Boralis Books arose out of my frustration with New York publishing rejecting strong, well written page turners because they “didn’t know how to market them.” It’s happened to me several times and I know other authors have experienced the same frustration. So I decided to publish some novels myself, and to me, the best way to do it is to create a press and recruit staff—editors, proofers, designers—and try and put out quality product that rivals New York quality books.

Eventually, Boralis Books will release titles by multiple authors: novels, anthologies, collections, maybe a few novellas too. But for now, it is starting with three near future procedural thrillers by me. Every project will depend upon the success of prior projects for funding, so the initial plan is to release three books a year, one every four months, and see how it goes. Books will be released in hardcover, trade paperback, and ebooks—with audio to come as available. All books will be distributed via Ingram Sparks so bookstores anywhere can stock them if they desire, with ebooks initially exclusive to Kindle and then expanding from time to time to other mediums. We will, of course, also set up a Boralis Books store for selling the other formats as soon as we can.

For information on what we have so far, please check out Boralis Books at www.boralisbooks.com, a work in progress for sure. As more authors and projects are chosen, we will post information there. We will not be doing open submissions at least initially. I don’t have the time or resources to review them adequately and keep up with other plans. But we leave open that option for down the road.

Meanwhile, we plan to publish both speculative fiction and mystery/thriller with a few others possibly mixed in. We hope you’ll check out what we’re doing. Our first release will be Simon Says, the firs in my John Simon thrillers, which is Bosch meets Lethal Weapon with robots. It’s filled with action, strong memorable characters and humor and set in 2029 Kansas City, with a tough Luddite cop teaming with an android witness to solve a nanotech crime and his partner’s kidnapping. Future books will follow.

As always, launching a small press is a challenging endeavor, but having edited numerous novels and short stories, I hope I am up to the task with a lot of friends for support. Our editorial staff includes Guy Anthony Demarco, an MFA in Creative Writing, who also does our interior design. A.R. Crebs will be our book trailer and cover designer and artist, though we may employ others as time goes on. I also have some proofers and a few others as well.

Be sure and check us out. Simon Says is up for preorder now on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and wherever books are sold!

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/simon-says-bryan-thomas-schmidt/1133948927?ean=9781622257508

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1622257502/

Fall 2017 Book Tour Dates: INFINITE STARS, MONSTER HUNTER, PREDATOR, JOE LEDGER

For those wanting to connect, here are my confirmed tour dates so far for Fall 2017. Still trying to fill in open weekends in November with dates in either Arkansas, Nebraska, or Iowa. John Morris (aka Alexi), hope to see you there.

Oct. 5-8, 2017 New York Comic Con, Javits Center, New York City, NY, Guest, Book Launches: Predator: If It Bleeds (Titan) and Infinite Stars (Titan)

Oct. 18, 2017 Signing: Barnes and Noble, 11323 W 95th St, Overland Park, Kansas, 7-9 p.m.

Oct. 21, 2017 Signing: Barnes and Noble, 960 S. Colorado Blvd, Glenda, CO, 2-5 p.m. with Peter J. Wacks, David Boop, Julie Frost, and Holly Roberds

Oct. 28, 2017 Signing: Full Circle Bookstore, 1900 NW Expy Ste 135, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, 3-5 p.m.

Oct. 29, 2017 Signing: Barnes and Noble, 5231 East 41st Street, Tulsa, Oklahoma, 1-4 p.m.

Nov. 1, 2017, Signing: Barnes and Noble, Columbia Mall,2208 Bernadette Dr, Columbia, Missouri, 6-8 p.m.

Nov. 3, 2017  Signing: Barnes and Noble, 6130 SW 17th St, Topeka, KS, 7-9 p.m.

Nov. 3-4, 2017 Writing Workshop: Science Fiction Worldbuilding, Johnson Country Library-Central Resource Branch, Overland Park, KS Critique and Lecture sessions plus signing (see link for details)

Nov. 5, 2017 Signing: Books-A-Million, Central Mall, Ninth Street, Salina, KS, 1-3:30 p.m.

Nov. 11, 2017, Signing: Maker Faire, Barnes and Noble, Oak Park Mall, 11323 W 95th St, Overland Park, Kansas, 12-4 p.m.

