Omegacon -- The Start
At the moment, I'm in Birmingham, Alabama for the Omegacon convention. It is certainly one of the larger SF/F/H fiction and entertainment conventions in the U.S. The dealer room runs around 5,000 square feet, and events are scheduled 24 hours a day. If you're in the area, drop by the convention - it is certain to be great fun. If you're not able to attend, I'll post over the next three days events and pictures. At the very least, take a look at the website, forums, schedule, and guests at Omegacon.
Slated for me tomorrow is an interesting number of events:
Friday: 1:30 pm is the launch party for The Strange Cases of Rudolph Pearson. After the event, I'll offer up more details. For the moment, know that this is an event where authors talk about their books, and answer questions about the soon to be released or just released books.
What I will say is that those who attend will get a limited edition full color promo card, and a secret discount number if the book is purchased directly from Chaosium's website.
Friday 4:30 pm is a book signing. This one is pretty easy to figure out. I'll be in a room
autographing books.
Friday 6:00 pm is "How to Edit Yourself." This is more about editing your own fiction rather than editing what you say in public. It is a topic is popular with writers, as knowing how much to edit and how to go about it can be more difficult than one might think.
Although the dealer's hall isn't open, I passed through it and found quite a stack of High Seas Cthulhu and Horrors Beyond 2 on the Books-a-Million retail shelf (they are also a sponsor for the convention, and have quite a display. The photo is from a distance, and the books are on the middle rack, 2nd shelf down from the top. It isn't wise to march into a retailer's area when the place is closed. Security isn't fond of that. So the picture is a bit blurry and far away.
As for other events, Richard Hatch, the actor from Battle Star Galactic (in both the original and new version) was nearby at dinner. And I've already ran into quite a few friends and familiar faces.
7 comments:
Definitely looking forward to the Pearson book.
And I wish I could get the lecture (any notes you can spare?) on editing oneself. I've discovered that I really need to start doing so, and am not sure how to.
I just got invited to the Babel Con in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, which is a two day event this year. I'll be giving a couple of presentations and probably sitting on another panel or two. It won't be nearly as big as the one you're talking about. I love a big dealer's room, especially the books, but Babel con has really been small until this year.
Looking forward to further reportas of the Con-age.
John -- Thanks! And I will bring a few notes from each panel. I think all writers (and editors) feel the way you do. ;)
Charles -- Great news on the Baton Rouge convention! That one is a bit far from me, well, except for this weekend. :) But I hope you have a great time.
And yes, the dealer's rooms are always exciting. This convention does just about one of everything, so the dealer's room is quite wild.
Hello William ,
It is cool that you are a literary guest on the Omegacon.
Have you received my emails?
Thanks
Gwabryel -- Thanks, and yes, I did get your email. Hopefully you got mine. :)
Hey William, any chance you could post a table of contents for TSCORP?
Cheers
David Conyers
David - I certainly can. I will likely make a post as the book approaches commercial release.
The thing about the table of contents is that the Pearson stories were always written with an eye toward a longer work. The short stories of Pearson that I published were akin to "chapters" from a greater story. Because they were also short stories, I had to reduce the sub-plots that wouldn't be resolved, and bring forward the main plot (for the story, but which was the sub-plot for the overall work). Honest, all of that makes sense in some fashion.
I mention this because the book is a bit more connected than the stories. Some of the elements I had removed from the stories, I returned to the book. And there were some stories that just wouldn't stand alone. This makes it a bit of a hybrid novel. And I do mention this in the "Author's Note" in the book. So read the TOC as more of chapters than solitary stories, except I call the chapters "cases" to maintain the historical feel:
Foreword by Joshua Pearson
Case One: Feasters of the Dark
Case Two: The Transgression of Effram Harris
*Case Three: Shadow of the Past
*Case Four: The Whispering Dead
*Case Five: Haunted Horror
Case Six: Harmi
*Case Seven: The Missing Curiosity
*Case Eight: The Mysterious Millionaire
*Case Nine: An Ancient Summoning
Case Ten: Through the Eye of a Needle
Afterword by Joshua Pearson
The * indicates previously unpublished stories -- although I almost combined two of the tales into the story "The Whispering Dead." But as they were really "chapters," and not short stories, they didn't work very well. And the Foreword and Afterword by Josh Pearson are new as well. :)
Post a Comment