Yet another new event! Book Launch Extravaganza for The Prince Who Fell From the Sky by John Claude Bemis

Posted: 16 May, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: events, Uncategorized | Tags: , | Leave a comment »
Hillsborough author John Claude Bemis wrote to let me know that:
I’m thrilled to share that my new book The Prince Who Fell from the Sky comes out May 22!  I am thankful that it is already being well-received. Amazon picked it as a Best Book of the Month for May (you can pre-order it 40% off, or get it at your local indy bookstore or Barnes and Noble).
I hope you’ll be able to join me for my book launch party.  Lots of fun for the whole family with music, a book performance by my young acting troupe, refreshments, and reading from the book. Copies of my four novels will be available for purchase from local Purple Crow Books, and I’ll be ready to personalize your copy.

What:  Book Launch Party Extravaganza for The Prince Who Fell from the Sky
When: Saturday, June 2 at 3 pm
Where: The Public Market House (downtown farmer’s market pavilion), 144 E. Margaret Ln, Hillsborough
I greatly appreciate all your support!  Thank you for helping to spread the word to others who might enjoy this event by forwarding this email or sharing the link to my website on Facebook.  http://johnclaudebemis.com/2012/03/launch-party-for-the-prince-who-fell-from-the-sky/
Thanks so much!  I hope to see you at the celebration on June 2.
Best wishes,
John
John Claude Bemis
Author of The Clockwork Dark trilogy:
THE NINE POUND HAMMER (Random House, 2009)
THE WOLF TREE (Random House, 2010)
THE WHITE CITY (Random House, 2011)
Also…
THE PRINCE WHO FELL FROM THE SKY (Random House, spring 2012)
www.johnclaudebemis.com
If you have missed the “medicine show” style launch parties for John’s books in the past, you… well, you obviously don’t know what you’re missing, so I’ll have to explain. They’re a blast for all ages, and if I have learned anything about John in the past few years, it’s that he will have some original guitar music which is thematically suited to the book, which in this case is a folkloric/post-apocalyptic tale of talking animals and the most interesting animal they’ve yet met: a human boy. (No pressure, John. Just saying that “The Ballad of The Prince Who Fell From the Sky” could make a welcome appearance!)
And, of course, here’s an updated handout/flyer with the event inserted. Oh, and the fantastic cover art:

Poetry poetry poetry!

Posted: 16 May, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: poetry, Uncategorized | Tags: | Leave a comment »

Here’s some speculative poetry news, both relating to Bull Spec.

First, as Bull Spec poetry editor Dan Campbell notes:

Issue 7 of Bull Spec is now for sale! It has poetry by [info]alexa_seidel, Daniel A. Rabuzzi, [info]thunderpigeon, Deborah Walker, Athena Andreadic, Mari Ness, Damon Shaw, and Sofia Samatar.

Also out now is The Moment of Change: An Anthology of Feminist Speculative Poetry, edited by Rose Lemberg. Three of the poems included in the antho originally appeared in Bull Spec, and I’m thrilled with the line-up of poets in the book.

[info]rose_lemberg announces the antho here, and [info]tithenai has a SQEEEE about it here.  :-)   Go buy it!

Second, Mike Allen has an excellent introduction to speculative poetry over at Locus, which name-drops Bull Spec as a place to look:

Where do you find this work? For one, in the same places you find short fiction: Asimov’s Science Fiction, Strange Horizons, Apex Magazine, Bull Spec, Abyss & Apex, sometimes even Analog. There’s also some spectacular websites and …

And, since I didn’t quite get the Terri Windling cover art for The Moment of Change into Bull Spec #7 as planned, here you go:

New local event (and flyer): Chapel Hill Comics to host signing for the collected Eisner-nominated PRINCELESS, with writer Jeremy Whitley.

Posted: 10 May, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: events, Uncategorized | Leave a comment »

The collected Princeless was originally set for the end of April but was delayed due to printing delays, meaning the planned event also had to be delayed. I’m happy to report that, at least sometimes, delays do not necessarily mean cancellations, as Chapel Hill Comics is set to host a signing event for collected Eisner-nominated comic Princeless with writer Jeremy Whitley on Saturday May 26 from 1 to 3 pm:

Also: I added this (NEW-NEW) to the Bull Spec events newsletter, and here’s a slightly updated flyer/handout PDF which has the event as well. Spread the word and see you there!

Update, May 16: Even more slightly updated Bull Spec flyer/handout PDF.

Vote today against a dystopian future.