Nov. 12, 2017, Signing: Books-a-million, Legends Outlets, 1859 Village W Pkwy f101, Kansas City, KS 66111 1-4 p.m.

Nov. 25, 2017 Signing: Barnes and Noble, 6510 N. Illinois St., Fairview Heights, IL, 1-4 p.m.

Dec.2, 2017 Book Signing: Barnes and Noble, 6300 S. Main Street Suite N101, Aurora, CO, 2-5 p.m. with Peter J. Wacks, Holly Roberds, and David Boop

Dec. 2, 2017 Book Signing: Storybook Brewing, 3121 A North El Paso Street, Colorado Springs, CO, 6:30-9 p.m. with Peter J. Wacks, David Boop, Holly Roberds

Dec. 3, 2017 Signing: Barnes and Noble, 4045 S College Ave, Fort Collins, Colorado, 7-9 p.m. with Peter J. Wacks, David Boop, and Holly Roberds

Guest Post: Lawrence M. Schoen, author of Barsk: The Elephants’ Graveyard, talks about writing anthropomorphic animals

Barsk cover

My friend Lawrence Schoen’s latest novel and big publisher debut, Barsk: The Elephants’ Graveyard, from TOR Books had sold out its first printing before it even released. It is about sentient animals who have survived the self-destruction of human beings and now rule the galaxy. I asked him to talk on the blog about how to write animals as main characters of a novel.

How do you approach writing animals as characters? Do you anthropomorphize or avoid it?

I treat animal characters much like I treat alien characters, which is to say, I write them as characters first, and then add in the other bits (animal, alien, or both).

I start by asking myself a few basic questions like, “Who is this character? How does he see the world? How does he see himself? What does he want?” and then as these basics start to sketch out, I drop the character into the setting that further shapes those answers.

With the anthropomorphic animal (or as I like to call them, “raised mammals”) characters in Barsk, there were additional factors. The easiest of these was to build on the physiological differences from the source animals, and play with how that then affects the more basic characteristics and questions. This is particularly important for the reader, because she’s looking for something familiar to glom onto, something that can be assessed at a glance, be it an elephant’s trunk or the graceful gait of a cheetah or the relative lethargy of a sloth. These are signals to a reader that say, “oh, okay, it’s like a human being, only not, because it’s also like X.”

After the broad strokes of an animal character is done, the real fun begins. The bits that act as Easter eggs for more savvy readers. Little pieces from research into what ethologists and other scientists have learned about these species which when dropped into sapient characters inform their culture and worldview. As one example, we know that among elephants, after a certain age, the males all go off on their own solitary way and only return to mate, leaving the females behind to form groups of adults and children of both sexes. Take this one datum and apply it a planet of uplifted elephants and you get a society where you have households of adult females — mothers and sisters aunts and cousins, like something out of H.M.S. Pinafore — taking responsibility for all child rearing, and males who spend their adult lives as peripatetic bachelors — never settling down for long, always moving on. And from there you get to ask how this all manifests in routine things that you probably won’t actually look at in the book, but which has to exist in the back of your mind because it all influences the way the characters walk through their own world. Questions like, “What does this do to the housing market? What’s the impact on job security? What happens to individuals who don’t fit smoothly into the society’s normative roles?”

The characters in an anthropomorphic novel need to have the same quality of breadth and depth and variety that ordinary human characters enjoy and/or endure; it’s all just filtered through the specialized animal traits that is their due as well. Because at the end of the day, you’re using them to tell human stories, and while they may be furry or horned or bat-winged or something else, they must also project a basic humanity, one to which the reader can relate. In the end, the thing we always remember about the best alien or anthropomorphic characters isn’t how much they differ from us, but how human they were.


Lawrence M. Schoen holds a Ph.D. in cognitive psychology and psycholinguistics. He’s also one of the world’s foremost authorities on the Klingon language, and the publisher of a speculative fiction small press, Paper Golem. He’s been a finalist for the John W. Campbell Award, the Hugo Award, and the Nebula Award. Lawrence lives near Philadelphia. You can find him online at LawrenceMSchoen.com and @KlingonGuy.

 

Signed Books For Christmas

Still time to order copies of my books for that special someone.  I have copies of all of my titles. Tell me which one you want and if you want it personalized too or just signed.

Email me at bryan at bryanthomasschmidt.net.  I will tell you how much to paypal and then priority mail the bubblewrapped, signed books wherever you want.

Typically I charge $15 per trade paperback plus $5 priority mail but international I’d have to calculate. This helps me. It helps your loved ones and friends by giving them good materials. And it helps you save time shopping. A 3-way win.

I have some great stuff as you can see from the reviews, or you can order from my Amazon page here: http://www.amazon.com/Bryan-Thomas-Schmidt/e/B004FRQ7XS/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1449351366&sr=1-1.

Here are some of the books I’ve edited or written:

Mission Tomorrow cover 2 larger TWP WFP front cover 102 More Dino Jokes cover Abe Dino Hunter LOL cover Beyond Sun Cover.indd RaygunChronicles TPB front display Shattered Shields cover small

First Annual Open Reading Period- September 7 through 21, 2015

Well, I said I was going to do it, and so here I am. At present, I don’t do general open calls because I just can’t read through all that would come in for the 3-4 anthologies I do a year. But one reason I got into anthology editing was to create opportunities not just for me, but for other writers, so instead I have decided to offer two week annual submissions periods for basically earning your way onto my invite list.  So that first period will begin Monday and run two weeks, through September 21st.  Here are the parameters:

1) Send your best story in RTF, DOC or PDF format. Make it easy on me to read your work. If I can’t open the file, I won’t read it.

2) Send me the best thing you have, published, unpublished, etc. I am NOT BUYING. All my current projects are full, BUT I am starting to pitch for anthologies in 2017 and 2018, so I will need writers when they sell, which means, I want to see what you can do. If I like your voice, craft, and style, then I will put you on my list.

3) Expect to wait a while. I am going to read through what I get, but it will take a while to read it because other ediitng and reading priorities must come first. The good news is, you can go about submitting elsewhere and living your life, because I am not buying right now so I don’t need exclusivity.

4) Please use standard manuscript formatting. I.E. double spaced, serif font, 12 point type, italics instead of underlining, wordcount and contact info above title on front page, etc.  Also, NUMBER PAGES so if I read offline and drop one, I can easily find where the pages go and in what order.

5) If you story is over 7500 words, please contact me first.

6) If I have already bought stories from you or you know I own your books or stories, you just need to ask to be included. Please feel no need to submit pieces to this call. I will have enough to read already.

That’s it. That simple. Send these files to bryan at bryanthomasschmidt.net starting Monday with the subject: OPEN CALL (story name).

I will read and let you know if you’re invited to my list.

Oh, a couple notes on taste:

I like adventure stories more than lesson stories, but if you can do both, I will be awesomely impressed and pleased. I like character driven stories. I like heroes I can admire, but if the story is strong enough, of course, any of this won’t matter. I also do not like overuse of foul language or gratituitous sex and violence, so keep in mind that since I do PG themed anthologies mostly, your story samples should fit those parameters as much as possible.  Beyond that, I like all kinds of genres, but I am not a huge vampire or zombie fan, just a warning.

I do reserve the right to just say no. I don’t owe you a slot, nor do I owe you an explanation. Unfortunately, this has to be said given the nature of the www world today, sot here it is. It is not that I plan to just arbitrarily say no without some kind of explanation, but I probably don’t have time to give long notes on every story. I don’t promise to read the whole thing either. If I don’t like it, I will treat it like any other slush. Time management is key. It is not personal. It is subjective and ruled by my personal taste, yes.  I am open to people of all beliefs, lifestyles, ethinic backgrounds, cultures, etc. In fact, I strongly seek it out and don’t get enough from POC and non-western writers, so by all means, let me see what you’ve got.

I appreciate the opportunity to look at your work and your patience through this process, and I look forward to working with many of you in the future.