Posted: 8 May, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Leave a comment »

It’s one of my favorite genres of sf: dystopian fiction. In the great Orwellian tradition of Nineteen Eighty-Four, it isn’t enough to simply have an oppressive government; the government in question must be doing its oppression in the name of doublespoken freedom.

Here in North Carolina, a fairly typical dystopian plank appears on our ballots today, Tuesday, May 8th, 2012: put the human rights of a minority up for a majority vote and call it democratic justice. Well, I say no thanks. I am pretty uncomfortable being blatantly political here; I haven’t before and don’t think myself too likely to do so again outside a repeat of this kind of nonsense. The thing is, history shows that this kind of thinking is barely cold; North Carolina cleaned up our last Constitutional marriage mess just 35 years ago:

“Amendment to Article Fourteen: All marriages between a white person and a negro, or between a white person and a negro descendant to the third generation inclusive, are hereby forever prohibited.”

“Article 14, Section 8 was adopted during the Constitutional Convention of 1875. The amendment, outlawing interracial marriage, remained a part of the North Carolina Constitution until 1971, when a new state constitution was adopted. In 1977 the General Assembly passed a law validating all interracial marriages that occurred prior to March 24, 1977, the date of the law’s passage.”

So. Find your precinct. Find the time, whether before work or school, on your lunch break, or … You don’t have to research and vote in any of the other primary and other elections going on; you can simply vote against, turn in your ballot, get your sticker, and go home.  (Though if you want to, you can bring in a cheat sheet of paper to help remember your choices.)

The polls are open from 6:30 a.m. until 7:30 p.m.  If you are standing in line at 7:30 p.m. when the polls close you will be allowed to vote.

Find the time. Vote against dystopia, no matter how interesting the fiction might be.

Sincerely,

Samuel Montgomery-Blinn

Publisher, Bull Spec

New local event: Flyleaf Books to host Kevin Hearne, author of The Iron Druid Chronicles

Posted: 4 May, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: events, Uncategorized | Tags: , | Leave a comment »

Pretty much every time I send out the monthly events newsletter, the first thing that happens is that I get e-mails about the events I’ve missed. While I can update them on the website (search for NEW-NEW to find things added after the e-mails go out), sometimes the events warrant a post of their own — and this is just such an event.

Kevin Hearne is the author of The Iron Druid Chronicles series (Hounded, Hexed, Hammered, and just-released Tricked) which tell the story of Atticus O’Sullivan, the titular druid who has been running for two thousand years — and he’s a bit tired of it, having settled down more or less in… Tempe, Arizona, of course. Out in print and e-book from Orbit, and in audio from Brilliance Audio, though the latter two versions are a bit harder to sign, you’ll get a chance to see Hearne try as he’ll be visiting Chapel Hill’s Flyleaf Books on Tuesday, June 12 at 7 pm for a reading and signing event. (Started a Facebook event here to send around. Let’s fill up Flyleaf again!)

I added the event and updated the current Bull Spec flyer/handout PDF. So print some, post them, hand them out. And see you there!

Update, May 10: Slightly updated Bull Spec flyer/handout PDF.

Update, May 16: Even more slightly updated Bull Spec flyer/handout PDF.

Bull Spec newsletter for May 2012

Posted: 3 May, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: events, newsletter, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

Vol 2. No. 4, Wednesday, May 2, 2012:

Thanks everybody for making the April 15 NC Speculative Fiction Night such a (crowded!) success at Durham’s Sci-Fi Genre Comics & Games, including making short work of the 7-candled cake. I’ve got most of the bookstores stocked with Bull Spec #7, though a few of the further-out stores are yet to come later this week, along with (finally) the PDF version, subscriber mailings and deliveries, contributor mailings and deliveries, more review copies… I did get a few review copies out in time for late April deadlines, and SFRevu’s Sam Tomaino and Locus Magazine’s Lois Tilton have already weighed in.

May gets off to a fast start with Free Comic Book Day this Saturday — see below for more details, and as always: see you out and about! One note is that Jeremy Whitley’s Princeless event was rescheduled from its original date in April to “some time after Free Comic Book Day” in May, so keep an eye out for updates. The biggest update for me this time around is confirming all the fun that will be the Sunday, August 5 Bull Spec summer literary sf festival with Ann and Jeff VanderMeer, Tobias S. Buckell, Karin Lowachee, Will Hindmarch, and more, at Chapel Hill’s Flyleaf Books from 2 to 4 pm. I’m sure I’ll see a lot of you before then, but if not: don’t miss it!