Bryan


Bryan Thomas Schmidt is an author and Hugo-nominated editor of adult and children’s science fiction and fantasy novels and anthologies. His debut novel, The Worker Prince, received Honorable Mention on Barnes & Noble’s Year’s Best Science Fiction Releases of 2011, and was followed by two sequels. As editor, his anthologies include Shattered Shields (Baen, 2014), Beyond The Sun (Fairwood, 2013), Raygun Chronicles (Every Day Publishing, 2013) and Space Battles (Flying Pen Press, 2012) with two more forthcoming from Baen Books and St. Martin’s Griffin in 2015 and 2016. He is also developmental editor for WordFire Press, owned by New York Times Bestselling author Kevin J. Anderson and Rebecca Moesta. Books he’s edited include The Martian by Andy Weir, My Big Fat Demonslayer Wedding by Angie Fox, The Outpost by Mike Resnick, A Game Of Authors by Frank Herbert and more. From December 2010 to earlier this year, he hosted Science Fiction and Fantasy Writer’s Chat the first Wednesday of every month at 9 P.M. ET on Twitter under the hashtag #sffwrtcht and is a frequent guest and panelist at World Cons and other conventions. His website is www.bryanthomasschmidt. Twitter: @BryanThomasS

SASQUAN- WORLD CON SCHEDULE – 2015 Bryan Thomas Schmidt

Here’s my schedule for the World Science Fiction Convention, Sasquan, in Spokane, Washington, August 18-23, 2015. I look forward to seeing some of you there. I will be at the WordFire Party, Wednesday night, the Baen Books Party, Thursday Night, the Fairwood Press Party, Friday and the Hugo Loser’s Party, Saturday. Beyond that, I will be wandering and at the WordFire Press table in the Dealer’s Room.

Thursday, August 20th

PANEL: The Work of Being a Writer, Thursday 9:00 – 9:45, Bays 111A (CC)

Writers write, but there’s more to being a writer than writing.  Come learn how to work with editors, agents, other writers, marketers, and fans.  Can writers’ groups and social media make you or break you?  Learn about all the work involved in being a writer and some strategies for success.

Randy Henderson (M) , Brenda Cooper, Bryan Thomas Schmidt, Susan Palwick

 

Friday, August 21st

PANEL: Kaffee Klatche – Bryan Thomas Schmidt, Friday 12:00 – 12:45, 202A-KK1 (CC)

Join a panelist and up to 9 other fans for a small discussion.  Coffee and snacks available for sale on the 2nd floor. Requires advance sign-up.

PANEL: The Changing Role of the Editor, Friday 3:00 – 3:45, Bays 111B (CC)

With the various ways that fiction is published (print/online/audio/self-published), how is the role of editor changing?  Does the editor need to be more technician than tweaker?  Is self-publishing making the editor’s job obsolete?

Gordon Van Gelder (M), Scott H. Andrews – Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Hugo Nominee, Yanni Kuznia – Subterranean Press , Wendy S. Delmater – Abyss and Apex – Hugo Nominee, Bryan Thomas Schmidt – Hugo Nominee

Saturday, August 22nd

Autographing – Jeffrey A. Carver, David Hartwell, Esther Jones, David Peterson, Bryan Thomas Schmidt, Saturday 10:00 – 10:45, Exhibit Hall B (CC)

Jeffrey A. Carver, Esther Jones, David Peterson, Bryan Thomas Schmidt, David Hartwell

Hugo Pre-Reception, Saturday 6:00 – 8:00, Integra Telecom Ballroom 100A (CC)

Hugo Awards Ceremony, Saturday 8:00 – 10:30, INB Performing Arts Center (CC)

The 2015 Hugo Awards promises to be one of the most memorable ceremonies in years. Come be a part of history. Your Masters of Ceremony will be Sasquan Guest of Honor David Gerrold and Tananarive Due, and they’ve both promised an entertaining ceremony.

Tananarive Due (M), David Gerrold (M)

 

 

Announcing Bi-Annual Open Reading Periods Coming Soon

Shattered Shields cover smallAs most of you know, I am a very busy anthologist, with 8 projects in various stages of contract and development through 2017. Most of these have their allotment of writers already, but as I develop new projects, I hope to expand my stable. Because of budget and busyness, my reading time is limited and so slush is just not something I can manage at the moment, however, I have come up with an option that will appeal to some of you.

I am ending Science Fiction and Fantasy Writer’s Chat in August. This is because of sheer exhaustion from four years, fading enthusiasm from me and regulars, and also needing time to read for both fun and work that I can’t find anywhere else. Interviewing people, even twice a week, and reading one of their books to do so, is a tremendous time commitment. I have had to put in 20 hours a week to it since starting in 2010. I just can’t keep up with that and slush, and I can’t read novels by friends or colleagues for fun, blurbs or more. Add to that my work in Acquisitions and Development for Wordfire as a Junior Editor, and I just am falling further and further behind. I hate that, so something had to give.

Mission Tomorrow cover 2So the solution is that I will be doing an open submission period of two weeks, starting this Fall (September 1 through 15) where writers can send me their best work. The idea is to give me a chance to get to know your work–voice, style, etc. for consideration toward future projects with openings. I am not going to buy these stories. So send your best, whichever speculative genre you want. The sole exception is erotica. I don’t publish or buy it so it won’t be the best sample for me. I don’t promise quick turn around. It may, in fact, take me months to get through the submissions. But if you are professional quality in your writing, you will be considered for invites to future anthologies. You will be in the door. I will limit the word count, probably 6k words and under,  but those details shall be announced when the Fall comes. And I will limit to one piece per writer as well. I need to be able to see an end game here if I ever hope to do it again. Published work is fine. I will be flexible on format as well. I will make it easy for you, so please do the same for me.

Beyond Sun Cover.inddFurther details will be announced when the submission time gets closer. But since many busy anthologists just don’t have time and resources to do many open calls, consider this a great chance to get into projects that may interest you in the future. If you are put in my pool, I will notify you and invite you to appropriate future projects. You also have the right to ask about openings when I announce projects you want to be invited to. Yes, people do that anyway, but if I don’t know your work, I almost always say no. Just a practicality. In any case, get those submissions ready. Reading stuff I’ve edited for taste might be a great way to see what I like in the meantime. I look forward to discovering new colleagues to work with.

Thanks.


Bryan Thomas Schmidt is an author and Hugo nominated editor of adult and children’s speculative fiction. His debut novel, The Worker Prince received Honorable Mention on Barnes & Noble Book Club’s Year’s Best Science Fiction Releases for 2011. His short stories have appeared in magazines, anthologies and online. His anthologies as editor include Shattered Shields with co-editor Jennifer Brozek for Baen, Mission: Tomorrow, Galactic Games, Little Green Men–Attack! and Monster Hunter Tales (with Larry Correia) all forthcoming also for Baen, Joe Ledger: Unstoppable with Jonathan Maberry for St. Martin’s Griffin (forthcoming 2017), Space Battles: Full Throttle Space Tales #6, Beyond The Sun and Raygun Chronicles: Space Opera For a New Age. He hosts #sffwrtcht (Science Fiction & Fantasy Writer’s Chat) Wednesdays at 9 pm ET on Twitter as @SFFWRTCHT.

GlitchCon Schedule August 1st-3rd, 2014

GlitchCon

 

Well, another Con has arrived. From Friday through Sunday, I’ll be in Springdale, Arkansas at the Holiday Inn Conference Center for GlitchCon with the lovely Claire Ashgrove, my best bud and editing partner in Finish The Story, Jonathan Maberry and David Farland and several others. Here’s a full schedule of programming. See participants at the website at http://www.glitchcon.com/

FRIDAY, August 1

3:00 – 3:50 pm Creating Comics and Graphic Novels (Jonathan M. /

David F. / Kyle / *Tommy) (Steam Room)

5:00 OPENING CEREMONIES  (John Q. Hammons Hall)

6:00 – 6:50 pm Pulp Fiction (Jonathan M. / David F. / Tommy / Bryan

100_0440
Bryan and David Farland

S. / Phillip D.)(Steam Room)

6:00 – 8:00pm Story In A Bag, lead by Dyann Love Barr & Claire A. (Anime & Cosplay)

7:30 p.m.   — David F. / Jonathan M. / Claire / Bryan to dinner

 

SATURDAY, August 2

10:00 – 10:50 — Collaboration (Sue S. / Bill A. / Brad S. / Dyann)   (Steam Room)

12:00 – 12:50 — Series Writing (Saranna D. / David F. / Jonathan

M. / Bill A. / Claire A. / Dyann LB) (Anime & Cosplay)

1:00 – 1:50 — Writing 101 (David F. / Phillip D. / Sue S. / Dyan LB

/ Claire A. /  Saranna D. / Bryan S. (MOD)) (Steam Room)
2:00-2:50 – Old School Monsters (Jonathan M.)(Steam Room)
3:00 – 3:50  pm  Horror – Then and Now (Jonathan M. / David F.

/ Brad S./ Saranna D.)