Update: Jaime at Flyleaf Books just wrote to let me know that Kevin Hearne, author of the Iron Druid Chronicles books, will be having an event on Tuesday June 12. Another great event to add to your calendar! I added the event to and updated the current Bull Spec flyer/handout PDF. So print some, post them, hand them out. And see you there!

-Sam

MAY 2012

NEW: 4 (Friday) 6 to 9 pm — Gabriel Dunston celebrates the launch of his new children’s comic book by displaying and selling the original artwork from the book in the Carter Building in Downtown Raleigh: http://www.facebook.com/events/375799239137904/

NEW-NEW: 4 (Friday) 7 to 11 pm — Durham’s Carolina Theatre’s Retrofantasma series will screen Rollerball (1975) and Fahrenheit 451 (1966).

5 (Saturday) — Free Comic Book Day with events throughout the Triangle and around the world: http://www.freecomicbookday.com/ – Ultimate Comics has quite a list of guests, live music, and a costume contest (http://ultimatecomics.com/2012/04/freecomicbookday/) while Chapel Hill Comics has its own lineup of free comics, brush sketches, and more (http://www.chapelhillcomics.com/content/?p=1660) and Sci-Fi Genre (http://www.scifigenre.com/store/eventViewer.aspx?nEventID=1195) and other local shops are all getting into the act as well. Why choose; go to all of them.

14 (Monday) 7 pm — Flyleaf Books hosts a discussion of Douglas Adams’s Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy in its Deep Dish Theater Book Discussions series. More info: http://flyleafbooks.com/event/deep-dish-theatre-discussion-douglas-adamss-hitchhikers-guide-galaxy-conjunction-theaters-prod

NEW-NEW: 18 (Friday) 7 to 11 pm –  Durham’s Carolina Theatre’s Retrofantasma series will screen Starman (1984) and Runaway (1984).

NEW: 19-20 (Saturday and Sunday) — Durham County’s  Southwest Regional Library hosts its Comics Fest 2012.

20 (Sunday) 3 to 5 pm — Quail Ridge Books hosts John Claude Bemis, Karen Lee, and Stephen Messer for the annual SCBWI “Schmooze” — “Aspiring writers and illustrators may submit the first 250 words of a children’s book or an illustration for panel review at the event. Open to all.” More info: http://www.quailridgebooks.com/event/scbwi-schmooze-john-bemis-stephen-messer

NEW: 22 (Tuesday) 7 pm – Durham author David Halperin will be reading from and discussing his 2011 novel Journal of a UFO Investigator at the Southwest Regional Library in Durham.

22 — Local author new novel: Hillsborough’s John Claude Bemis’s The Prince Who Fell From the Sky to be published by Random House Books for Young Readers.

NEW-NEW: 26 (Saturday) 1- 3 pm — Chapel Hill Comics is set to host the release party for the collected Eisner-nominated comic Princeless with writer Jeremy Whitley.

29 — Local author new novel: Baen to publish Raleigh author Mark L. Van Name’s newest novel in his Jon & Lobo series, No Going Back. More info: http://www.baen.com/order_isbn.asp?isbn=9781451638103

JUNE 2012

1-3: ConCarolinas (June 1-3, 2012) in Charlotte with writer guest of honor Jack McDevitt and many local and regional guests and panelists. More info: http://www.concarolinas.org/

NEW-NEW: 12 (Tuesday) 7 pm — Flyleaf Books hosts Kevin Hearne, author of the Iron Druid Chronicles series, for a reading and signing event.

16 (Saturday) 10 am to 5 pm — MakerFaire NC at the NC State Fairgrounds: http://makerfairenc.com/

NEW: 13-17 (Wednesday through Sunday) — The North American Jules Verne Society will hold its 2012 annual meeting in Marion, NC, near the site of the Great Eyry referenced in Verne’s novel Master of the World. More info: http://www.najvs.org/meetings.shtml

NEW: 21 (Friday) — Durham’s Carolina Theatre hosts The Moth: Between Worlds, a live storytelling event. The guests have not yet been finalized. More info: http://www.carolinatheatre.org/events/moth-between-worlds

21-24: ConTemporal (June 21-24, 2012) in Chapel Hill with literary guest of honor Cherie Priest and comic book guests of honor Studio Foglio. More info: http://contemporal.org/

26 — Local author new novel: Solaris Books to publish Hillsborough author James Maxey’s Hush – continuing his new fantasy series which began with Greatshadow in January.