4:00 – 4:50 — The Fantasy Allure (Jonathan M / David F. / Bryan S.

/ Brad S. / Claire A. / Saranna (MOD))(Steam Room)

7:00 – 7:50 — World Building (Sue S. / Bill A. / Dyann LB / Bryan

S. / Claire / Saranna, John W.) (Steam Room)

Bryan & Claire
Bryan & Claire

 

 

SUNDAY, August 3

10:00 – 10:50 – Story In A Bag Winners Announced

3:00-4:20 – CLOSING CEREMONIES (John Q. Hammons Hall)

ConQuest 45 A Success

100_0611Well, ConQuest 45 – Noir has come and gone, and I am calling it a great success. This is the one Con I try to make annually, because it’s local and put on by my local fan group, which is a great group of people. Glen Cook has been attending as a dealer for years, but this year we also honored him as Guest Of Honor, and that was a blast. I panelled with Glen several times including a Spec Noir panel with Mark W. Tiedemann (shown), a live GOH interview which neither of us wanted to end but did, and a military fantasy panel also featuring Kij Johnson and Robin Wayne Bailey.

On Friday night, Robin Wayne Bailey, Todd Hunter and I threw an impromptu launch party for Raygun Chronicles: Space Opera For A New Age, which released last December after funding on Kickstarter the previous March, and which features stories by Todd and Robin as well as many others, including Seanan McGuire, David Farland, Brenda Cooper, Sarah A. Hoyt, Allen M. Steele, and A.C. Crispin. The party was hopping for several hours and a Who’s Who of the Con stopped by, later voting us Best Party at the Closing Ceremonies. I also sold out of copies, for the first time ever, selling 19 and giving away 2. So I had to order more for the next Con. I call that a success./

Once again, the Basic Editing 101 For Writers panel that my editing partner Claire Ashgrove and I initiated last year was a hit with really strong attendance, including Artist GOH David Lee Pancake, who told me it was the best, clearest panel he’d seen on basic issues like passives, telling vs. showing, etc. I hadn’t encountered David yet, due to my busy schedule, so afterwards I headed down to the art show and wound up buying one of his beautiful works.

I also did a panel on Heroes and Heroines with Kij Johnson and others, a Writing For Young Audiences panel with Chris McKitterick and K.D. McEntire, and several others. Only my Abraham Lincoln Dinosaur Hunter reading drew interest as my first reading was Friday night during check in time, so I got an extra hour of rest pre-Con.

100_0615An Editor’s Are Not The Enemy panel with Selina Rosen, Deanna Sjojander and Rich Horton was lively, and brought up interesting issues about publishing traditional vs. self-publishing vs. small press which I hope were helpful.

The Con Suite, which I made extensive use of this year, unlike last year, was also well stocked and managed and I relied on it for most of my meals outside a Friday dinner with Dennis and Diane Barr and Saturday dinner with Rich and MaryAnne Horton.

Altogether, a delightful time and well worth attending, even though I arrived tired and not sure I was not sure I was ready. I quickly slipped into a different frame of mind and really enjoyed myself. Thanks to the Con Comm, and the party group especially for helping make this such a delightful experience.

After the Con, I came home and announced an upcoming Kickstarter anthology I’ve really been looking forward to. And I know it’s going to be a real special and fun project to complete. A fitting way to close the Con, with inspiration.

 


Bryan Thomas Schmidt is an author and editor of adult and children’s speculative fiction. His debut novel, The Worker Prince received Honorable Mention on Barnes & Noble Book Club’s Year’s Best Science Fiction Releases for 2011. His first children’s books, 102 More Hilarious Dinosaur Books For Kids and Abraham Lincoln: Dinosaur Hunter- Land Of Legends appeared from Delabarre Publishing in 2012. His short stories have appeared in magazines, anthologies and online. He edited the anthologies Space Battles: Full Throttle Space Tales #6 for Flying Pen Press,Beyond The Sun for Fairwood Press, Raygun Chronicles: Space Opera For a New Age for Every Day, and Shattered Shields with coeditor Jennifer Brozek for Baen Books (forthcoming).  He is currently working on Gaslamp Terrors and Mission Tomorrow: A New Century Of Exploration.  He hosts #sffwrtcht (Science Fiction and Fantasy Writer’s Chat) Wednesdays at 9 pm ET on Twitter,