JULY 2012

17: Regional author new novel: Tor to publish Greensboro author Orson Scott Card’s (along with Aaron Johnson) Earth Unaware: The First Formic War.

AUGUST 2012

1 — Local editor new anthology: Raleigh author and anthologist John Kessel’s latest anthology (co-edited with James Patrick Kelly) to be released: Digital Rapture: The Singularity Anthology from Tachyon Publications.

5 (Sunday) 2 to 4 pm — Chapel Hill’s Flyleaf Books hosts the 2nd Bull Spec summer literary sf festival with Ann and Jeff VanderMeer, Tobias S. Buckell, Karin Lowachee, Will Hindmarch, and more. Last year was a veritable Steampunk Cabinet of Curiosities. This year, it’s getting Weird. Confirmed, y’all. This is going to be awesome!

14 — Local author new collection: Raleigh author Kij Johnson’s fiction collection At the Mouth of the River of Bees to be published by Small Beer Press.

23 (Thursday) — The Raleigh Browncoats will present their annual charity screening of  the Firefly movie, Serenity, at the Raleigh Grande Theatre: http://www.ncbrowncoats.com/

SEPTEMBER 2012

TBD — Local author new novel: Raleigh authors Clay and Susan Griffith conclude their Vampire Empire series with book 3, The Kingmakers, after 2010′s The Greyfriar and 2011′s The Rift Walker, from Pyr Books. More info: http://clayandsusangriffith.blogspot.com/

NOVEMBER 2012

17-18 (Saturday and Sunday) — NC Comicon at the Durham Convention Center: http://nccomicon.com/

NEW: TBD — Local author new novel: J.L. Hilton’s Stellarnet Prince, sequel to January’s Stellarnet Rebel, to be published by Carina Press.

JANUARY 2013

11-13 (Friday to Sunday) — illogiCon 2 will be held at the Embassy Suites of Raleigh-Durham/Research Triangle on January 11-13, 2013, with writer guest of honor Tim Powers and webcomic guest of honor Garth Graham: http://www.illogicon.com/

END

Bull Spec alumni news: David Tallerman

Posted: 30 April, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , | Leave a comment »

Here’s a couple bits of news for David Tallerman, author of “The Burning Room” which appeared in Bull Spec #4:

Congrats on both accounts, David!

Some local author publishing news…

Posted: 27 April, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

A drive-by blogging, that’s what this is.

  • Eric Gregory’s had a second novelette published by John Joseph Adams’s excellent Lightspeed Magazine. Last January it was “The Harrowers”. Now it’s The Sympathy, accompanied by an illustration by Galen Dara, and narrated for their podcast by Heather Scott.
  • Mitch Ritchmond is a new name to me, and so this is his first mention here at the Bull Spec blog. Well, he’s just had a short story “Amsterdamned” published in Torn Realities from Post Mortem Press, an anthology which deals with Lovecraft’s themes of forbidden knowledge, where his story stands alongside ones from Clive Barker and JW Schnarr, among others. It’s available in print from IndieBound, B&N, and Amazon, which you can get to from the book’s Goodreads listing here as well as from Post Mortem Press’s online store, as well as in e-book form for the Nook, Kindle, and on Smashwords (which doesn’t show up on Goodreads).
  • Gray Rinehart’s latest story in Analog is in a closely forthcoming issue, on newsstands shortly — more plainly ”The Song of Uullioll” is in the July/August issue of Analog Science Fiction & Fact. This on the heels of his short story ”Sensitive, Compartmented” which appeared in the April/May issue of Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine. Maybe you can still find this issue on a newsstand near you… I have been looking and not been able to find an Asimov’s in stock, and let me tell you — I have been to a lot of bookstores lately.

Cheers!

Bull Spec events newsletter April 2012

Posted: 13 April, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: newsletter | Leave a comment »

Vol 2. No. 3, Friday, April 13, 2012:

Well. There’s been a lot going on since February’s newsletter, and there’s a lot coming up just around the corner including this Sunday’s NC Speculative Fiction Night at Durham’s Sci-Fi Genre Comics & Games. But before I get to the events, some back-patting and congratulations:

  • Mur Lafferty announced the sale of her novel,The Shambling Guide to New York City, to Orbit, for 2013 publication in a 2-book deal. Congrats, Mur!
  • The annual Locus Recommended Reading list included M. David Blake’s “Absinthe Fish”, published in Bull Spec #5 — this is absolutely awesome, and until Sunday April 15 you can vote for the story (among voting for your favorite novels and magazines, some of which, cough cough, you may have to write in) in their annual poll and survey. You don’t have to be a Locus subscriber to vote, so make your voice heard!
  • “Absinthe Fish” also took 6th place in the Tor.com Readers’ Choice Awards! Congrats again, Marc!
  • Meanwhile, it was Preston Grassmann’s “Cael’s Continuum”, also in issue #5, which found its way onto the Tangent Online Recommended Reading List for 2011 – so, yeah, go go, issue #5!
  • This year’s Nebula nominations included Bull Spec contributors Kij Johnson and Kate Sparrow
  • This year’s Hugo nominations included Bull Spec contributors Kij Johnson and Daniel M. Kimmel, and Mur Lafferty is one of the nominees for The John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer — if you are a member (attending or supporting) of this year’s World Con, don’t forget to vote!
  • Jeremy Whitley’s writing work on the comic Princeless has been recognized with not just one but two Eisner Award nominations, for Best Single Issue and Best Publication for Kids — Jeremy is the writer of the current Bull Spec-serialized graphic short “The Long Lives of Heroes”
  • Lastly, nominations are open for the 2012 World Fantasy Award, with ballots due May 31
And, at long last at least for me, Bull Spec #7 is printed, cut, stapled, folded, packaged, and shipped. Boxes of Bull Spec #7 are on their way to my house right now! This is a very good feeling. Issues should make their way into stores and to subscribers in the coming weeks, starting with their debut this Sunday. I hope to see a lot of you there, and thank you so much for your support — and patience.

-Sam

RECENT PUBLICATIONS:

  • James Maxey’s Greatshadow in print and e-book from Solaris (January)
  • Gail Z. Martin’s The Dread in print and e-book from Orbit (January) and in audiobook from Tantor (February)
  • Tony Daniel’s Guardian of Night, in print and e-book from Baen and in audiobook from Audible (February)
  • Mark L. Van Name’s Jon & Lobo series in audiobook from Audible (March)
  • David Drake’s The Road of Danger (Lt. Leary series), in print and e-book from Bean and in audiobook from Audible (April)
  • Clay and Susan Griffith’s The Greyfriar (Vampire Empire, Book 1), in audiobook from Buzzy Multimedia (April)

EVENTS: Read the rest of this entry »

NC Speculative Fiction Night this Sunday: meet hashtag #BullSpecNC

Posted: 12 April, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | 3 Comments »

So. I haven’t been able to get out to do much flyering, or send much PR out to the newspapers, etc. to promote THIS Sunday’s NC Speculative Fiction Night. (Other than Independent Weekly, which as always is super supportive and made the event one of their picks of a busy (is there any other kind around here?) weekend.) That’s right: 3 days away! Sunday Sunday Sunday!! At Durham’s Sci-Fi Genre Comics and Games! From 5 to 7 pm! Be there!

Bull Spec #7 Cover: "Gearaffes" by Angi Shearstone based on D.K. Thompson's short story "The Gearaffe Who Didn't Tick", additional cover design by Jeremy Zerfoss

Bull Spec #7 Cover: "Gearaffes" by Angi Shearstone based on D.K. Thompson's short story "The Gearaffe Who Didn't Tick", additional cover design by Jeremy Zerfoss

In order to promote the event (and Bull Spec #7 of course!), we invite everyone attending NC Speculative Fiction Night to live tweet the event with hashtag #BullSpecNC – Bring your iPads and smart phones, post to your Twitter account and your Facebook and/or Google+ page. Help us promote Bull Spec and local writers to the internet at large.

If you can’t attend because you’re busy/sick/best man at your brother’s wedding, that’s OK too! You can still join us online @5:00pm by searching Twitter for #BullSpecNC to see what you’re missing and play the online version of Sh*t David Drake Says.

This event is also part of the NC Science Festival – in addition to the readings, we’ll have some discussion about “The Science of Science Fiction”. As part of the festival, folks can download the official iPhone app, which allows people to record and upload “the sounds of science” and possibly have their clips heard on-air on WUNC. Yes, this is going to be AWESOME.

So. Please, if you can, help spread this last-minute word. Spread the #BullSpecNC hashtag! We’ve got flyers and handouts (covering several upcoming events as well) to post and share around. What I’d love to see? Lots of people posting flyers around the Triangle, taking pictures, and uploading them with the #BullSpecNC hashtag. And to see you all on SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY!

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